Oakland Cathedral (yuk)
Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Hanceville, AL (yeah)
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21 comments:
Yuk, indeed! I can't say I like the new basilica in San Giovanni Rotondo, either.
When did bad taste become popular?
Give me Hanceville, Alabama, anyday! I wish Alabama wasn't so far away...
Finola Glassmoyer,
CA
Father,
I agree with you on the yuks and yeahs
Padre Trigilio,
I hope this post finds you enjoying the presidential debate.
One question: how can a monstrosity such as the Oakland Cathedral be built in today's times? I am a big fan of Houston's new Cathdral, aside from the fact that the tabernacle is not centered behind the altar. Why can't strict architectural guidelines be sent down from Rome to cure us of this problem?
Have a great weekend!
Agreed 100% Padre! What a tragedy the diocese of Oakland has to pay for a $190 million spaceship.
I agree that The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville is most aesthetically pleasing. It would be an opportunity for learning if you wold elaborate on the difference.
What is the phrase -
Like shooting fish in a barrel?
No competition.
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Hanceville, AL, wins my vote.
uh,....one is very real, and it is NOT in my home state of CA...
--Dan L.
You have no disagareement there. The cathedral in Oakland is absolutely hideous.
Contrasting with the beautiful shrine in Hanceville
There are a couple of things that needed to be attended to here, at least for me, before dismissing Oakland's Cathedral of Christ our Light as abhorrent:
1. Who approved the architecture? It seems to me that a Roman office had to have played some hand in this. If that is the case, I have to respect that Rome said "si" to this project.
2. I watched the video from the architect and truly appreciated the theological underpinnings of his work. Lumen Christi is clearly not your typical Hanceville gothic structure, but could it be given some slack as a real tribute to our faith?
3. I am thinking about the encouragement the great John Paul II offerred the church to "duc in altum" and seek ways to help the faithful appreciate and express their love for God. Perhaps this structure is just another way?
It's not going to go away. We may critique it and challenge what it does to our faith, but thanks be to God it will lead people to a deeper conviction of faith and commitment to life.
Yay to the Shrine, nay to the Cathedral.
spes: (Correct me if I'm wrong Father)
1. I believe that most architectual issues are left to the individual Bishops and their respective sees. Rome has little to say on the matter (though careful reading of CCC 1179-1186 should form the guidelines for Churches that are being built and the Shrine by far is the closest to the paragraphs in the Catechism)
Theology is expressed in the building of any Church. That a Church should be catechetical and should explain the Faith. I also had the chance to hear the explanation, and I really couldn't justify such an atrocity for a building. But that's just my humble opinion.
Unfortunately not a real reply to this post, but I'm in RCIA this year and we just had our first meeting. One person was drawn to signing up to possibly convert after reading Catholicism for Dummies.
LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI
HOW we pray and worship corresponds and influences (and vice versa) WHAT we believe and HOW we live as Catholic Christians. Art and architecture need to reflect the proper respect and reverence for the Holy and Divine, for the transcendent and the spiritual. Unfortunately, most modern church designs accentuate the earthly, the secular, the profane, the pedestrian and the banal. Romanesque, Baroque and Mediaeval, e.g., united heaven and earth (divinity and humanity) by allowing man on earth to contemplate the sacred mysteries of heaven while spending prayer time in church. Many modern churches divinize the human and literally obscure or hide the divine (e.g., relocating the Tabernacle from the middle of the sanctuary to some cryptic chapel invisible to human eyes while in the main church. Stained glass windows used to be the common man's catechism. Today, modern churches love to use plain clear glass so we can observe the outside world and its activities even during divine worship.
Wow..what a difference..The Shrine is so beautiful and conducive to prayer and reflection. What is that? It looks like one of the t.v. crystal palace things that are shown on Sunday mornings..absolutely right Father, YUK!
I think it looks beautiful.
Something different, and very tastefully done.
The Christ aginst all that glass is spectecular.
190 million. How sad for the poor California Catholics who had to pay for this silly thing. It looks like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, which was cool for Superman but not for a cathedral.
Well, I heard that the Oakland Cathedral could withstand a mega earthquake too.
I love visiting the one in Ala!
Even the chapel below is awesome!
My vote is Old school MBS in Hanceville. Must evething be transformed into the toy's my kids play with or an erector set. Look's like star fleet space landing area for the aliens from outer space not the human type where some like the Old school look.
Amen Padre - and Dymphna, Fortress of Solitude...LOL!
i could be wrong, but i don't see any kneelers. i mean, i get the theology behind the idea of the centered altar/cube. but i don't get the astoundingly secular architecture, there are pictures of downtown's skyline, and the cathedral fits right in, no one can realize that it's a cathedral, much less a church. there is a lot that we can take from our Byzantine Catholic brothers in terms of what churches should look like, in terms of assisting with the whole function of a church; i mean in the cathedral where are the icons!? where are the stations!? where is there anything that screams that it's a Catholic church, and not just any other building?
I like the new Cathedral, it shows how the Church is moving into the future, and not stuck in the past.
However, I am getting the impression that some views in favor of the New Cathedral will never be posted. ooh well.... I will keep voicing my opinion in spite of be silenced on this blog.
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