Posted on 12/07/2014 5:36:40 AM PST by NYer
Have you noticed that nobody loves modern churches? Nobody. I mean NOBODY.
Seriously. Have you ever met anyone who sees a church like this and and heard them whisper, “I just love that church! It is so inspiring!”.
No. Never.
Have you ever gone into a “worship space” like this and heard someone say how awed they were to be in the presence of God? I doubt it. 
That’s because these buildings were not designed to inspire awe or to remind you about the presence of God. They are people centered, not God centered. They are auditoria not temples.
There is a gut level negative respond to these buildings. Even those who have got used to them make comments like, “Well, it’s our church and we’re doing the best we can.” Worse still, they have grown up with these monstrosities and they do not know of anything else.
I have spent the last week in central Missouri worshipping in a beautifully restored country church built at the end of the 1800′s. My heart opened in worship simply because the space was sacred, simple and beautiful.
The gut level rejection of the modern, brutal, utilitarian barns is not merely a hankering after “ole time traditions”. It is not simply a nostalgia for the past or a question of personal preference.
We react negatively to round churches because we want to be oriented towards God in worship, not towards one another.
Furthermore, everyone knew this down the ages. That’s why there was a certain pattern to Christian churches, and did you know the pattern was actually established by God?
In the Old Testament God revealed to Moses how to build the tabernacle–the traveling tent/temple they used in the wilderness. The tabernacle was rectangular with a large outer meeting place of the people. Then there was the “Holy Place” for the priests and this was surmounted by the “Holy of Holies” where the Ark of the Covenant was lodged. The Ark of the Covenant was the Throne of God himself.
This was the prescribed plan for a building to worship God, and the Temple in Jerusalem was a larger, permanent version of the tabernacle.
Now nobody is suggesting that Christian churches should be traveling tents (although the preachers in the American south used to do pretty well in their tent meeting revival services) Neither am I suggesting that we should build churches that are replicas of Solomon’s temple.
But there was a basic pattern here that was followed in all Christian churches from the earliest days. The pattern was of a three fold, hierarchical space. A large meeting space for the people, a next step into the holy place for the priests and then the dwelling place of God which is the Holy of Holies.
Catholic churches, (with a few very rare exceptions) maintained this pattern. There was the nave where the people met, the chancel for the priests and at the far east end was the “Holy of Holies” the tabernacle–where Christ our God resides. Between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place there was hung a heavy curtain as a divider. This is why inside the tabernacle of a Catholic Church today we hang a small curtain or veil.
This three fold pattern was the basic template for all churches. It worked. It was understood. There was also another significance. The direction of the traditional church is linear. There is a beginning and and end–an Alpha and Omega point. You entered the West doors and your eye moved forward to the summit where Christ was in the tabernacle. This reflected life’s journey. This is why the font was at the back of the church. You entered by the font and moved forward in life to your final home in heaven. The chancel and tabernacle therefore represented the destination of your journey.
A round church undermines that. There is no beginning and end a round church says. Paganism is circular with its never ending cycle of life. Christianity is linear. There is a beginning and end of our lives and of all things.
So that’s why you hate the round churches. There’s plenty more to hate as well–the cheap materials, the shoddy workmanship, the tacky, low cost furniture, the candles that are really electric lights that you pay a nickel to light up, the mass felt banners and the artificially cheerful atmosphere–but the real reason the round churches are so despised are the deeper reasons I’ve outlined.
They are despised because Catholics sense that something is wrong with this architecture. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t inspire prayer. It doesn’t lift the heart. It doesn’t draw you to God, and it doesn’t do all those things because it runs counter to the very plan for a temple that God himself ordained.
I make it a point of asking our priests if they received any training at all when they were in seminary on the principles and history of sacred architecture. Did they receive any training during their liturgy classes on what makes a church Christian, what works in worship and why? I have not found one priest who has been trained in these matters. And yet they are supposed to go out and renovate churches, build churches and redevelop churches? What kind of training are they getting? Why are they not being trained in the sacred tradition so they know what to do?
Interior new Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, SC
I don’t care for the round churches for two reasons.
First — the tabernacle isn’t usually within sight.
Secondly — when trying to meditate on the Real Presence at the altar, my eyes tend to take in the other side of the room and its people. Distraction, personified.
Tough! They can build all the beautiful churches they want, but if they’re destroying this country when THEY, REPEAT THEY interfere in the political process, then they are FAIR GAME, and I will fight back.
For all I know, you condone their politics.
Matthew 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
Others draw the analogy out to include the Dove returning to the Ark with the Olive branch.
On a side note I do think the designs are nice from an architectural point of view, but hardly "Awe" inspiring or reverential in any manner.
I don't hate other Americans or religious organizations for their political views. I certainly would not hate Christian religions. Only bigots like you would do that.
“I don’t hate other Americans or religious organizations for their political views. I certainly would not hate Christian religions. Only bigots like you would do that.”
You seem to HATE a lot people, just by your personalized comments.
How about simply because (for the most part) they’re ugly.
And the seating inside a round structure is NEVER user friendly.
Agreed. The round seating places are usually pretty stark with the hard cement floors and uncomfortable wooden chairs.
I don’t like it even in public arenas. You feel like you’re walking through a maze just to get in and out.
Course, you are.
Thank you, Brother.
Words direct from the First and Final Authority.
WoooHooo! Maranatha.
The first circularly shaped Catholic church in the South, St. Michael, was built in Auburn, AL in 1966, only a few years after Vatican II.
I never could understand why they decided to build the church that way. It had to do with hiring a well known local architect, I think.
Oh, don't be so anti-Catholic about it. /sarc
The little church in which I was confirmed, in 1967.
I'm kinda partial to it, though I haven't been inside it in years. Living 600 miles away might have something to do with that.
http://www.amazon.com/Ugly-As-Sin-Churches-Forthright/dp/1928832369
Here is an interesting book on the subject.
LOL, thanks.
I totally agree with the writer on the topic of tacky design and absence of traditional symbols.
However round churches have a longer history than he credits. When the Templars came back to Europe from the Middle East, they started building round Churches - this would have been about 11th c. It is said that this was in imitation of the Golden Mosque in Jerusalem, which they held at that time, and utilized as a church.
It was God himself who directed the details of the Tabernacle. We are beings made by God with the ability to sense our environment. God speaks to us through our senses.
It is not religious bigotry to dislike a political message, delivered in the inescapable form of a religious homily.
Churches, whatever their shape, should be for worship. BobL is probably quite ok with someone giving their views the cafe, or a public meeting. But a church? Most inappropriate.
“It was God himself who directed the details of the Tabernacle. We are beings made by God with the ability to sense our environment. God speaks to us through our senses.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Reason less and focus on scripture more. God does not care about externals - it is what is in our hearts that matters.
Acts 17:24 (NIV)
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
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