New Traditional Churches

Yuck.  Sorry, but I find the photos of the new "traditional" churches to be depressingly dark and box-y.

Contrast them to the artistic work of William Schickel, who redesigned the Church at the Abby of Gethsemane. 

http://www.schickeldesign.com/Abbey_Of_Gethsemani_Trappist_KY.shtml

So much more honesty, simplicity and clarity.

Wow!!

Thanks for the photos.

Really impressive...  but looks like "close em in the cities build em in the burbs'..

This is wonderful and very good news.

I live in the Diocese of Cleveland, which unfortunately needed to close a number of parishes.   Most of the churches that were closed were lovely, and some were stunningly beautiful.  The thriving suburban parishes, by contrast, are too often banal at best and ugly at worst.  The irony is that when American Catholics were poor, we built beautiful churches, and when we became rich, we built churches that looked like auditoriums.

Check this one out, Vince.  Saves energy, low maintenance, and EF5 tornadoes bounce off it as well.
www.monolithic.com/stories/st-joseph



 

Places like the (really not so) new Cathedral of Saint Mary in San Francisco express a contemporary living faith. The places in this article show a kind of retreat to what was. But then B16 and the bishops are trying to do the same thing. 

I guess "traditional" doesn't take our fragile environment into account. I especially love the "big box" shopping center parking lot.

Seeing the altar placement and the black funeral vestments in the church at Norwalk, CT., tells me all I need to know about that parish.

I guess my comment on Ave Maria University's MIGHTY MITRE of an oratory was deemed too inflammatory for this discussion. Or does the America staff office just currently enjoy a discount at the local Domino's?

Craig (#9), your comment is over on the Magazine article comments (not the blog comments).  It happens when a blog post refers you to a magazine article.  Each has its own comment section.

You're right about the Mitre form of the Ave Maria Church.  I visited that Church (and university) a couple of years ago.  It was a bit creepy for me.  My musings are HERE.

http://quotesandmusings.blogspot.com/2010/05/sanctuaries-ave-maria-florida-and.html