Unchurched Prefer Cathedrals Over Contemporary Church Buildings

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After viewing the comments, it seems most of the posters are anti-catholic.😦
 
I would agree with them. New churches are like carpeted warehouses.You have to go to the old parts of town to find real church buildings.

Not that it really matters in relation to what happens within the walls, but something is definitely lacking in the newer behemoth steel buildings… like style and beauty.
 
Interesting! What was especially striking was that young people preferred the Gothic look even more than the average, almost twice as much as older people did,
 
JoeyWarren said:
After viewing the comments, it seems most of the posters are anti-catholic.😦
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I agree. One of them seemed to be trying to insist that you can’t have a beautiful church and be a “real” Christian at the same time. Another was insinuating that prefering a beautiful church was akin to “works based salvation” (almost always an antiCatholic phrase).

My take on it is that, the survey was of the unchurched, who probably (although not necessarily) have few if any preconceived notions about any particular faith/denomination. But, in looking at churches, they preferred “gothic/cathedral type” buildings over modern ones. Now, I know some mainline Protestant churches, especially the older ones, are built like this, but I believe the majority of these churches are Catholic. Could it be that the respondents had an innate sense that God is present in these churches, and for that reason they’re drawn to them?

In Christ,

Ellen
 
Gee, then the folks who ran the poll would probably consider me “unchurched” because I prefer the traditional Church building to the lecture hall style that is prelevent in many dioceses.

In my diocese, the building for one of our newer parishes looks more like a funeral home/hall than an actual church. I do hope that when it comes time for us to build our church we will look more towards the Houston model rather than what exists in Los Angeles.

When I was in Austin, I really enjoyed going to St. Mary’s Cathedral. It is beautiful and its stained glass windows are lovely. The tiny chapel of St. Thomas Moore, which is inside the chancery, is also quite beautiful. It is in red marble and granite and the stained glass windows are exquisite.

At home, I enjoy visiting my father’s former parish. It is German Gothic and has beautiful stained-glass windows; one in particular, the Sacred Heart in front of an altar. It is as though Jesus had just finished celebrating the Mass, at least, that’s what I thought it looked like when I was a kid.

I fear that we are missing our identity as Catholics because our church buildings no longer look like Catholic churches.
 
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