IS IT TOO LATE?THE VATICAN PROPOSES AN ARCHITECTURAL SOLUTION

It has been reported that the Vatican is establishing a commission under the umbrella of the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) to promote sacred art, sacred music and church architecture in various dioceses throughout the world.


One might describe the latter part of the 20th Century as the
"Age of Ugliness" in Catholic church architecture, so it is hardly surprising that CDW prefect Cardinal Canizares Llovera describes the creation of this committee as "very urgent."


Indeed, we have an entire generation that has grown up with a confused liturgy that has been further confused by what Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli describes as "avant-garde constructions that look like anything but a church. These buildings composed of cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes and confused spaces, remind people of anything but the mystery and sacredness of a church."

This is not an exaggeration. The photos speak for themselves:

"CEMENT CUBES"

"GLASS BOXES"

"CRAZY SHAPES"

"CONFUSED SPACES"

The commission will do more than simply "recommend" any particular type of architecture. It will have the judicial power of the Congregation for Divine Worship to act.


How unfortunate that this commission did not exist a few weeks ago. Perhaps it could have stopped the Diocese of Orange's outgoing bishop, Tod Brown, from making the most embarrassing and permanent blunder of his tenure, the purchase of Robert Schuller's "Crystal Cathedral" in Garden Grove to use as the Diocese's new cathedral.

THIS IS NOW A CATHOLIC CHURCH?

Sadly, many of these monstrously hideous relics of "secular Godlessness gone churchy" will be with us for generations. That is, unless the CDW implements the final solution. Let us pray that they do: