Do you think that this Cathedral is ugly?

[proud2bcatholic]

Brain:

you and I were born in the wrong century then.

actually, its turning around. dont lose heart

Yes, I know, and I hope to do all that I can to be a part of the turn around.

 

[Christus_Rex]

Yes. I long for the days when churches would stop trying to be modern and go back to the beauty of Gothic Europe. :crying:

The “cathedra” looks like my kitchen chair.

 

[Libero]

I like it!!!

It is simplistic and that is why it is beautiful.

I like the:

Font
Altar
Shrine
Door + handles
Tower
Outside
Worship Space
Cross
Ambulatory
Chapel

Don’t like:

Tabernacle
Cathedra

I really like it though, it is contemporary, and gives a great sense of light and warmth.

Having said this, I also like the older styles and also Gothic architechture in Cathedrals. I saw a picture of the Cathdral of Evereux and it looks really beautiful, despite it being simply a small town.

 

[LilyM]

I don’t mind most of it, and I really like the baptismal pool.

I think the use of natural materials (wood and stone) stops it being too starkly modern and gives it some warmth.

Better than the church I went to yesterday - one I’ve never attended before but my schedule was a bit screwy. Built in the 70s with BRIGHT GREEN carpet in the sanctuary, some monstrosity of a dingy abstract stained glass window, huge plaster dove on the ceiling sticking out like a sore thumb. Stations of the Cross were all jammed together in a little side chapel instead of being spread around the main area of the Church (which is what I prefer, but then lazier stations of the cross prayers may like it).

Really looked stuck in a time warp and kinda shabby, as the furninshings clearly hadn’t been changed in 30 years. Shame, because the Mass and homily were really good, and they had a fantastic little shop, but that carpet! It was so distracting! Don’t think I’ll be going back in a big hurry.

 

[Dubervilles]

I like it! I think it would be a place that I would feel attracted to attending if I were in the area. I love modern simplistic buildings as for me they lend more to complete attention to the mass and not to the surroundings.
Personally I would feel most in touch with God sitting on a rock and kneeling on the grass so while that is not acceptable for mass I find that this modern type of building brings me closest to that feeling.

 

[SMHW]

chnchris:

Where’s the tabernacle located - probably
not in the main sanctuary, we wouldn’t want to
give Our Lord too much honor, after all, we are
the Body of Christ, so let’s just look at each
other during the performance.

It’s my understanding that cathedrals are different from parish churches. It is considered better to have the Blessed Sacrament kept in a side chapel condusive to prayer and reverence. By their nature cathedrals are somewhat museum-like. They are supposed to attract the community, believer and non-believer alike. It’s not appropriate for the Blessed Sacrament to be in a museum.

 

[jbuck919]

For some reason, I’m having multiple problems opening this file. One time, it just hangs my computer up, the next, it asks me for a password (!), the third, it says everything is done but there is nothing to see. I would like to respond to this thread. Any ideas?

 

[SMHW]

jbuck919:

For some reason, I’m having multiple problems opening this file. One time, it just hangs my computer up, the next, it asks me for a password (!), the third, it says everything is done but there is nothing to see. I would like to respond to this thread. Any ideas?

What kind of computer and what kind of OS do you have? Does your computer have MS Power Point? If not then you probably can’t view it unless you can find a computer that does…

 

[EtienneGilson]

Being a Medievalist of sorts, I can’t say that this Cathedral has the magestic spendor of St; Stephen’s in Vienna or the Cathedral in Cologne; however, I think that it is build in a very similar spirit.

Many modern traditionalists are dominated by a reverse dictatorship of chronology…older is simply better. One seems to forget the historical origins of Church architecture. The ancient basilicas of Europe are often converted buildings/temples such as the Pantheon or St. Peter’s in Geneva (rebuild numerous times and currently Gothic though controlled by the Calvinists). Where new churches were build, they reflected the architectual abilities of the builders and the architectual style associated with religion. As theology progressed and changed architecture has reflected that change, ranging from the Byzantine St; Mark’s in Venice to Cluniac and Cistercian inspirations or Baroque and Roccocco architecture. Modern architecture is just following an ancient tradition of change and adaption.

I have always been interested in Ethiopian architecture

http://www.voiceofmaranatha.org/Ethiopia_files/image008.jpg 404 De pagina is niet gevonden

 

[JimG]

It just has plain windows. I would prefer some stained glass.

(like this.)

 

[DreadVandal]

CharlesT:

It’s always hard to tell from pictures, but it looks OK to me. Not ugly IMHO.

Church buildings have always reflected the times. Why should our time be any different?

