Eileen Burke-Sullivan, a theologian and vice provost for mission and ministry at Creighton University, said she sees no problem. The cathedral and the archdiocese, she said, have supported the arts in Omaha for many years.
I will side with the custodian.
And the Bishops wonder why church attendance and numbers of men entering the priesthood are falling.
I guess they don’t see it. For the church (any church) it must maintain the awe and respect of the membership, it must remain aloof from the mundane everyday world. It can not do that if it becomes a part of the everyday mundane world.
Having secular concerts and flower shows in the nave of the church makes it no more than an auditorium. In my youth I never saw anything like this in my home parish or anywhere else. Not even the protestant churches did this to my knowledge.
And this is not just a local parish this is a cathedral; the home parish of a Bishop. To me that the Bishop allows this is mind boggling. This is the church in which sits his throne. To me he himself is attacking the dignity of his office.
The only explanation I can see for the Bishop permitting this is that the diocese is in desperate need of cash and they are forced to rent the cathedral for needed funds.
In my mind it is a bad move. The sacred can not exist long in the presence of mundane. Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple because it was the house of God. Flower shows exist to sell flowers. I hope you get the point.
The sacred can not exist long in the presence of mundane.
But the sad fact is this is just a building. God’s new dwelling is us. And the application is the same.