Modern church buildings a thing of the past?

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Why is it that every time a Catholic church is shown in a movie or television show it is never a Vatican II design? It seems like everyone who isn’t a Catholic associates the church with old, beautiful, inspired buildings (a true house of the lord!) but for some reason there are more modern buildings than traditional.

Will there ever come a time when VII designs are re-remodeled to look like a real Catholic church?

How are things in Europe? Have the churches there been stripped of tradition as well?
 
The sooner the better. I would bulldoze all of the “convention hall” looking churches and go back to what should have been. I do see a few new churches that, well, look like churches.
 
Luckily the parish that I was baptized in was constructed in the early 1900’s (still standing). Unfortunately the current parish that is nearest to my house has that horrid modern-day look. But truth is whenever I can after school I go all the way to the church I was baptized in 😉
 
Here are two very nice modern church buildings which I have had the pleasure of visiting:

Liverpool Metropolitan





25,000 worshippers can fit inside Lourdes’ underground basilica, it’s hard to find good photos of it though (external shots are limited for obvious reasons):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Basilique_Saint-Pie_X_Luc_Viatour_small.jpg
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Of course neither of them are typical modern churches.
 
The last picture looks like a parking garage

Will try and post our little rural parish below; first one is St. Francis Xavier and the second is St. Joseph
 
Looks like a power plant outside, and an airplane hangar inside. I find these kind of buildings offensive.
 
None of those buildings pictured look like churches to me. They do not strike with the sense of awe and beauty that even a simple properly-constructed country church does. I’ve seen a church that is about the size of my house (which is quite small) that looked a thousand times grander than any of those monstrosities.

The good news is that there are some newer churches going up that do look more like churches and there are also people who are remodeling some of the ugly ones to look much better.
 
When i look at this, only one word describes it: offensive.
 
The underground one is amazing. It reminds me of the hold of a ship, symbolizing the barque of Peter. This is at Lourdes France?

The first one I don’t care for, although the architecture is amazing. The inside is nice, but the outside doesn’t look like it could be a church. It’s like OUr LAdy of the Angels in LA. From the outside it is ugly but amazing inside.
 
Joannm said:
The underground one is amazing. It reminds me of the hold of a ship, symbolizing the barque of Peter. This is at Lourdes France?

The first one I don’t care for, although the architecture is amazing. The inside is nice, but the outside doesn’t look like it could be a church. It’s like OUr LAdy of the Angels in LA. From the outside it is ugly but amazing inside.
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Yes Joannm I have been told it is supposed to resemble the hull of a ship.
They do not strike with the sense of awe and beauty that even a simple properly-constructed country church does.
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Maybe you’d feel differently if you were there to celebrate the Blessed Sacramant with ~20,000 other pilgrims. 🙂

To those who don’t like the one in Lourdes, maybe the main Basilica is more to your liking?

http://www.fratelliandcompany.com/assets/images/Lourdes_Basilica.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__pCHf4fuj.../s1600/Basilica+of+Rosary,+Lourdes+France.jpg

It’s OK if people don’t like buildings I posted because I have been inside them and they are spectacular.
 
Morgan_Hiver said:
Why is it that every time a Catholic church is shown in a movie or television show it is never a Vatican II design? …
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Poor choice of words. Look all you want, you won’t find a single iota of suggestion in the actual Vatican II documents that recommends that worship spaces be built like corporate theaters. That was the work of hijackers who falsely claimed a mandate from the council. Read it for yourself: no mandate, no real support.
 
Morgan_Hiver said:
Why is it that every time a Catholic church is shown in a movie or television show it is never a Vatican II design? It seems like everyone who isn’t a Catholic associates the church with old, beautiful, inspired buildings (a true house of the lord!) but for some reason there are more modern buildings than traditional.

Will there ever come a time when VII designs are re-remodeled to look like a real Catholic church?
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I can see that happening in my diocese already, with some beautiful remodels taking place; also, the newest total rebuild followed this same pattern of doing what was right, not what was expedient.
 
It’s the only thing Hollywood can really get right. Now, there was no directive, document, proclamation, speech, advice, or anything from the council of Vatican II to say that the churches must be ugly, modern, and look like WalMart, nothing from Vatican II changed the design of our churches like the architects claimed. A document, called Sacrosanctum Concilium, from Vatican II said “there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them, and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing”. Architects at the time took that, and twisted it to their own interpretation, to have an excuse to make our churches look like unto the Protestant ones. Though, that quote from Sacrosanctum Concilium didn’t change ANYTHING at all about how churches should be built

I think it’s absolutely WONDERFUL that the newer churches are being built in a more beautiful and traditions style, like they were being built in the 17-18-1900’s, like Vatican II intended!

Hope I’ve helped a little 🙂
 
The churches in those pics are horrendous! I do not understand why someone would allow these post modern art projects to take place within our faith.

There is one church in Santa Ana CA called St. Joseph’s. The outside of the building is gorgeous (some what gothic) but once you step in things get confusing. It almost looks like a nice Anglican with high wooden beams. Two different styles all together. The altar is the worst part…it is hidden by this wooden fence, which also has a plain wooden cross anchored to the floor in front of that. There is also a little walk way that looks like a stripper pole belongs there.
 
Loml said:
Maybe you’d feel differently if you were there to celebrate the Blessed Sacramant with ~20,000 other pilgrims. 🙂
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I think I prefer churches that look like churches. Perhaps…

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I’ve seen several modern (Vatican II era or post) churches that were built in absolutely wonderful, traditional Gothic styles. One was Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Louis Park, MN where I was received into the Catholic Faith (I would share a picture of the exterior, except unfortunately I don’t have one). Another, even more luxuriously splendid and breathtaking (due to its larger size) was the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Columbus:
http://www.saintjosephcathedral.org...ior/exterior-cathedral3(6-4-1999)-395x600.jpg

My favorite is the brand-new Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church near Chicago. It does look modern, but in style very traditional and proper to the Eastern Rite (something much easier to do in the East than in the West because of the modern obsession with cubes and with symmetry, which happen to coincide with the shape of the Greek cross and with the types of architecture traditional to Greek churches).

http://www.byzantinecatholic.com/photos/PhotoAlbum3/Byz50.html

It is a deep shame that temples like this are an exception and not the rule. We know how to make beautiful and sacred churches - we have no excuse for failing to do so.
 
I think it may be time for the Church to begin constructing little chapels, rather than grand churches. Most parishes in small dioceses are 70% elderly, and those people will be passing beyond the gate of eternity within the next 20 years. There will simply not be enough people to pay for the upkeep of massive churches for long. Millions of little additions and spiraling reredos will decay over time with the decay in population. Those who still attend Mass will be rather charismatic, because it seems they’re the only ones left with enough zeal to instruct their children in the Catholic faith. 😦

We need to go back to a smaller sort of church with traditional architecture. The “spirit of Vatican II” which produced these monstrosities in Liverpool and Los Angeles for the sake of ‘austere simplicity’ actually cost us more money than traditional churches might have done. Imagine a more intimate Catholic church without the need for installed organs, sound-systems, swimming pool acoustics, and massive upkeep costs! What joy it would be to see the sacred mysteries and holy sacrifice go on in a place like the catacombs, without the unchristian obsession with grandiosity.

He who would be great in the kingdom of Heaven must be lower than the servant, and must minister… not lord wealth over the poor. Let us contract ourselves a little, as PP Benedict XVI suggested we might have to.
 
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