Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why Catholic churches are like shabby department stores
Telegraph.co ^ | October 8th, 2009 | Damian Thompson

Posted on 10/30/2009 10:20:38 AM PDT by Gamecock

Recently I attended a Catholic service in a church, and a diocese, which shall remain nameless. This is not because there is anything scandalous to report, but because I’m about to compare it to a 1970s department store.

Then, after Vatican II, its interior was modernised. But we’re not talking savage reordering here: just the usual wall-to-wall carpeting of the sanctuary, removal of the altar rails and – unforgivably, not least because it makes a nonsense of the high altar – the removal of the tabernacle to… somewhere.

Sometimes you walk into a modern Catholic church and think: this is really just a community centre with icons.

But then, in the 1970s, younger customers deserted it for chain stores, so someone gave the shop a makeover in brown and cream formica panelling complete with snazzy logo. And the regular customers said: “Ooh, it’s a bit trendy for my tastes, not the same, I can’t get used to it” – but they did get used to it, because the staff were the same and nowhere else sold that colour of stockings that Mum liked.

It was the same story in the sacristy. The priest was wearing a double-breasted polyester alb whose top half resembled a chef’s outfit. I didn’t know such a thing existed. The door of the wardrobe was open, revealing a jumble of highly coloured cheap chasubles (also polyester) that could have been mistaken for the women’s clothing rack in an Oxfam shop.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; General Discusssion; Worship
KEYWORDS: catholic; store
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

1 posted on 10/30/2009 10:20:38 AM PDT by Gamecock
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Is this a British thing or are there similar issues in the US?


2 posted on 10/30/2009 10:21:25 AM PDT by Gamecock (A tulip, the most beautiful flower in God's garden.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Alas, we’re probably even worse off in the US. We had more money to do worse things to our churches and more money to build even more hideous new ones.

Things are changing now, but it’s going to take a long time to get rid of the hippie priests in their sneakers and tatty dirty albs and their airplane hangar churches with not even a cross visible.


3 posted on 10/30/2009 10:26:45 AM PDT by livius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Yes. It was the "thing to do" during the 70s.

Fortunately, there have been guidelines to rectify the situation (it used to be tradition -- small 't' -- and common sense before).

Also fortunately, they couldn't get their claws into all of the older, glorious, church buildings.

4 posted on 10/30/2009 10:28:09 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

My mom’s church in central Indiana is well...yuck. She’s actually thinking about changing parishes to one just a little further up the road.

Our parish church is quite beautiful (built around 1895): http://www.icchurch.com/ The stained glass windows are really nice. And it’s often quite packed on Sundays. There is another older Catholic church here that is pretty, and then the Catholic church just across the street from me, well, at least they have a good priest :)


5 posted on 10/30/2009 10:33:19 AM PDT by Hoosier Catholic Momma (Arkansas resident of Hoosier upbringing--Yankee with a southern twang)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hoosier Catholic Momma

I forgot to mention that our church is a landmark in Fort Smith—even people who are not Catholic know I.C. Church from a distance. Several local artists have painted beautiful renditions of it.


6 posted on 10/30/2009 10:35:07 AM PDT by Hoosier Catholic Momma (Arkansas resident of Hoosier upbringing--Yankee with a southern twang)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Similar issues in the US. Unless there is a conscious effort to recreate some well documented historical appearance, some of them can look pretty shabby, or so charmlessly modern you think you’re in a Toyota dealership. For years, St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill was my parish and it was outstanding for its cracked and peeling greenish paint. To people of a certain age, the chasubles are a joke, and the younger ones don’t know the difference. I think it is a combination of lack of funds (after you’ve paid for the new roof, you might not want to splash out on a professional paint job) and truly, horribly, abysmal taste. Lucky the church that has the wherewithal and an interested someone with cultivated taste to take care of the building properly.


7 posted on 10/30/2009 10:35:08 AM PDT by La Lydia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock
Well, there are some bright spots ...


8 posted on 10/30/2009 10:37:50 AM PDT by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Campion

This reminds me of that Baroque cathedral in Oaxaca.


9 posted on 10/30/2009 10:41:12 AM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

I’ve stepped into several non-Catholic churches with nary a cross or stained glass in sight.


10 posted on 10/30/2009 10:41:53 AM PDT by Carpe Cerevisi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Similar? Oh, yea.

Modern churches seem built with resale in mind.

They are about as sacred as strip mall.


11 posted on 10/30/2009 10:42:44 AM PDT by IrishCatholic (No local Communist or Socialist Party Chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Carpe Cerevisi

Oh don’t worry, many Evangelical churches are pretty pathetic.


12 posted on 10/30/2009 10:44:25 AM PDT by Gamecock (A tulip, the most beautiful flower in God's garden.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: aruanan

It’s Mother Angelica’s Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama ... dedicated ten years ago.


13 posted on 10/30/2009 10:44:50 AM PDT by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: livius; Gamecock
In Charlottesville and environs I'm seeing a backing away from the "ugly is good" approach. My first parish has had the cinder block plastered over and some ornamentation applied while a "community room" has been built so that we don't have our Lenten soup and bread dinners in the same room as the one in which we worship.

My second, and, current parish not only has statues of Our Lady and our patron, St. Thomas Aquinas -- with CANDLE RACKS! O M G! And a nice icon of St. Dominic. The original awful glass is there, it's still kind of semi-"in-the-round" but the tabernacle has been moved to a place of prominence and, well, it begins to look like a church!

There's still too much polyester. I bought a nice altar "linen" for our chapel (the old one was was severely fonky). But the Tsarina of the Altar Guild insisted on synthetics because we haven't really thought about how to maintain our fabrics, so they still tend to "maintenance free"plastic. Darn.

14 posted on 10/30/2009 10:50:30 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin: pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: markomalley
A classic example in the UK is the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool.

The locals call it "Paddy's Wigwam".*

The C of E Cathedral is a beautiful Gothic masterpiece.

.

*Ya, a Prottie is reported to have designed it ;^(

15 posted on 10/30/2009 10:50:45 AM PDT by investigateworld (Abortion stops a beating heart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Campion

WOW!


16 posted on 10/30/2009 10:52:03 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin: pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: markomalley

What really breaks my heart is how they’ve painted over some of the beautiful artwork on the walls of churches in favor of some plain brown wrapper type color.


17 posted on 10/30/2009 10:54:00 AM PDT by Shethink13
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: investigateworld
A classic example in the UK is the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool.

The locals call it "Paddy's Wigwam".*

The C of E Cathedral is a beautiful Gothic masterpiece.

.

*Ya, a Prottie is reported to have designed it ;^(

I can see that very well. Yuch.

18 posted on 10/30/2009 10:59:50 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: markomalley

That thing in Liverpool always looks like it’s about to launch a missile. (Missal?)


19 posted on 10/30/2009 11:02:24 AM PDT by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Campion
Okay, well, I guess Oaxaca is not so bright as that, but it was still beautiful.


20 posted on 10/30/2009 11:02:46 AM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson