reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches
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I came across this recent publication from Ignatius Oress in San Francisco. It formulates clearily some of the principles I ahve been harping on about for the past two years
Here is a fairly comprehensive summary of Moyra Doorly’s book, No place for God
http://www.latin-mass-society.org/ouch.htmPersonally, I think the OUCH campaign was launched here on archiseek two years ago!
There is a higly contentious account of the attemped wreckage of St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork in a book recently published by Veritas. It is called Hand to Plough and claims to be memoir of the life of Denis O’Callaghan, the Vicar General of the dioces of Cloyne. [Curiously, the cover featurees the author in a boat with no sight of a plough}. Accurate recollection distinguishes a memoir from mere ramblings or, worse still, rantings. In this, the book is sorely lacking. For example O’C claims that 40,000 persons signed a petition against the reordering. The FOSCC claimed that 24,000 signed. O,C claims that the Midleton Oral Hearing was personally presided over by the Chief Planning Officer. In fact it was conducted by an official of An Bord Pleqnala called Tom Rabbit. O’C claims that opposition to the reordering emerged in the wake of the Oral Heraing. In fact it was already vey well manifested and orgaised long before any Oral Hearing. O’C claims that he cannot understand the rationale of An Bord Pleanala and its decision to deny planning permission for the destruction of the sanctuary of Cobh Cathedral. He never mentions that every major heritage body in the country opposed the plan prepared by Professor O’Neill: An Taisce, The Georgian Society, The Department of the Envoronment, the Cork County Conservation Officer, the Pugin Society and of course the FOSCC. It takes some pretty thik skin not to have even a slight inkling that something maight be wrong with all these bodies opposing the scheme. While the book has quite a lot of crap about lay participation in the Church, O’C never once mentions asking anyone in Cobh or Cloyne diocese about plans or even mentioning the word “consultation”. Information sessions are mentioned but O’C forgets to mention that these took place AFTER the famous planning application was made and when no meaingful contribution could be made to a proper but non existent consultation process. O’C pretends that only the best professional advice was sought by the developers involved oin this project and conveniently omits mentioning that some of the best conservation and legal experts in Ireland were employed by the FOSCC and international experts were imported from Britain and Rome to give evidence on liturgical matters. O’C is heavily peddling the business of oiturgical gathering around the altar and physical proximity to the congregation. He may have to adjust his opinions in this respect after the publication of Summorum Pontificum – much as his 1966 artice in Woman’s Way on contraception was substantially improved upon in other section os the book. Then there are the three occasions on which we are told that Bishop Magee is very disappointed with the outcome of the whole debacle – as well he should since he was well warned as to the consequences of failure for him. Surely, is it not the business of a Vocar General to tell a bishop what he needs to her rather than what he thinks he would like to hear? Working that way, he will ensure that his bishop does not land in the huge embarrassment the bishop of Cloyne now suffers. One could go on about this book and about its account of the Cobh reordering. In short, it is a crappy book written by someone who wishes to reassures us that hge is really a very ordinary guy without realizing that none of us ever had reason to regard him as anything other!!!
@Praxiteles wrote:
There is a higly contentious account of the attemped wreckage of St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork in a book recently published by Veritas. It is called Hand to Plough and claims to be memoir of the life of Denis O’Callaghan, the Vicar General of the dioces of Cloyne. [Curiously, the cover featurees the author in a boat with no sight of a plough}. Accurate recollection distinguishes a memoir from mere ramblings or, worse still, rantings. In this, the book is sorely lacking. For example O’C claims that 40,000 persons signed a petition against the reordering. The FOSCC claimed that 24,000 signed. O,C claims that the Midleton Oral Hearing was personally presided over by the Chief Planning Officer. In fact it was conducted by an official of An Bord Pleqnala called Tom Rabbit. O’C claims that opposition to the reordering emerged in the wake of the Oral Heraing. In fact it was already vey well manifested and orgaised long before any Oral Hearing. O’C claims that he cannot understand the rationale of An Bord Pleanala and its decision to deny planning permission for the destruction of the sanctuary of Cobh Cathedral. He never mentions that every major heritage body in the country opposed the plan prepared by Professor O’Neill: An Taisce, The Georgian Society, The Department of the Envoronment, the Cork County Conservation Officer, the Pugin Society and of course the FOSCC. It takes some pretty thik skin not to have even a slight inkling that something maight be wrong with all these bodies opposing the scheme. While the book has quite a lot of crap about lay participation in the Church, O’C never once mentions asking anyone in Cobh or Cloyne diocese about plans or even mentioning the word “consultation”. Information sessions are mentioned but O’C forgets to mention that these took place AFTER the famous planning application was made and when no meaingful contribution could be made to a proper but non existent consultation process. O’C pretends that only the best professional advice was sought by the developers involved oin this project and conveniently omits mentioning that some of the best conservation and legal experts in Ireland were employed by the FOSCC and international experts were imported from Britain and Rome to give evidence on liturgical matters. O’C is heavily peddling the business of oiturgical gathering around the altar and physical proximity to the congregation. He may have to adjust his opinions in this respect after the publication of Summorum Pontificum – much as his 1966 artice in Woman’s Way on contraception was substantially improved upon in other section os the book. Then there are the three occasions on which we are told that Bishop Magee is very disappointed with the outcome of the whole debacle – as well he should since he was well warned as to the consequences of failure for him. Surely, is it not the business of a Vocar General to tell a bishop what he needs to her rather than what he thinks he would like to hear? Working that way, he will ensure that his bishop does not land in the huge embarrassment the bishop of Cloyne now suffers. One could go on about this book and about its account of the Cobh reordering. In short, it is a crappy book written by someone who wishes to reassures us that hge is really a very ordinary guy without realizing that none of us ever had reason to regard him as anything other!!!
Sounds to me like alot of hot air. Who would even buy such a screed? If it should ever appear in North America, I intend not to buy it.
I am dismayed that such a piece would have slipped through the referees at Veritas. Is someone there asleep at the switch?
From your reportage, Prax, there appears to be a few holes in that canvas, which should make any hope of sailing a bit dodgy.
Any episcopal memoirs coming up for sale lately? Keeping my eye peeled for one titled Foot in Mouth. Something frothy and scintillating for the dog days.Someone mentioned to Praxiteles that a new door has been installed in St. Joseph’s Church,Liscarroll. Does anyone know if planning permissionn was granted for his? I understood that it was to be part of the unspecified “ancilliary” works for which unspecified blanket permission was being sought. Now, however, it appears as thouigh the developer has gone right ahead nd installed the door WITHOUT waiting for a planning permission decision by Cork County Council.
Does anyne know if the door is a replica of the original one, made of the same material and to the same design and following the same mehods as the original door? I hope it is not like the new one installed at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Kanturk. It is an utter disgrace and a shambles. It a completely modern door held togethe by galvanized nails and of a type usually found on sheds and outhouses.
I hope that someone will take this up with the planning authorities in Cork County Council and does it soon for it looks as though the whole place is about to be PAINTED with or without planning permission. Rumour has it that the paint has already been bought!
If the photos are anything to go by, the door on the church looks as though it was painted purple. Perhaps it is just poor colouring on the photograph; but do look at the photo carefully, It looks like a poor job at any rate.
Holy name Cathedral, Chicago.
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There’s also a before picture on the Cathedral’s website. Is the sanctuary now a garden centre?ake wrote:Holy name Cathedral, Chicago.
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Where once stood statues of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary, there now stand potted palms. That figure over by the side altar – Dr Livingstone, I presume?At least there is something left with which to work here, if only the shell. Take a look at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California.
Also be sure to check out the eco-church of St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother in Toronto, Canada, and see why Our Lady weeps.
O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater Unigeniti!
Eia Mater, fons amoris,
Me sentire vim doloris
Fac, ut tecum lugeam.@Praxiteles wrote:
Was this a Vosko job?
Couldn’t say for sure. Checked a few sources, but turned up nothing.
There’s a campaign in progress to do even more renovations, including the installation of air conditioning.Note, however, what is displayed in the ceiling at the transversal: the cardinal’s coat of arms.
I should have hoped for a depiction of the Ascension of the Lord, or The Glory of the Holy Name of Jesus, or Christ Coming on the Clouds in Glory as Judge of the Living and the Dead. Something of a liturgical, sacred, or even a generally religious theme.
Remember Noel Coward’s play Cavalcade? (It was later turned into a film – 1933.) It contains a song titled “The Twentieth Century Blues.” How can one look upon the wreckage and not hear that song wailing away? One line immediately comes to mind:
“Hey! Hey! Hey! – Call it a day!”Ake, help me wheel the piano under one of those palm trees. Prax, pour us all a round of gins and tonics. I feel a song coming on –
“I’ve got those Twentieth-Century Blues!”@Praxiteles wrote:
Sorry about that Rhabanus!
This is the feast of St Bridget of Sweden (13-3-73). After bearing eight children, she became the foremost lady-in-waiting the the Queen of Sweden. After various mystical experiences and pilgrimages, she left the court and established a monastery for nuns and monks at Vadstena. Any architect or lover of architecture should find much of interest in the conventual church that she built at Vadstena. Among medievalists who have written on it is Stephan Borgehammar. The design of the church is quite unusual.
Rhabanus!
Any idea of where one moght find a copy (perhaps electronic) of Caluse de Vert’s Explication des Ceremonies de L’Eglise?
Will get back to you on that tomorrow afternoon (24 July 2007). In transit at the moment.
Meanwhile, read Butler’s Lives of the Saints for 24 July – St Christina the Astonishing. The account, even in the version severely pared down by Michael Walsh never ceases to astonich Rhabanus.
By the way, did you ever find an illustration of the Brigettine church at Vadstena?
@Praxiteles wrote:
Rhabanus!
Any idea of where one moght find a copy (perhaps electronic) of Caluse de Vert’s Explication des Ceremonies de L’Eglise?
EUREKA! I have found it:
Vert, Claude de, 1645-1708.:
Explication simple, litterale et historique des cérémonies de l’Église /
Westmead : Gregg Interational, 1970.
4 v. : plans (1 fold.)Who’s Caluse??? an acquaintance perhaps in the calabooze of the rue Toulouse?
Rhabanus has enough to do looking up his recherche topics without chasing after a wild goose or a red herring.Should be a snap to find a copy of this 4-volume reprint.
@Praxiteles wrote:
Rhabanus!
Any idea of where one moght find a copy (perhaps electronic) of Caluse de Vert’s Explication des Ceremonies de L’Eglise?
YIKES!!
I just checked on ABE-books.com only to discover that they are selling vol 4 for $173.00, vol 1 for $181.00, vol 2 for $190.00+ and vol 3 for over $200.00!
The reprint was done by Farnborough. The monks at Farnborough ought to be approached to reprint the four volumes at a reasonable price.
There must be a way to get this important work into interested hands without stooping to highway (or internet) robbery!
@Rhabanus wrote:
EUREKA! I have found it:
Vert, Claude de, 1645-1708.:
Explication simple, litterale et historique des cérémonies de l’Église /
Westmead : Gregg Interational, 1970.
4 v. : plans (1 fold.)Who’s Caluse??? an acquaintance perhaps in the calabooze of the rue Toulouse?
Rhabanus has enough to do looking up his recherche topics without chasing after a wild goose or a red herring.Should be a snap to find a copy of this 4-volume reprint.
Sorry, Caluse was a typo for Claude!
The church in Trim, Meath. Some good decoration in the east end.
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@ake wrote:
The church in Trim, Meath. Some good decoration in the east end.
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Many thanks, ake! These shots revived my drooping spirit!
The stencilling is exquisite and retains a distinctly celtic character. Were they recently restored or have they been in this mint condition all these decades? Absolutely splendid! Truly amazing that the HACKs and the latterday henchmen of Cromwell allowed this church to pass unscathed.
FIVE STARS to the artists and FIVE STARS to the clergy who commissioned them and FIVE STARS to the great members of the lay faithful who supported this worthy work. This is what is known as a WIN-WIN situation. Everybody wins and nobody loses. Why can we not have more of this, please?
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