Honest, Ridgerunner, OLA must be seen to be appreciated. As a dyed-in-the-wool lover of the high Gothic style, I am the LAST person on the planet who would be open minded about a place like OLA. In fact, I was NOT open minded, and only went to see it so that I could SAY that I had seen it and that my worst expectations had been confirmed.
I was completely converted by it. The approach from below, up into the plaza under that imposing bronze statue of Our Lady of the Angels, and the long walk through the dim ambulatory (with that glorious retablo at the end), then the entrance into the ethereal light of the nave is heart-stopping.
But you do have to appreciate that this is NOT a salute to tradition. And admittedly, I did not attend a liturgy there, so I cannot speak for that aspect of the building (which is THE aspect that counts).
But the garden of King Palms was serene.
http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos2299/2/51/86/2/27/7/727028651206_0_ALB.jpg
Having never seen it in person, and having no real expectation of ever doing so, I will respect the fact that you like it. Looking at the photo and reading your description, it all seems rather tomb-like to me, and maybe that’s the point of it.
People have preferences. Some of them are cultural. Some are just idiosyncratic. For myself, I prefer those places that seem to be evocative of Mediterranean “brightness” over the “Teutonic woods” dimness of many Gothic churches. It’s hard to know whether that is “cultural” in the sense of patterns of expectation gained from parents and grandparents (and stretching back, perhaps for centuries) or in the sense of an approach to spirituality that also stretches back. But I truly believe much of how we react to things is strongly influenced by things more ancient than we know, and I think it’s perilous; perhaps even arrogant and unkind, to cut against the grains of that influence.
A quick story. I have heard other like it. My retired cousin took a liesully motor tour of Europe. While traveling toward the Brenner Pass to go into Austria, she came upon a valley that was the most beautiful place, in her mind, that she had ever seen. Fascinated, she turned up that valley, and the more she drove, the more beautiful it became to her. Everything; the colors, the structures, the gardening, the very landscape, was, to her, the closest thing to “perfect” she had ever seen. Ultimately, she came to a town named “Caoria”. She was floored. She knew her grandparents came from a town in Italy named Caoria, but had no idea at all where it was, until that moment. I have heard similar stories from others about that phenomenon.
It’s interesting (and Volodymyr’s beautiful photos bring it to mind) that Eastern Churches have a “look” that’s really much more than just a “look”. It is an expression of a particular approach to spirituality which is emphasized in their particular Churches. More than that, it actually is a “force” or an “influence” that is fullly intended to draw them in to that particular kind of spirituality that’s uniquely Eastern. If you insisted on making those folks go to Mass in a Lutheran-like church, you would be denying something very important about them. A convert from Lutheranism might, on the other hand, feel Eastern Churches to be too cluttered, too fussy, too distracting and ornate.
So, when this bishop or that, or this priest or that, insists that a Church be “modernized” or torn down and rebuilt in a modern style, I am always leery of it. What is happening then is that some architect’s “message” about spirituality, which is entirely idiosyncratic to him, is being conveyed instead of something that has grown up organically among a people over time. And God knows, all you have to do is ask some architect or afficionado what the deal is with some modern building, and they will go on and on and on about the “meaning” that is expressed; usually “meaning” that has to be explained if it’s to be understood at all. I truly think that’s why almost nobody ever builds his house in the “latest modern style”. It doesn’t resonate with the “ancestral memories” (not literally, but figuratively) within him. It’s somebody else’s pattern of thought which, though it might be interesting or even intellectually enlightening, is still alien to everything in his being. While it might be entirely pleasing to some, (which is fine) expecting idiosyncratic expressions to have a wide appeal is hit and miss at best.
I will have to admit I’m also influenced by my strong distaste for Ayn Rand, the Bauhaus School and all of the major contributors to the ways of thinking underlying the “modern” architectural styles. So there it is.
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