Recorder

I’ve been thinking about your point some more Prax and I asked the author of those posts about it. He put it into his post on Emo.

http://catholicheritage.blogspot.com/2011/04/ones-got-away-emo.html

He said “It has been pointed out to me that this series is (inadvertently) providing a ‘hit list’ for the wreckovators. Sadly, as I said in my first post, the (misplaced) zeal of architectural modernists has by no means been abated either by the pastoral failure of their plans, the increasing poverty of the country or by Pope Benedict’s hermenutic of continuity. If I were to make a guess, nothing this side of the grave is going to abate their zeal to destroy beauty.”

He also said to me that there’s really no point in ignoring the Churches that remain because the wreckovators-in-chief are usually the “birds of passage” who are controling the Church at the time and who are celebrating liturgies there week in and week out so they are already aware of these Churches. The only issue is whether or not the men in situ want to wreck and whether the people of the place are determined to oppose it.

He also tells me, for example, that he had a post ready for a Church in Laois but had to replace it because the planning authorities gave in on it a few months ago and work was rapidly completed on turning it into an assembly space with a little devotional museum at the rear. There is another fantastic Church in that Parish that is probably next in line.

On the other hand, it could be a positive thing if people with a sensitivity for liturgical architecture get to know about these Churches. If some sense of pride in the architectural heritage of Kildare and Leighlin can be created then maybe these Churches can be saved.

What do you think Prax et al?

There’s an interesting series of posts over at http://www.catholichertiage.blogspot.com entitled ‘the ones that got away,’ which turns out to be a longer list that I thought of Churches in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin that have largely escaped the post VII hammers. It features the interiors and exteriors of some churches that are included in Archiseek archives and some that are not. I’m having trouble getting the pictures up but here are links to a few.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jg8W1Ss6BsA/ThIrWC_wtQI/AAAAAAAABd8/7T5FResOZrM/s1600/P4301102.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U3_Xoj6EQH0/TXwO0JMVh_I/AAAAAAAAAl4/iR2Q65pI-PQ/s1600/Borris%2BParish%2BChurch%2BSacred%2BHeart%2BInterior.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vtn5t06abM4/THkxV9ImAnI/AAAAAAAAAew/YSB1kBX0gtk/s1600/Epistle.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5V690TZsh6I/TVkuj_Cq9eI/AAAAAAAAAUs/s0RocMoxVCs/s1600/Ardattin%2BChurch%2BCarlow%2BInterior.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9AZmnDTxxuY/TVhzLg5bsTI/AAAAAAAAAS8/SU31JeDvdZg/s1600/Kilquiggin%2BChurch%2BWicklow%2BSanctuary.JPG

The complete series is here: http://catholicheritage.blogspot.com/search/label/Lucky%20Escape

Speaking of St. Conleth’s, while attending the first Latin Mass there in forty years (hardly disturbed by thuds from the graves out front), I noticed that Bishop Ryan’s modifications to the Altar Rails were not just an aesthetic and cultural disaster but they make it almost impossible to get in and out of the sacristy, which is not ideally situated in any case. The rails were taken from the full width of the Cathedral and places in ‘U’ shapes around the side Altars. The space is so small it would be impossible to serve a Mass inside but, at the same time, is so close to the side wall that there is hardly space for a person comfortably to walk between the rail and the wall to get to the sacristy door. Larger processions must be a nightmare.

http://catholicheritage.blogspot.com/2010/05/carlow-cathedral-for-saint-joseph.html