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St. Mary’s on Haddington Road has just been rededicated after being closed for six months & a cool 2 mil worth of refurbishments.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1212/1224308953822.htmlNot exactly the most informative of articles really.
@Praxiteles wrote:
Too often, architects, even the more famous ones, do not use the Catholic liturgy as a starting point and thus end up producing 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. Tabernacles are semi hidden, leading faithful on a real treasure hunt and sacred images are almost inexistent.
Well the above would almost certainly apply for this mock-up for St. Mels Cathedral. Will the Commission come in to late to act or have an effect on this though?
Great to see the removal of that kind of crud from the church . .
Would I be right to assume that the replacement altar is a salvaged piece?
So finally it’s confirmed that Richard Hurley is to lead a design team in an alliance with Mr Colm Redmond, architect from Fitzgerald, Kavanagh & Partners to complete the restoration of St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford.
6 February 2011
Bishop O’Reilly announces design team for the restoration of St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford
If Christmas 2009 was one of the most painful days of my life as bishop, this is truly a hope-filled and joyful one – Bishop Colm O’ReillyToday, the feast day of St Mel, the patron saint of the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois and the Cathedral in Longford, the media launch of the announcement of the design team for the restoration of St Mel’s Cathedral took place in Bishop’s House, Longford. Please see below the addresses by Bishop Colm O’Reilly and Dr Richard Hurley, as well as a letter of support regarding a personal gift of a small stained glass window, Consecration of St Mel as Bishop, from President Mary and Martin McAleese given on St Stephen’s Day, 2009, the day after the fire in the Cathedral started.
Key Points
Bishop Colm O’Reilly
*
In St Mel’s Cathedral we celebrated a joyful Midnight Mass; dawn revealed a Cathedral ruined by fire. The contrast between the happiness of the Mass at night with the heart-break of Christmas Mass could not have been greater.
*
If Christmas 2009 was one of the most painful days of my life as Bishop, this is truly a hope-filled and joyful one.
*
It is my hope that this immense challenge that we face will offer us an important opportunity for renewal, not only renewal of a destroyed Cathedral but renewal of a sense of community and creation of an understanding of the purpose that a cathedral fulfils.
*
It is in faith that all of us must set out on the journey towards restoration of St Mel’s Cathedral knowing that we will not walk alone, for God is with us.Dr Richard Hurley
*
St Mel’s will rise again and live again as the centre of Catholic life in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.
*
Sacred buildings are a faithful record of the mindset of the times in which they are built. Hence the changes from age to age reflecting man’s relationship with God and the universe. Church buildings shape and influence our religious beliefs.
*
While restoring the building is of the utmost importance, every step is being taken to reinstate the heritage of the building, it is ultimately an effective and forward looking liturgical environment which must be the primary consideration. If this can be achieved the Cathedral will live again.
*
Part of our task in re-building St Mel’s is to make it a religious space of powerful resonance, respecting the past, living in the present and pointing towards the future. Our committed aim is to restore the Cathedral to its former architectural beauty, with a complementary contemporary liturgical intervention reflecting pastoral aspirations, supported by the arts which will make St Mel’s a worthy flagship of the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise and beyond.Address by Bishop Colm O’Reilly
Psalm 29 contains the following beautiful line: “Tears come with the night but joy comes with the dawn”. The psalm does not mean literally that all sadness comes upon us at night time and all happiness with the coming of a new day. In biblical language darkness is disaster, light is deliverance. For the people of Longford at Christmas 2009 it was quite the opposite. In St Mel’s Cathedral we celebrated a joyful Midnight Mass; dawn revealed a Cathedral ruined by fire. The contrast between the happiness of the Mass at Night with the heart-break of Christmas Mass could not have been greater.
Today I believe we are taking an important step towards a new day when we will be able to reverse the disaster of Christmas 2009. The signing of contracts by design team and client for the restoration of our Cathedral marks a new dawn for us. If Christmas 2009 was one of the most painful days of my life as Bishop, this is truly a hope-filled and joyful one.
We have engaged two prestigious architectural firms which have formed an Alliance to plan and guide the restoration of our historic Cathedral. I am extremely pleased to have present at this Press Conference Dr Richard Hurley, our lead Design Architect and Mr Colm Redmond, architect from Fitzgerald, Kavanagh & Partners. We are convinced that these two men and their respective firms which have formed an Alliance can deliver a restored Cathedral which will not just be faithful to its original architectural splendour but also a place of worship which will be inspirational for a new time in the life of the Church in Ireland.
Up to this point the plans for restoration of the cathedral have been handled by Mr Niall Meagher of Interactive Project Managers. This firm was chosen after a very careful search among those with the needed expertise for this key role. They in turn have led the process of identification of the entire design team. I welcome the Director of Interactive Project Managers, Ms Joan O’Connor, who, like Mr Meagher, is an architect.
Our design team can be assured of the full support of the hard working St Mel’s Cathedral Project Committee chaired by Mr Seamus Butler. This committee which has been meeting every second week for many months is attended by a representative of our insurers, Allianz, Mr Gerry O’Toole and the Managing Director of OSG, the Loss Assessors, Mr Danny O’Donohoe.
In the current year, 2011, there is an immense task to be undertaken by the design team. I am convinced that few people in the general population fully appreciate what is involved in planning work. It is easy to see the product of a day’s labour by, for instance, a bricklayer. It is not so in the case of days spent reaching a decision about how best to create a design for a church sanctuary. However, everything about how well the work of restoration is done will depend on how the design team completes the first phase of the work.
It is necessary at the present juncture in our journey towards restoration to invite a high degree of interest in the design work to be undertaken, by all parishioners of Longford and all in the Diocese as well. It will shortly emerge, I can promise, that the design team will engage with the public about the big questions that we need to explore. At an early stage ideas about restoration will be put forward for discussion. It is my hope that this immense challenge that we face will offer us an important opportunity for renewal, not only renewal of a destroyed Cathedral but renewal of a sense of community and creation of an understanding of the purpose that a cathedral fulfils.
At this significant moment it is impossible not to think of the Founder of St Mel’s Cathedral, Bishop William O’Higgins. He laid the foundation stone, taken from the ruins of the old medieval cathedral at Ardagh, in 1840. That day, the 19th of May, was a great occasion in Longford with an estimated attendance of 20,000 people present. No one was to know on that joy-filled day that in seven years time all work would have ceased. In a country decimated by the Great Famine it had begun to look like a ruin, abandoned and overgrown by weeds. However, six years later it would be opened for worship and so it would remain until 2009.
I remember today that Bishop O’Higgins set out with confidence and, while he did not live to see his dream come true, another man was there to complete the work. Many times in history those who lay foundations never see the last phases of the work completed. We cannot predict with anything like certainty when the work we are undertaking will be completed. It is in faith that all of us must set out on the journey towards restoration of St Mel’s Cathedral knowing that we will not walk alone, for God is with us.
+Colm O’Reilly
Address by Dr Richard Hurley
Christmas Day 2009 is a day never to the forgotten in the history of St Mel’s. A tragedy beyond words. That day in the Temperance Hall Bishop Colm O’Reilly promised I quote “together we will rebuild our beloved St. Mel’s Cathedral”. Courageous words in a cataclysmic situation. It may be some consolation to remember and reflect upon the many similar occurrence to Christian places of worship down through the ages and how they rose from the ashes. The most famous example is of the great and majestic Cathedral of Chartres destroyed many times by fire, the last one on the night of 10 June 1194, rebuilt again and consecrated on 24 October 1260, eventually to become one of the glories of Christendom. So it is with the same ardour and belief that St Mel’s will rise again and live again as the centre of Catholic life in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. The first fruits of Catholic Emancipation, the great ashlar stone Cathedral of St Mel became synonymous with Longford and far flung surrounding counties.
Sacred buildings are a faithful record of the mindset of the times in which they are built. Hence the changes from age to age reflecting man’s relationship with God and the universe. Church buildings shape and influence our religious beliefs. Three types of power influence our perception: divine power, personal power and very importantly the social power between the laity and clergy. Church buildings are gold mines of information on Catholic worship. St Mel’s is no exception. Modern commentators feel it can be best read as an act of faith. It is a classical building in a rural setting. The Madeleine in Paris, The Pantheon and the great Basilicas of Rome inspired Bishop O’Higgins when he became Bishop of Ardagh in 1829. It took fifty three years to bring his dream to completion.
There is no disagreement relating to the beauty of the interior. Unanimity prevails. To quote Christine Casey and Alister Rowan for instance “Keane’s interior is one of the most beautifully conceived classical spaces in Irish Architecture”. Their conclusion “What is beyond doubt is the success of his solution matched with craftsmanship of great quality.” All that, and the priceless artifacts were lost in a few hours on Christmas morning December 2009. Our task is to recreate all that and more, to bring it back to life.
While restoring the building is of the utmost importance, every step is being taken to reinstate the heritage of the building, it is ultimately an effective and forward looking liturgical environment which must be the primary consideration. If this can be achieved the Cathedral will live again. This means the norm for designing liturgical space is the assembly and its liturgies. This is a theology shaped by physical spaces and by what happens in them, creating the environment in which the Cathedral liturgies send out their message of mystery and redemption. More space is required around each of the polarities supporting the celebrations, none more-so than the space surrounding the altar, the centre at the heart of the Eucharist celebration. So, part of our task in re-building St Mel’s is to make it a religious space of powerful resonance, respecting the past, living in the present and pointing towards the future. Our committed aim is to restore the Cathedral to its former architectural beauty, with a complementary contemporary liturgical intervention reflecting pastoral aspirations, supported by the arts which will make St Mel’s a worthy flagship of the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise and beyond. This requires more of the heart, and less of the head. The entire team of St Mel’s of which I am honoured to be lead architect, are dedicated towards achieving this objective.
Dr Richard Hurley Arch (6 February 2011)
St Joseph & Etheldreda Church restored to original look
The interior at St Joseph & Etheldreda
The interior of at St Joseph & Etheldreda is now a work of art in itself
One of the foremost church restorers in the country says he is extremely proud of his latest achievement – the restoration of St Joseph & Etheldreda Church in Rugeley, south Staffordshire.
The Catholic Revival church, built in 1849, had been badly redecorated during its history.
Tony Skidmore, of Fisher Decorations, based in Stafford, works on restoring listed buildings in this country.
Much of the church’s gold-leafing is now back on view.
The tabernacle at St Joseph & Etheldreda
The tabernacle at the church is brilliantly-colouredThe Grade-II listed church, in Lichfield Street in Rugeley, is the work of Charles Hansom, who built it during the time of the Catholic Revival in England, when Catholics in this country were allowed to start worshipping openly again.
Like similar churches in the county, it has a vibrantly-coloured interior.
Tony Skidmore
Sixty-year-old Tony Skidmore, who started with Fisher Decorations in 1972, specialises in historic renovation. As a member of the National Heritage Training Group he also teaches other craftspeople in what he says are “disappearing” skills.
To restore churches such as St Joseph & Etheldreda he also has to employ history research techniques. He uses archives to discover what the original appearances of the buildings might have been.
“Many of our churches have suffered from years and years of unintentional neglect,” he explained.
“Walls that were once magnificent were painted over by people just wanting to keep things clean and tidy.
“People didn’t realise the beauty they were covering up; and when something had been painted over once there was good chance a second coat would be added in years to come, then another and another.”
Former glory
In Rugeley he has restored walls and ceilings as well as a major statue of Mary & Jesus and other religious works of art.
Using special tools and chemicals Tony peels away the layers to reveal small glimpses of what used to be.
“In some of the cases here we had to peel away ten coats of paint before we got to the original design. Once we discover that design we then have to work out how to replicate it on a wall or ceiling, using, whenever possible, the same materials that would have been used all those years ago,” said Tony.
Skills
Gold-leafing is a dying art, but Tony has two men on his team who are experts. It is the same with the application of lead paint, distemper and lime washes – skills that he says are being left behind, but skills however that are essential for perfect restoration work.
“It is all very time-consuming and expensive work. Nowadays people running the churches are very aware of the hidden treasures they are holding but many just can’t find the money needed to bring them back to life.”
Safeguard
Mark Robinson and Tony Skidmore
Mark Robinson and Tony Skidmore admire the workAs historic homes and churches start to cut back on expenditure in the current climate, restoration businesses like Fisher are affected in turn.
Earlier this year, another West Midlands decorating company stepped in to take over Fisher Decorations – though keeping Mr Skidmore at the head of the company, and safeguarding the jobs of his team for the foreseeable future.
The head of D&R Contract Services, based in Aldridge, Mark Robinson, said he was anxious to see a firm like Fisher continue: “More and more places need this type of work doing and there are fewer and fewer people with the skills to carry it out. Tony and his team are leaders in their field.”
Staffordshire Catholic Revival
Other Catholic churches of the period in Staffordshire include St Giles at Cheadle which was built by the movement’s foremost architect, Augustus Pugin. The style was based on the Gothic buildings of the Middle Ages, so was often called the Gothic Revival.
It’s said that the 19th Century Catholic writer, Ethelred Taunton, who was born in Rugeley in 1857, worshipped at St Joseph & Etheldreda.
St Etheldreda, or Alfreda, is an Anglo-Saxon saint, said to be one the daughters of King Cenwulf of Mercia. The kingdom of Mercia stretched across much of middle England including Staffordshire.
We could maybe do with a couple of people with Don Justo’s extraordinary persistence & zeal in Ireland.
Madrid man builds cathedral from junk
By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Mejorada del Campo
Cathedral Don Justo collects reject bricks and broken tiles from nearby factories and yards
It’s the sheer size of the structure that first strikes you. Almost 40 metres (131ft) tall, its spires and giant dome tower over the surrounding apartment blocks in this Madrid suburb.
That’s not unusual for a Spanish church. But this one is being built by an elderly man, almost single-handedly, out of junk.
Justo Gallego – or Don Justo, as he’s known – embarked on his epic endeavour almost half a century ago.
Now 85 years old, he still has a huge amount to do.
OctogenarianChristmas was a rare rest day for Justo, whose one concession to age – and the weather – is to work inside during winter.
Even so, he’s on site by 6am each day, sporting his red woollen skullcap. His grubby overalls are tied loosely with one red scarf; an identical one is draped – almost elegantly – around his neck.
“I do it for faith. That’s clear, no?” the energetic octogenarian wonders, pausing to warm himself by an open fire.
Don Justo Don Justo is neither a qualified architect or bricklayer – he is a farmer“My mother was very pious. She taught me my faith and I love the Church. So I put everything into this.”
But as a printed statement on the wall declares, Justo Gallego is “not an architect or a bricklayer” and has “no training related to construction”.Even his basic education was interrupted by the Civil War (1936-39).
“You don’t need to study. You just need strength. It all comes from above,” he reasons.
So is Justo’s giant construction a remarkable act of faith or pure folly?
His church has no planning permission or formal architectural plans. All the details, Justo says, are “in my head”. People have called me crazy and insulted me. But they’re ignorant”
Partly modelled on St Peter’s in the Vatican, Justo claims his construction also borrows from the White House, various castles and other Madrid churches. It’s an eclectic mix.
Oil drumsThe vast central dome took 20 years to erect and there are two dozen more incomplete cupolas around the building.
There are cloisters, a sacristy, even a cavernous crypt. Sections of several walls have been painted gaudily to depict scenes from the Bible.
But, with no funding, the entire place is built out of recycled materials.
At 0400 every morning, Justo collects reject bricks and broken tiles from nearby factories and yards and deploys them in his church to higgledy-piggledy effect.
The columns supporting the ceiling were moulded using empty oil drums. The covering for one cupola is made from plastic food tubs, cut up.
Cathedral central dome Don Justo says his construction is partly modelled on St. Peter’s in the Vatican“People have called me crazy and insulted me. But they’re ignorant,” Justo says defiantly, during a guided tour of his life’s work.
“When I look at what I’ve created, it overwhelms me and I give thanks to the Lord.”
A former novice monk, Justo began work on his DIY church when he was expelled from the monastery after contracting tuberculosis. He has since invested his entire inheritance in the project.
He has one faithful helper who dropped by almost 20 years ago to visit.
“I thought the place was a ruin and Don Justo was a tramp,” Angel Lopez Sanchez recalls, as he marks patterns onto glass with gold paint. His two ferrets sleep in a cage in the corner.
The bricks don’t meet minimum standards, either in themselves or the way they’ve been laid.”
Pablo Queralto Architect working for Mejorada del Campo council
‘Icon of the town’“But we spent all day chatting, he fed me chorizo and as I had a lot of spare time, I told him I’d help. He got so deep into my heart that I’m still here today and very content.”
Angel estimates the window he’s decorating is about the hundredth. There are around a thousand more to complete.
“But this is all Justo’s work, and his ideas” Angel smiles. “I’m just his disciple.”
“I work in a hurry, always in a rush,” Justo says, as he smashes panes of coloured glass into tiny fragments for Angel to glue to the windows.“Realising my ideal spurs me on. People today are very passive, they don’t value anything. They’re slaves to worldly things.”
Inside the cathedral With no funding, the entire place is built out of recycled materialsBut Justo is well aware his extraordinary ideal may never be fully realised.
As well as finishing the windows, the central dome still has no cover and the floor is bare; spiral staircases curl up towards the heavens and end in mid-air.
Scrawled on the wall in chalk are urgent appeals to visitors to donate funds for the church’s completion.
So far, the town council has tolerated the illicit structure, which lures a steady trickle of visitors to the nondescript suburb. Some suspect the chaotically-constructed church will not outlast its creator.
“It’s very difficult to get a license now,” says Pablo Queralto, an architect working for Mejorada council.
“For example the bricks don’t meet minimum standards, either in themselves or the way they’ve been laid.”
But he described the eccentric edifice as an icon of the town now, unlikely to be torn down.
Justo has bequeathed his building to the local bishopric in the hope it can eventually serve as a fully functional parish church. That’s his ideal, though he’s pragmatic.
“Who knows what he’ll do. It’s up to him,” he shrugs. But as Don Justo rushes back to yet another urgent task, he says he has no regrets.
“If I lived my life again, I’d build this church again, only bigger. Twice the size,” he smiles, his elderly eyes sparkling.
“Because for me, this is an act of faith.”
Ti’s a darn shame we can’t embed video here anymore. Here’s a link about the upcoming restoration of painted panels in Chichester Cathedral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0POv7HrjRc&feature=player_embedded
@Recorder wrote:
Hey Prax et al., just to say that St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association (http://www.catholicheritage.blogspot.com), whence the shots of Carlow Cathedral on the last page, have published the December issue of their journal CHRISVS REGNAT with the first part of an interview with Prof. Duncan G. Stroik and an article on ‘The Architects of Kildare and Leighlin’
Thanks for that information Recorder, welcome to the thread & a happy new year to you.
Iconic St Mel’s ‘will rise from ashes’
Cathedral bells’ return gives hope to faithful
By JEROME REILLY
Sunday December 26 2010
ON Christmas Eve last year, Bishop Colm O’Reilly celebrated Midnight Mass to a packed congregation at St Mel’s. Tragically five hours after the bells tolled the dawn of Christmas Day, the cathedral was ablaze.
It was a devastating loss for the people of Longford and for the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois.
Bishop O’Reilly had spent more than four decades in the building, first as a young cleric and finally as spiritual leader of the diocese.
As the flames still smouldered behind him, Bishop O’Reilly gave an emotional interview to RTE News on Christmas Day. Though his flock was still in shock, his words struck a chord of hope.
“It will be restored,” he said emphatically.
Shortly afterwards, the bishop and the restoration committee set a date. Five years on from the blaze, Mass would once again be celebrated in the cathedral.
Today, the feast of St Stephen, that target is still very much on track — though what is left of the cathedral is in a shocking state. A temporary roof has been erected to maintain the fabric of the fire-scorched interior and protect it from further damage.
“The sound of the cathedral bells in Longford has been like punctuation marks marking the passing of time every day for longer than anyone here can remember. The bells have been silenced since last Christmas and have been missed much more than we could have anticipated. But they rang out again this Christmas. They were electronically operated but, for all that, they will be like angels’ voices,” Bishop O’Reilly says.
The Bishop believes that for the people of Longford, this Christmas has brought emotional turmoil.
“We need to experience the joy that comes at this time. However, as we arrived at the first anniversary of the fire that destroyed our Cathedral, we experience some nostalgia. The word nostalgia means ‘a return of pain’. The feelings of Longford people have been nostalgia in that original sense.”
But Bishop O’Reilly says both he and his flock are determined not to be paralysed by painful memories.
“Ever since the fire happened last Christmas, we have moved from lamenting our loss to thoughts of restoration and new beginnings,” he says.
The building has been the focal point of the town of Longford ever since it was completed in the 1850s.
“As long as the cathedral remains in its present state local people will continue to feel the pain of loss. They might find some comfort in the knowledge that a short time after its foundation stone was laid amid great euphoria, building had to be stopped due to the Great Famine. It was then in a similar or indeed a worse state than it is now.
“The Freeman’s Journal in 1868 recalled what it was like between 1847 and 1853 when building work had to be halted: ‘The famine of ’47 stopped the progress of the work, and the rains of heaven trickled down its unroofed walls. The wild nettle and luxuriant weed twined around the half-raised columns, or covered the prostrate pillars lying scattered all around. The weather-beaten walls, prostrate columns and roofless waste, all overrun with weeds spoke rather of a ruin than of a work progressing to completion,'” quoted Bishop O’Reilly.
He acknowledges that he won’t be bishop by the time the cathedral is reinstated. He has reached 75 and under church rules, has sent his letter of resignation to Rome.
He has been heartened by the diversity of suggestions that have been put forward about the restoration. How the new cathedral will look has already initiated an energetic debate which gives him hope.
“As people began to learn of the true extent of the damage caused to the building, many people came forward with suggestions about what the restored cathedral might look like. Some wrote letters, some of which strongly stated that nothing short of full and exact restoration of the interior of the cathedral should be contemplated.
“There were others who took quite the opposite view. Broadly speaking, people divided into those who are for restoring everything as it was on Christmas Eve 2009 before the fire, while others suggested a new style of interior.”
Bishop O’Reilly accepts that there is tension between liturgy and heritage but he says this need not be a negative debate.
“Holding the two in balance will undoubtedly be a challenge for the future. Our hope is that this will be successfully addressed in dialogue between architects and artists on the one hand and clergy and people on the other.”
“It will be possible to let people actually see for themselves what might be made work to combine the best of the old and the needs of a living liturgy in our time.”
“Let me add that in reaching agreement between different sides to the argument about the style of the interior of the cathedral, beauty should never be sacrificed,” he says.
While St Mel’s rises from the ashes, St Mary’s Church in Athlone has officially become the interim cathedral for the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois.
On the first Sunday of Advent, Bishop O’Reilly celebrated Mass at St Mary’s.
As part of that move, the bishop’s chair which had been used at St Mel’s from the 1890s to the 1970s is now in place on the altar of St Mary’s.
Its inauguration as interim cathedral means that occasions such as the blessing of oils during Holy Week in Easter will now take place at St Mary’s.
– JEROME REILLY
Sunday IndependentSomeone just kindly sent me this link http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4092
Should of thought of checking there, anyway this is what they have on him . .No mention of the mighty JJ you’ll notice, however does O’Callaghan’s address in Killarney suggest he wasn’t quite right in the head area.Architect, of Killarney, Co. Kerry. Eugene O’Callaghan was on the first committee of the AAI, formed in May 1872, and was passed for ballot as an associate of the RIAI on 9 October 1877. His address is given as Killarney in the list of persons who attended the conference of Irish architects held in Dublin on 22 January 1878. And more specifically as the District Asylum, Killarney, when he was proposed for membership of the RIAI the following November by GEORGE CARLISLE HENDERSON, seconded by ALBERT EDWARD MURRAY and JAMES HIGGINS OWEN. He was elected a member on 28 November 1878. The fact that his application was supported by Henderson and Murray suggests that he had been working in their office in Dublin while they were in partnership during the 1870s. His membership was subsequently cancelled because he did not pay his subscription, possbly because he had died.
Does anyone know what association Eugene O’Callaghan might have had with JJ McCarthy?
It would be nice to find out whether or not he was apprenticed to him.
And no unfortunately . .It’s not my book.
@gunter wrote:
There might be a bit of class to the design of the capital [probably lifted], but that column base looks like an un-rolled out condom.
Yeah . .Well, you know youself gunter, good inspirational design can come from many different sources.
St. Alphonsus’ Church Barntown
In past renovations the Pugin decoration and artefacts were considered old fashioned and were removed as the style of the times demanded. In the late 1990’s, a church renovation committee was formed under the chairmanship of Fr. Sean Gorman, C.C., with the primary intention of restoring the church to its former Pugin beauty. With this in mind, the committee engaged Mr. Michael Tierney, Architect, who had recently completed the renovation of St. Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy.
A local firm, Cleary and Doyle, were hired as the main contractors for the project.
When work began, major structural damage was discovered in the roof beams and walls, which was more extensive than anticipated. When carrying out these repairs it was necessary to cover the beautiful original plastered and stencilled ceiling.
Last Rites for Ugly Church at NYU From here.
Just yesterday we were discussing the destruction of the Rivington Street Temple. That was a real loss for the Lower East Side. The building was a classic: arguably beautiful, with real historic value. Contrast that to the Catholic Center at NYU at 58 Washington Square South. This is an ugly building, styled in the conventions of the post-war brutalism movement. The interior is slightly more pleasing to the eye, but the overall, the structure is a blight on the neighborhood. As such, we were glad to hear news that the Archdiosese has decided to knock it down. Washington Square News reports:
A hangman’s house turned house of God, the Catholic Center at NYU has its share of idiosyncrasies — including a six-pointed star.
But after 42 years of sitting on Washington Square South, the building and its stained-glass Star of David will be torn down at the end of the summer because of its dire conditions, financial issues stemming from a pricey energy bill and the possibility of better utilizing of the space.
The 315-person capacity chapel, which currently serves the NYU Roman Catholic community, will be rebuilt in two or three years. The smaller 100-person capacity chapel will only occupy part of the 35,000 square foot plot, said Father John P. McGuire, the Director of the Catholic Center. It is not known what will be built in the remaining space.
Let’s just hope the new building is better looking than the current one!
UPDATE: some commenters were incensed that we condemned the church as being ugly, so we took another long look today. Turns out that it’s even uglier than we originally thought! Calling it a visual blight on the neighborhood is being kind. The concrete facade is dingy and dirty, the proportions are horrible, and the brick facing may have seemed like a good idea in the 1960s, but it looks terrible now. Sorry to be so harsh, but the Catholics at NYU deserve a much better building for their masses. WWJD? He’d bulldoze it and build something new.
Is anyone aware whether Moyra Doorly is still running her ‘Ouch! Campaign’
[align=center:1jetwi3z]
The Destruction of Sacred Space
[/align:1jetwi3z]
[align=center:1jetwi3z]
We now have many years’ proof of the vandalism visited on the
Church by modernist architectural theories and church re-ordering.
And yet, still the bishops push throughunpopular and
destructive re-orderings. Journalist and writer, Moyra
Doorly, has launched the Ouch! Campaign (Outcry against Ugly
Churches) to fight back against these iconoclastic trends. Here, she
introduces Ouch! and then goes on to pinpoint the relativist fallacy
underlying so much contemporary church building and re-ordering.[/align:1jetwi3z]
There has been a great building disaster – a disaster in church building. It goes deeper than the question of whether modern churches are ugly or banal, as popular sentiment would maintain. The appearance of the modern church building is only a symptom. The problem is that today’s churches are built according to the principles of relativist space.
