Last week, The Most Reverend Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, wrote a pastoral Pentecost Letter on the Liturgy to his archdiocese. The Archbishop issued new instructions as the Australian bishops begin the full implementation of their new General Instruction for the Roman Missal (GIRM). The archbishop points out that “The new version of General Instruction is one of a number of indications that the Church is moving into a new phase of the ongoing journey of liturgical renewal”.
This event give the Archbishop a chance to consider beauty in Catholic worship (emphasis mine):
Pope Benedict has stressed the point that beauty has a unique power to speak of the mysteries of the faith, and to speak to those who may not share our faith. That is why the Catholic Church has always been concerned with beauty in worship – not for the sake of a vapid aestheticism but for the sake of the Gospel. Imperfect created beauty makes visible the perfect uncreated beauty of God which is revealed supremely in Christ crucified and risen. Therefore, the buildings in which we worship should be beautiful, which is not to say highly elaborate or impossibly expensive. The great churches of the Franciscan tradition, for instance, have about them a striking simplicity, but they are also strikingly beautiful. Some of the older churches in the Archdiocese are beautiful and need only to be respected for what they are. Many of the newer churches are less evocative, and it is worth asking perhaps how they might be made more beautiful without spending a fortune.
The good archbishop covers many topics in his letter We can read the whole Pentecost Letter on the Liturgy (in PDF format) on the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn web page.
Archbishop Coleridge has a handsome church, built in the Spanish Romanesque style. See the Archdiocesan web page for a beautiful slide show tour of St. Christopher’s Cathedral, Canberra. St. Christopher’s is in the Manuka district of Canberra, and is the largest church in the Australian capitol city. A 1973 remodeling extended the nave, increasing the seating from 440 to 720.
“Therefore, the buildings in which we worship should be beautiful, which is not to say highly elaborate or impossibly expensive.”
I agree,
Here’s an example of something I consider way too elaborate!
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/4199/dsc0156tm6.jpg
Maria -
I agree too. I think that style is called “Rococo Loco”.
Where is that church?
Troy
It is the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius , Lithuania.
Here’s some of the caption that accompanied the picture:
” … A church was standing in this place already in early 14th century, that is, when we were still pagan… It was later given to oldest in Lithuania – Dominican order and reconstructed in 1679-88.
…Church and monastery have an extensive underground tunnel network, with catacombs that hold ~2000 mummified bodies. After regaining the independence, the church was given to polish predominently catholic minority in Vilnius, and now serves as their “main” church.”
Here’s the link. They have other church architecture pictures as well.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=578341