Worship Spaces

[deogratias]

Many new churches bear little resemblence to the Churches of my youth and many add ons and remodels of the older Churches also remove some of the very things I so loved in the older Churches. I am a revert and when I left the Church for a while was pre 1962 and when I returned it was post 1970 - it was like leaving the theater for popcorn and coming back and finding you were in the middle of a whole new movie.

This inspired me to write a Eulogy to those Old Churches

Gone are the sanctus bells
The vigil candles lit no more
The tabernacle can’t be found
Where is the monstrace to adore?

Where are the altar rails at which I knelt
To receive our Blessed Lord?
And where is the organ that I loved
(Perhaps it lost it’s chord)?

The well worn pew at which I sat
Replaced now by theater chairs
Without the benefit of kneelers
Where once I knelt for prayers

The altar is now a table
No 3 layers of linen do I see
Give me that old time religion
Has a brand new meaning for me

There is no metal chalice
Just a ceramic mug
And at the sign of peace
Someone tried to give me a hug

Maybe I’m in the wrong place
For on the cross what I see
Is not the crucified Lord
But the risen Christ hanging free

On the positive side, I became a consumate Catholic, reading everything I could about Vatican II, the liturgy, Church fathers, etc. which I had never done before - but then if I had known more about my religion before, maybe there would not have been that hiatus.

 

[Mike_C]

shakespear wrote about the “bare, ruined choirs”. How true.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

I think that just about sums it up.

 

[CD4]

That was great! Your reaction was much like my husband’s, when he returned to the Church after an eighteen year absence…From about 1965 or so 'till the mid eighties…We went to a “new” church, and I can still remember his shock? Of course I did now understand at the time, having no Catholic backgrouond, but now I do.

My reaction, upon going to Mass in what became our first parish was (I blush at it now)…
“Wow…The Catholic Church has become Protestant”…I thought that was a compliment!

As my five year old grandson says…“Silly me”…

 

[theMutant]

As a post Vatican II Catholic who was fortunate enough to find a local indult Mass which I attended exclusively for years before had to move, bravo. I love the ode.

 

[JimG]

But there’s hope. Some (many??) churches are now being remodeled to bring back the more reverent look of God’s house. I know of a retreat house whose chapel, when first built, had no holy water font, movable chairs, no kneelers. a bare wood altar, little decoration, and no tabernacle. It might have been a Quaker meeting house.

Now it’s got pews with kneelers, holy water fonts, stations of the cross, a fixed and better looking altar with altar cloths, and a permanent centrally located tabernacle. I’m just waiting for the stained glass windows.

JimG