Posted on 05/09/2005 8:21:36 AM PDT by franky
Forget about whether Pope Benedict XVI will soften his attitude toward the role of women in the church or discover a more pastoral approach to homosexuals or heed the pleas of manpower-poor bishops for an experiment with married priests. For many Catholics, there is only one question about the new pope's intentions: Will he turn the altars around?
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Unless I'm mistaken, "Feng Shui" is not a Catholic thing. It's a pop culture term of late. Maybe m-w.com or dictionary.com can help.
It's a Chinese thing, and very old. Based on the notion that there are "auspicious" or lucky ways to arrange your living and working space, and likewise inauspicious ways to do the same, it's essentially a form of divination.
Grappling With Catholic Feng Shui : Should the altar be turned around?
Of course but, only recently it's been showing up in the pop lexicon, thanks to the book-hawking, self-improvement crowd.
Feng-Shui was most likely introduced to Americans by Frank LLoyd Wright, the famous American architect and builder from the first half of the twentieth century. Many of his designs were the melding of oriental and occidental influences.
Mr. Wright introduced it as a concept to enhance the way a space enhances the functions taking place within those spaces. The term Feng-Shui persists in that there is no simple way in english to describe this relationship.
The author is mocking Catholics by using a pagan term to describe Catholic concern for the layout of a church.
Of course.
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