The aim of the Ouch! campaign is to identify the spirit of relativism that has become incorporated into the very fabric of today’s church buildings and at the same time argue for a return to traditional architectural and liturgical forms. Only this re-turning can counter the relativist spirit of the age which has brought about both the dismantling of the form of the church building and the collapse of the liturgy.
Contemporary architectural and liturgical forms are earth-bound and inward-looking. Implicit in these forms is a denial of the transcendent and of the concept of sacred space. The spirit of relativism has emptied churches across the world. The first step in turning the tide is the ending of the unprecedented practice of Mass facing the people.
Mass facing the people is a result of the paradox of living in a relativist universe. In the modern search for unlimited freedom, space has been liberated from all constraints and this has emptied the universe of meaning, leaving no direction to turn other than inwards. The ending of the practice of Mass facing the people is the first and crucial step towards reclaiming both the transcendent vision, which turns the gaze outwards, and the concept of sacred space, which gives meaning and direction to what is out there and beyond. These have all but been eradicated from the contemporary universe and from the modern church building.
The Ouch! campaign can therefore be summed up in three words – turn again, Father!
Everything is relative?
It has been said that the modern age began in 1915 with the publication of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. The equations defined a universe in which the absolutes no longer applied, the traditions were superfluous and objective truth became subservient to subjective reality. The theories were an answer to the already well-known and often-repeated Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887 which showed that light does not behave in accordance with Newton’s absolute laws of motion. Einstein’s revolutionary proposal was that each individual occupies his or her own space and time in which the speed of light is always constant for that person. From then on, one individual’s reality would be as true as any other; one person’s version of events as real as the next.
Objective truth or authority cannot be acknowledged in a universe in which all versions of reality are equally valid because to do so would imply a standard against which opposing viewpoints might be measured. There can be no absolute values in a relativist universe. What may be right for an individual in certain circumstances may not be right for an individual in different circumstances. ‘Everything is relative’, is one of the mantras of the age.
The principles of relativist space have defined both the form of the contemporary universe and the modernist style of architecture, which has been adopted by the Church. Relativist space is homogeneous, direction-less and value-free. In the relativist universe it’s the same everywhere you look because nowhere has any more or less significance than anywhere else. Relativist space is empty of meaning because it’s up to the observer to give significance to what he or she sees.
You could travel for an eternity through the infinite space of the contemporary universe and the end you reach might be no more significant than the place you started from. All possibilities and unlimited freedoms exist out there but which one do you choose, which way do you go. In the relativist universe there’s no particular place to go and nowhere special to look. The relativist universe is vast, empty and meaningless from here to its infinitely distant ends.
From celestial realm to human psyche
The abode of God, the angels and the saints was once the celestial realm which lay beyond the orbit of the Moon. But in the modern age the heavens have been emptied of the divine. There is no actual place for God in the relativist universe, no location for Heaven or hell, nowhere for the angels and saints. The map of the heavens has been rubbed out, the signposts have been taken down and the pathways obscured. There is only one truly sacred place in the relativist universe – the human psyche. The psychoanalysts have turned God and his angels and saints into archetypes, into personifications of the unconscious forces which originate from within the human being. In the modern age it is within the human individual that the sacred is to be found and in the human unconscious that the path to the divine must be sought.
Bauhaus and God’s house
The Bauhaus School of design was founded in 1919 in Weimar, Germany by the architect Walter Gropius to create a clean, new architecture for a clean, new future. Many of the big names of modernism taught there, such as the artists Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Since the traditions were considered obsolete, all the talk was of ‘starting from zero’. A universal aesthetic was to be found through the use of honestly expressed materials, geometry and mass production. The styles were redundant. All forms of embellishment and decoration were out.
Just as relativity had helped free universal space from the absolutes, so architectural space was to be liberated from traditional concepts. New construction methods employing steel and reinforced concrete allowed greater spans to be achieved without so much solid masonry. Space could now ‘flow’ because there was no longer any need to restrict an activity to an area enclosed by heavy walls. Sliding doors and partitions would allow activity areas, or zones, to be closed off and opened up again as the need arose.
Buildings were no longer to be considered in terms of connected but individually defined spaces, but as an expression of unbounded, non-hierarchical space, space which could be multi-functional and flexible because nothing need be fixed or absolute. The old formalities were lifted; the boundaries were dissolved; open-plan was born.
Lightweight curtain walling and extensive areas of glazing would help lighten the perimeters of buildings and visually connect their interiors with the exterior. Raising buildings off the ground on columns, or ‘piloti’ would allow the space around them to flow without restriction or limitation. Abandoning the traditional patterns of streets, squares, avenues and courtyards, etc., would liberate the city, and buildings would no longer need to fit into an imposed ground plan.
The search was on for the elemental purity to be found in the primary geometric forms – circles, squares and triangles, and the primary colours – red, blue and yellow. The belief was in the universality of these forms and that paring everything down to these basic elements would release a universal truth. Searching for nameless essences has been an activity seriously undertaken in the modernist age. A set of monochrome canvases takes on new significance if they are really a meditation on the theme of yellow. A single note played by a symphony orchestra then becomes a contemplation of that one sound, a study on that one note. Colours and sounds have vibrations and by tuning into them their truth can be known.
The dematerialising of the arts and the dissolving of the boundaries between them was cited as evidence that a new epoch was dawning. The aim was to shatter the forms completely and merge them into one another. Plastic art and plastic architecture, in which nothing is fixed and nothing is permanent, were the goal. Space, light, colour, sound and materials would express the one underlying truth that unites everything.
During the search for the essence of things, the appearances could be discarded. The emptied out minimalism of the modernist style spread across the world, and a universe that had been stripped of meaning found its expression in an architecture that had been stripped of style and everything unnecessary. Modernism was trumpeted as the style for a new dawn, the new epoch that had begun. But the sun rose on the Birmingham Bullring which is scheduled for demolition, on the Peckham Estate which is being demolished, and on Liverpool Cathedral which should be demolished.
How churches became temples
One of the most frequent complaints people make about modern church buildings is that they don’t look like churches, which in some quarters may only be evidence of a sentimental attachment to outmoded concepts and might elicit a response like, ‘But we’ve been freed from the limitations of traditional forms, so who’s to say what churches should look like?’
But this complaint points to a devastating fact. The twentieth century saw a great deal of church building, most of it in the modernist style. The fact that the results are generally unloved is bad enough. What is worse is that in spite of all the building activity that went on, hardly a church was built. The modern church building doesn’t look like a church because it hardly is a church. The modern church building is, rather, a temple to the spirit of the age.
The Church today worships in a relativist universe and the contemporary church building reflects this, both in its interior and exterior. Inside, the typical new church appears as one single space that can be taken in at a glance. Gone, or greatly diminished, are the distinctions between the sanctuary and nave and between the nave and narthex. Gone is the hierarchy of spaces created by these distinctions and all sense of movement and progression from the world towards God. The interior of the church building today reflects the unbounded and infinite emptiness of today’s value-free universe.
The modern church building is set in a cosmic context that denies the existence of the sacred. Sacred space requires that boundaries be created and distinctions drawn between places of greater and lesser significance. The concept of a place set apart, a holy place, is alien to the relativist spirit that is embodied in the architectural style of the age. The traditional form of the church building is considered outmoded and has been blown apart.