Normally, I would agree that we shouldn’t be any different, except that in the 20th century we witnessed the utter deterioration of the arts (witness Jackson Pollock, Cubism, and other nonsense). In order to have a contemporary style building that is imbued with a spiritual aesthetic, you have to have a spiritual culture and artistic community. Given the lack of a spiritual culture and given the self–implosion of the arts and humanities in the past 100 years, I would say that our contemporary culture really doesn’t have much to offer. All that we can do is go back to the past to a better time (artistically anyway) and pull from there. A kind of Neo-Classical revival is needed I think.

 

[DreadVandal]

Kielbasi:

You may not like round churches, but they do have points of positivity.

They are easier to evacuate in the case of emergency, easier parking is possible with that configuration as well. But most importantly, more of the people will be able to actually see the mass. Folks’ eyesight starts going at the older ages, so if a church has an older congregation, getting the people closer to the altar by putting them on all sides is a plus.

Quintessiential utilitarian thinking. Its very American. Sorry, I know that sounds snotty. Forgive me, it just seems that our culture considers beauty to be an optional transcendental. We’ve replaced it with utility. Not - The True, The Good, the Beautiful but
- The Useful, the Economical, The Practical

 

[jbuck919]

EtienneGilson:

Being a Medievalist of sorts, I can’t say that this Cathedral has the magestic spendor of St; Stephen’s in Vienna or the Cathedral in Cologne; however, I think that it is build in a very similar spirit.

I’m not disagrreing with you, but I would like to point out that even cathedrals as great as the ones you mention have been forced to build table altars designed for the celebrant facing the congregation, leaving the older altar as part of the reredos. Some of them in Germany and elsewhere have actually done very fine jobs of it.

The ironic thing is that the primatial church of St. Peter in Rome, the most important church in Christendom, always had an altar facing the congregation (that is east in that church) with no tabernacle in view to which directly to genuflect. The idea of having the altar be a table with the celebrant facing the congregation and the reserved sacrament somewhere else came from the top down, not the bottom up.

 

[DreadVandal]

I agree with those who suggest that while its not utterly wretched, its not glorious either. I have seen worse. That being said, I think that it leaves much to be desired. However, I think a few changes could help like more iconography (good iconography, not Precious Moments iconography), and statuary. I personally hate the theatre in the round thing, but its probably too late to fix that. Chances are that if I lived in Dodge City, I’d be searching for another parish.

 

[DreadVandal]

JimG:

It just has plain windows. I would prefer some stained glass.

(like this.)

Now that’s a Cathedral .

 

[DreadVandal]

BTW, what is with all of this “gathering space” nonsense? It makes the Liturgy sound like its a campfire meeting. What is so intrinsically evil about using traditional terminology? Even “worship space”, while I loathe that term as well, would be better.

 

[JimG]

DreadVandal:

BTW, what is with all of this “gathering space” nonsense? It makes the Liturgy sound like its a campfire meeting. What is so intrinsically evil about using traditional terminology? Even “worship space”, while I loathe that term as well, would be better.

I think that “gathering space” is what used to be known as the vestibule. “Worship space” is the body of the church.

As to the round ‘worship spaces’ I’m somewhat used to it by now; but it does make it easer for everybody to watch (and be distracted by) each other, instead of focusing attention on the altar.

It has alwasy seemed strange to me that the medieval church builders worked hard to overcome their limitations as to construction methods and materials, to give us those beautiful stained glass windows. Now, we’ve got the methods and the materials–we don’t have to worry about the walls falling down–but we don’t put in the stained glass windows.

 

[frommi]

DreadVandal:

BTW, what is with all of this “gathering space” nonsense? It makes the Liturgy sound like its a campfire meeting. What is so intrinsically evil about using traditional terminology? Even “worship space”, while I loathe that term as well, would be better.

The gathering space is one of those places where the community can at least stop and say hi before entering the main worship space…it’s supposed to inspire a spirit of fellowship.

Practically speaking, its a good place for conversation without interrupting those who are in prayer for the mass.

 

[DreadVandal]

JimG:

I think that “gathering space” is what used to be known as the vestibule. “Worship space” is the body of the church.

As to the round ‘worship spaces’ I’m somewhat used to it by now; but it does make it easer for everybody to watch (and be distracted by) each other, instead of focusing attention on the altar.

It has alwasy seemed strange to me that the medieval church builders worked hard to overcome their limitations as to construction methods and materials, to give us those beautiful stained glass windows. Now, we’ve got the methods and the materials–we don’t have to worry about the walls falling down–but we don’t put in the stained glass windows.

We don’t put in the stained glass windows because that would be too patriarchal and oppressive to the common people. At least that was the kind of thing I heard when in college at a Jesuit university.

 

[DreadVandal]

frommi:

The gathering space is one of those places where the community can at least stop and say hi before entering the main worship space…it’s supposed to inspire a spirit of fellowship.

Practically speaking, its a good place for conversation without interrupting those who are in prayer for the mass.

I see. I’m just not used to all this common folk terminology. I’m an eastern rite Catholic and so our terminology and concept of Church building is quite different as you can imagine.