The Spirit of 'Mediator Dei'Despite the prevailing belief that architectural modernism is the only available option for the modern church, the early 20th century provides considerable evidence of historically-connected and often beautiful architectural designs responsive to the same principles later canonized in the documents of Vatican II. more...
Did Vatican II Promote the Reform of Church Architecture?'Sacrosanctum Concilium' was the only Vatican II document that addressed the question of art in Catholic churches. Interestingly, it did not employ the word 'architecture' even once. It did, however, strongly advocate the preservation of our sacred patrimony in no uncertain terms. more...
The Church Building & the Paschal MysteryIn this assessment of the U.S. bishops' document 'Built of Living Stones,' Fr. Timothy Vavarek explains why this treatise fails to provide a fully adequate expression of the Church's architectural tradition, and then proposes some alternatives bearing in mind the ecclesiological identity of the building rooted in the Pasch. more...
Opera Artis - On Sacred Art & ArchitectureCircular letter on the care of the Church's historical and artistic heritage, released in 1971 by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy and approved by Pope Paul VI: it heartily exhorts the pastors of the Church to preserve the sacred patrimony handed down to them from their predecessors. Full text included. more...
An Analysis of 'Built of Living Stones'Architect Duncan G. Stroik argues that dioceses and Catholics need to return to the ideal of our forefathers that constructing a church is a long term spiritual investment. In his analysis of the U.S. bishop's document on church architecture, he presents some thoughtful suggestions for revision. more...
'Environment & Art in Catholic Worship': A CritiqueMichael S. Rose notes that a book authored by Lutheran architect Edward Sovik in 1973—five years before EACW was released— proposes many of the same architectural recommendations set forth in the bishops' document. However, Sovik’s work goes a bit further. He forthrightly discloses his motivation and his desired results. more...
Bishops Talk TabernaclesAt the 1999 general meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops Archbishop Jerome Hanus presented the long-awaited document on church architecture. Out of the more than thirty bishops that rose to speak not one of them defended the fad of removing the tabernacle from the sanctuary of churches. These comments are reproduced herein. more...