As a consequence, the ‘appearances’ have also been stripped away, with the superfluous being disposed of to reveal the so-called essentials. Statues, carvings and wall paintings have been removed and decoration and embellishment have been thrown out. The aim is a pure and functional aesthetic that has been stripped down to the bare brickwork, the rough concrete, the unpainted wood.
Circles are also favoured in contemporary churches. The priest faces the people, creating a closed, circular arrangement, and the sanctuary and altar have been pushed forward so that the people can gather around and take part. But circles direct the attention inwards, which is the only direction to look in a relativist universe that is empty of any objective truth or reality out there.
Back to the early Church?
Church design today is said to recapture the simplicity and sense of community experienced by the first Christians. Above all, people should feel at home. A movement in the 1970s went so far as to promote the non-church building and called for churches that looked like fire stations or community centres. Some said that church buildings weren’t necessary at all and that open fields or friends’ sitting rooms would do just as well. The first Christians met in each others’ houses, after all. Churches needn’t stand out from the library or the post office. Their exteriors should be designed to downplay the significance of the church as a building. From the street, the message must be, ‘There is nothing special here’.
The result of all this has been a great building disaster, one of the greatest building disasters in the history of the Church. For nearly two thousand years, church design evolved as the sensibilities and tastes of the centuries changed. But while the romanesque, the medieval and the baroque might display significant aesthetic and stylistic differences, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that concepts of space changed fundamentally and drastically enough to shatter the spatial principles determining the form of the church building and its relationship to the universe.
It is often claimed that the recent liturgical changes represent an attempt to get back to the worship of the early Church. But discarding nearly twenty centuries of tradition and style in order to emulate the purity and simplicity of a much earlier, uncluttered age is a modernist fallacy. It stems from the belief that there was once an ideal time – the time of the first human societies on the plains or in the forest – and that over the millennia these became corrupted and overloaded with unnecessary rules and stifling customs. Accordingly, religion and morality are seen as tools of oppression and liberation from their constraints is the goal so that the innocence and togetherness of the first human communities can be recaptured.
Hierarchical not relativist
It was Aristotle who proposed the division between ‘nature’ – which was composed of the four elements, air, fire, earth and water – and ‘sky’ – which was of an entirely different substance, aether. And it was the astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria, who first mapped out the planetary orbits, showing a universe of concentric spheres.
This was the universe known by the first Christians. Just as sacred buildings can be ‘read’ as maps or models of the spiritual heavens, so the physical universe of an age can be understood by studying the sacred buildings of that age. The universe known by the early Church lasted right through the Middle Ages until it was dismantled by Copernicus and Galileo. It was quite unlike the relativist universe the Church today has to contend with, and would not have inspired inward-looking church buildings where people ‘gather round the altar’. A vertical, hierarchical and directional universe does not call people to gather round, but to reach out and move forward. The actions of gathering round and moving forward are mutually exclusive.
An aspirational universe
The medieval universe was both vertical and directional. People knew where they were and they knew that up and down really mattered. This was an aspirational universe. The medieval cathedral was a microcosm of the medieval universe. Its elaborate west façade emphasised that the pilgrim was entering another realm, synonymous with the celestial realm that lay beyond the orbit of the moon. Symbolically the world lay in the west and was outside the door just as the Earth was outside the Heavens and occupied the lowest place in the universe, in keeping with man’s fallen nature.
Once inside, the narthex or porch functioned as an intermediate place, to allow for adjustment and for earthly business to be conducted under Heaven’s gaze. Then the pilgrim passed into the nave, the main body of the church, and then towards the sanctuary which was shielded behind an elaborately carved and decorated rood screen, so profound were the mysteries enacted there. This, the most sacred place on earth, was the preserve of the clergy.
Whether in a cathedral, a monastic chapel or parish church, this progression of defined spaces embodied the aspirational universe of the age. To pass through the door of the cathedral or parish church was to journey from the profane to the sacred, from the fallen world to the highest Heaven.
A failed theory
Evicting God from the universe so that men can become gods has been a modernist project. In such a universe the church building cannot be tolerated and a great many have been almost pulled to pieces. But the relativist universe is only a theory.
A great deal of effort has gone into the denial of the transcendent vision and the dismantling of sacred space in recent decades. But if the architecture of relativist space can be rejected in the secular sphere it can surely be rejected by the Church.
Today there is much talk of the need for evangelisation and great cathedrals and modest parish churches alike have the power to draw people to them. Unfortunately, cathedrals and churches built in recent decades tend to have the opposite effect. Many atheists used to say that whatever they felt about religion, it was impossible not to admire church architecture, art and music. Now there is hardly a Catholic who can admire (modern) church architecture, art and music. That is why the Ouch! campaign has been launched – to begin to make good the destruction of our sacred spaces.
[Taken from the Latin Mass Society’s February 2003 Newsletter.]
Letter to Parishioners on the Redevelopment of Allenwood Church
Dear Parishioner
Allen Parish Finance Committee has met on a number of occasions to discuss the financing of three parish projects.
It was agreed that we should launch a campaign, with a view to funding these projects.
You will be aware that major work needs to be carried out on Allenwood Church. Plans have been prepared and well received. These can be viewed on our parish website: http://www.allenparish.ie. We also wish to provide a parish presence in Robertstown, and a parish office located in Allen.
The Finance Committee hopes for a positive response from the entire parish, in view of the very successful renovation of Allen and Milltown Churches, and also because of the sizeable contributions from the parish to recent major developments of schools in each part of Allen Parish.
All of this was achieved without recourse to special fundraising activities. We acknowledge the most generous bequest to Allen Parish by Patrick Connolly, Pollardstown. We also acknowledge your financial support for the day-to-day running of the parish. A special word of thanks to the 386 people who are contributing to the weekly envelope collection.
We already have €812,000 invested in the Diocesan Investment Fund. Our immediate target in this campaign is €500,000.
- We need to very significantly increase the number of regular contributors to the weekly envelope collection.
- Perhaps some of those already contributing generously would consider increasing their contribution, even by a small amount.
- We venture to hope that there are people who feel it is appropriate for them on this occasion to make a special donation to Allen Parish.
- We welcome suggestions about specific fundraising activities.
Notwithstanding these times of great difficulty, we are confident that Allen Parish, with all its exceptionally long and proud traditions, and its great hopes for the future, will respond generously to this challenge.
Le gach dea-ghuÃ.
Fr Eddie Moore PP & Fr Brian Kavanagh CC
Dated: 7 October 2009
Allenwood Church Renovation – The thinking behind the new design
By design architect, Chiarraà Gallagher
The renovation proposal for the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Allenwood has been based on the original brief to work within the existing structure of the church and recreate – through design – a much more welcoming, reflective and prayerful space for all.In the new proposal, the sanctuary area would be relocated to the north end of the Church – from which the entire proposed plan form evolves. The seating arrangement would radiate from the sanctuary area, combining both traditional and more contemporary layouts.
