The bishops who came home from Vatican II (or the “liturgist” wolves they failed to stop) initiated acts of violent destruction and iconoclasm in the name of the Council. The zeal for change disparaged the Church’s heritage and liturgical tradition …
Category: Architecture
The Tough Pope and His Great Works
Five centuries ago, on December 13, 1521, in Le Grotte, now Grottammare, a charming town on the Adriatic coast in the Marche region, was born the tough pope: Sixtus V, whose original name was Felice Peretti. The great Roman dialect …
What’s Happening with the Notre Dame restoration? An Advent 2021 Update
Writing about the construction of Notre Dame de Paris, two very different experts said: When it was decided to rebuild a cathedral, the bishop, the canons, rich townsfolk, and neighbouring landowners made the first offerings. The king was next approached, …
Beauty, Ugliness, and the Aesthetics of Transcendence
Recently I was walking through a college campus with my young son on my way to a Latin Mass. As we walked we saw a large modern “art” sculpture lifting itself from the earth. It was an abstract form of …
The Kitsch Council
Back in 1994, my inquiry into the claims of the Catholic Church took a decisive turn. I transitioned from reading books in the safety of my own home to visiting actual parishes and signing up for RCIA. At this point, …
Christendom Was Glorious, but It’s Almost Gone
Today on Twitter, I saw a diamond in the rough. A fellow Catholic by the name of Jacob Bauer posted the following image, with the caption: “I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of Thy house, and the place where …
What is a Catholic Church Supposed to Look Like?
In my last article at OnePeterFive, I analyzed “The Dark Symbolism of California’s Christ Cathedral.” In the intervening weeks, only one response has been attempted from the other side. I use the word “attempted” deliberately, because it was not a …
The Dark Symbolism of California’s Christ Cathedral
July 17, 2019 saw the dedication of the new “Christ Cathedral” of the Diocese of Orange, California. An originally Protestant work of high modernist architecture repurposed on a staggering budget, the cathedral has understandably been the subject of animated discussion …
Churchspotting: St. Lawrence, Harrisburg PA
Over the weekend, I was out of town visiting friends in Pennsylvania, and we went to Sunday Mass at the Mater Dei Parish at St. Lawrence Chapel, located at 110 State St. in Harrisburg. This is a chapel of the Priestly Fraternity …
The Uglification of the World
Increasingly, I have found myself wondering why the world is so ugly. I do not mean the natural world, which always retains its created splendor, but the art and architecture of the modern world. It seems that almost nothing in …
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