The view of the proposed new church design, seen from the new gallery areaIt is proposed to reinstate a main processional aisle from the entrances, which, with the side aisles, would have the altar as their focal point. The strong central axis is re-enforced with the proposed new ‘shaped’ ceiling. This has been inspired by the existing architecture, framing and respecting the walls where they meet.
(Above): The current view of Allenwood Church, from the main entrance, with the sanctuary seen at the left. (Below): Looking towards the main entranceGallery reopening
The proposed re-opening of the gallery area, with its new access stairs, will prove invaluable for larger gatherings.
Reorganising space
Reorganising the current spaces within the church building is a critical part of this proposed scheme. This will give each area a distinct function and will allow for the addition of:
* A crying chapel,
* A day chapel,
* A dedicated reconciliation room,
* A reflection area,
* Shrines, and
* A baptismal area.The sacristy area will be relocated to the front of the church, which will allow a processional entrance for every celebration. The day-care centre will be retained within the design and be given its own independent access, additional floor space and enhanced facilities.
A ‘bird’s eye’ view from above the new sanctuary area, looking towards the church’s main entranceA spacious internal welcoming and congregational space – which extends to an external pedestrian plaza outside the main entrance – has been designed to encourage a sense of community, allowing parishioners to meet before and after services.
Continuity in design throughout the church will be provided through the use of sympathetic materials and finishes. This will ensure an evident visual connection between all liturgical elements.
[align=center:1buue0gw]
http://www.adoremus.org/0610CatholicArchitecture.html
Online Edition:
June 2010
Vol. XVI, No. 4A Living Presence… Symposium on the Development of Catholic Church Architecture[/align:1buue0gw]
[align=center:1buue0gw]Design by Daniel DeGreve, first-place winner in the symposium’s design competition.[/align:1buue0gw]by Michael Patrick
“While the work of architects and artists is both a science and an art, it is first an exalted mission.
“Beauty changes us…. It disposes us to the transformation of God. Everything related to the Eucharist should be truly beautifulâ€.
— Cardinal Justin Rigali, Keynote Address
For the first time, two major Catholic universities, The Catholic University of America and The University of Notre Dame, collaborated in presenting a symposium on Catholic church architecture. “A Living Presence: Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred Architecture†was held at The Catholic University of America (CUA) School of Architecture and Planning on April 30 and May 1.
The event was organized by the Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture, whose four directors are Professor George Martin of Catholic University, Professor Duncan Stroik of Notre Dame, and Michael Patrick and Eric Anderson of Patrick and Anderson Partners in Architecture. The symposium was the vision of Professor Martin, whose desire was that these great universities would work together for the good of the Church in the important mission of creating beautiful sacred architecture.
More than 125 people from around the world attended the symposium. The schedule was tightly packed with presentations of academic papers and professional work, including a keynote address by Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, workshops, and a tour of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception hosted by Curator Dr. Geraldine Rohling.
More than fifty presenters from across the United States — and from Italy, Spain and Hungary — contributed, with a final panel discussion featuring presentations by Denis McNamara, Assistant Director at The Liturgical Institute, Duncan Stroik of Notre Dame, and Craig Hartman, Design Partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill and designer in charge of the recently completed Oakland Cathedral of Christ the Light.
Nearly forty church designs were submitted for the design competition, and included entries from as far afield as Mexico and China. The jury — comprised of Bishop Barry Knestout of the Archdiocese of Washington, Ed Keegan, editor of Architect Magazine, and James McCrery, architect — deliberated on Thursday morning before the symposium to choose the winners, who were announced at the Saturday evening closing reception.
Inspiration for the symposium
The symposium was envisioned by the organizers as a response to Pope Benedict XVI’s call for what he termed “organic growth†in the Church. His views of the importance of the role of art and architecture in the nourishing of the faithful — as in his homily in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, and his recent meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel in Rome — was an inspiration for the event. In addition, Pope John Paul II’s Letter to Artists provided ample assurance that the artistic tradition of the Church remains of great importance to its leaders — to the successors of Peter, the rock on which Christ founded the Church. The Partnership was very pleased that Pope Benedict addressed a letter to Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, in which he extended “to all taking part in the symposium†an “Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Lordâ€.
In particular, it seemed to the Partnership that the development of Catholic church design since the Second Vatican Council had become unmoored from the Church’s history and tradition — a result almost certainly not envisioned or intended by the popes or the Second Vatican Council, as seems to be clear in its Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, for example, in which liturgical development is assumed to be gradual and keeping in mind always a continuity with what came before. The call for an organic growth in church building design and construction therefore became the cornerstone for development of the symposium, and would be its theme.
The event represented a growing wave of church design conferences around the country and an increasingly articulate call by Catholics for improvement in Catholic church design. The potential for the symposium to become a regular meeting and a known reference point for Catholic church design and construction was recognized by many. We are beginning plans for the next Sacred Architecture Symposium for 2012.
The nature of the symposium
It was essential to the organizers that the symposium be interdisciplinary in nature, including among its contributors and participants artists, musicians, academics, practicing architects, philosophers, theologians, liturgical consultants, and members of the clergy and religious life, to bring together those with different gifts as well as with divergent views on tradition and modernity. Faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church and to Church doctrine, and an understanding of the existing guidelines for church building design, was held to be central to the design of Catholic church buildings by the Partnership, but the symposium proposed that a fruitful dialogue could be held with those of differing views in the hope of creating a unified sense of mission and service to the Church. The symposium sought to identify church design as a continuous response to the living presence of Christ throughout history and today.
Speakers and presenters
“Great churches, beautiful churches, both large and small, can offer a glimpse of a world to come…. (Churches) are the windows which remind us that there is something — something beautiful — outside the town, the village, the city, the world in which we liveâ€, said Dean Randall Ott of the CUA School of Architecture, in his opening remarks in the Koubek Auditorium in the Crough Center for Architectural Studies.
The first symposium session, “Case Studiesâ€, moderated by Adnan Morshed of CUA, initiated a dynamic conversation about the nature of church design, including the development of church design in Eastern Europe since Pope John Paul II and the fall of the Soviet Union; understanding the varied development of church architecture in Spain; and gaining a perspective on how to create new church architecture by looking at the unlikely precedent of Calvinist church architecture in Venetian culture. This dynamic interplay of proposals characterized the entire symposium. Throughout the rest of Friday and Saturday sessions such as “Beauty and Abstractionâ€, “Tradition and Sacred Architecture Post-Vatican IIâ€, “Theology, Philosophy and the Lawâ€, “The Image, Representation and Sacred Artâ€, and “The Parish Church†proposed fascinating analyses of and directions for Catholic sacred architecture. A full list of presenters may be found on the symposium web site and video of all sessions will soon be available.
Two workshops — “The Matter of Money — Fundraising and Capital at the Service of the City of Godâ€, and “The Making of Sacred Buildings, Design and Construction of the Eternal City†— established the precedent for the symposium to have working groups to address real issues involved in the renovation and construction of churches. We encourage everyone to consider these as a resource for the practical development of great church architecture in the United States.
Principal presentations at lunch on Friday and Saturday, by renowned sacred artist Anthony Visco and Dr. Leo Nestor, Director of the Sacred Music program at CUA and advisor to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops on sacred music, firmly established that church buildings are a collaborative effort of all the arts, and that great church architecture integrates itself with great art and music. The speakers inspired symposium participants with their beautiful work, their practical knowledge and their passion for the liturgy and the Church.
In his keynote address on Friday evening, Cardinal Justin Rigali established three principles for the architecture of Catholic churches: one, that “Sacred Scripture testifies that the role and mission of architects and artists arise from the very nature of the plan of Godâ€, two, “The Second Vatican Council and the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI affirm that the work of architecture and art takes place in and through dialogue with the Churchâ€, and three, that “The mission of the architect and artist which is based in Sacred Scripture, and conducted in dialogue with the Church authentically develops only along the path of true beautyâ€. Cardinal Rigali’s presence underscored our intent to be faithful and of service to the Church in our exploration of an architecture — or many kinds of architecture — that can serve the modern world in continuity with all of our history. (Cardinal Rigali’s complete address is available online: http://archphila.org/rigali/cardhom/exaltedmiss2010.htm)
The symposium culminated in the panel discussion between Denis McNamara, Duncan Stroik, and Craig Hartman. This event purposely brought together Professor Stroik, with his unabashed extension of the classical tradition in churches such as Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, All Saints Church, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe; Mr. Hartman, whose commitment to modern design is beautifully evident in his recently completed Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California; and Dr. McNamara, whose depth of theological insight was a tremendous foundation for the discussion.
Each of these principal speakers gave a short presentation, which was followed by a highly engaged discussion among the panelists and with symposium participants. Dr. McNamara shared with us that “ … a church building allows us to see heaven with our eyes.… Art and architecture can allow us to perceive otherwise invisible spiritual realitiesâ€, and Duncan Stroik proposed that “Architecture is not about producing copies, but of producing children. [Architects should] learn from the examples of the past.†Mr. Hartman explained the process of designing and building a modern cathedral, and shared his design process and the exploration of light as a symbol of Christ.
A forum for discussion
The symposium was attended by many practitioners and theorists who have been among the strongest voices in proposing a classical architectural language as an appropriate option for Catholic church design, notable among them Thomas Gordon Smith and Duncan Stroik and many whom they educated in the architecture school at Notre Dame. Those with a desire or willingness to use classical forms and principles of architecture are often marginalized in contemporary discussions of architecture — dismissed as promoting an architecture disconnected from contemporary life and outmoded.
However, the compelling presentations of classical forms that respond in an original way to current problems of church architecture, along with the fundamental beauty of the work, were a welcome and significant presence throughout the two days of the symposium. As these forms respond to many faithful American Catholics’ ideas of an architecture that well expresses the glory and majesty of God, the reverence appropriate to the setting for the Holy Mass, and a hierarchy appropriate to the life of the Church — as well as a sense of connection with the continuous history of the Church — they deserve a serious hearing.
Many who attended the symposium, however, objected to this view. They found this approach to extending the architectural tradition too literal. In their view, modern life — including technology and building techniques — is so profoundly different from the Renaissance and Baroque periods that an equally profound transformation of the architectural idiom is necessary to reflect and express the developments that have occurred over the centuries.
Luigi Bartolomei from Italy and a number of his European colleagues expressed vocal disagreement with the proposals of classical architecture as an architecture for today.
In fact, this view predominates in most discussions of architecture; where the assumed baseline for appropriate architecture is using forms, materials, design principles and methods of construction drawn primarily from our contemporary world. In its more radical form, this perspective may result in architectural forms that are unrelated to Catholic history, or so abstracted and simplified as to be unsatisfying to many Catholics. In some cases these new forms are also indicative of a challenge to the way the Church itself has developed — that is to say, they sometimes embody a proposal that the Church has become too hierarchical, the clergy too distant from the people, church buildings imbued with too much significance and embellished too lavishly.
In both the presentations and the design competition entries, there were a significant number of symposium participants who were clearly engaging in the challenge of defining a path that both engages the tradition and makes something new, which not only extends what came before but transforms it with full cognizance of the challenges and opportunities of contemporary culture. One example is Steven Schloeder, whose writing and work exhibit a robust effort to create modern buildings consonant with the tradition and theology of the Church. We wish to encourage those who attended this symposium with this task in mind, and to invite all those engaged in this endeavor to attend the next symposium. We encourage those who are critical of the more literal extensions of classical architecture to look seriously at the beauty and connection to the Communion of Saints across time that these buildings provide. To those critical of new architecture we ask that they take the time to understand the nature of the attempts being made, any one of which may be a breakthrough for an architecture that expresses the beauty, truth and goodness of Christ in a way uniquely consonant with contemporary life.
Building for the future
The goal of this symposium and future ones is to be a dynamic meeting place in which a work of discussion and collaboration can be undertaken, in which those who do beautiful classically inspired churches can share their work and reconnect us to the tradition of the Catholic Church; while those who are exploring ways for this tradition to be transformed by the facts of our own historical moment are encouraged to explore how this transformation can best take place, and for each to learn from the other. Many are working toward an architecture that is faithful to the Church, connected to tradition, and located in the current culture in an expressive way. This is a work with tremendous potential for fruitfulness and service to the Church.
The Partnership for Catholic Sacred Architecture planned this first symposium on sacred architecture in the hope of finding a path acknowledging — and building upon — what is good in diverse approaches; unified by a love for God and a desire for service to the Church. Based on comments by participants, it succeeded as a first small step in this large and profound task.
It is our hope that out of this symposium will emerge a stronger sense of where we have been, and why, and a great enthusiasm for the possibilities that lie before us in making Catholic churches that are worthy to take their place in the great architectural tradition of the Church.
Note: The symposium presentations are all being made available in video format at live.cua.edu/ACADEMICS/ARCH/architectureConference2010.cfm.
Results of the design competition along with all entries may be seen on the web site A Living Presence: architecture.cua.edu/ alivingpresence. The site will also feature information on the 2012 symposium.
@gunter wrote:
That’s sad about Byrne’s fate, you’d have thought that the church might have looked after their old architect after such a lifetime of service.
I can’t still get my head round the idea that Patrick Byrne, who worked so diligently for the Catholic Church for all those years, designing & most likely back then overseeing the construction of over twenty or so wonderful church buildings, was basically overlooked & forgotten by them when he died, & then was buried without a gravestone of any description, in a cemetery he designed. . .For them !
Being that he was also vice-president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland from 1852 until his death in 1864. . They should not also maybe consider getting their finger out to right themselves by doing something befitting for his memory at the unmarked plot XA34 in Glasnevin.
What might be the best way to begin a campaign & bring this issue to the attention of both these amnesiacal organizations ?
@Praxiteles wrote:
Something further on the above:
The Three Classicists from RIBAJournal.com on Vimeo.
It’s quite a good video that, pity the camera doesn’t zoom right in at the end to show some clearer detail of the completed drawing. Interesting soundtrack also. . A strange fusion of Classical & Drum n Bass. .Very highbrow.;)
