From the Oxford Movement to Pasadena
The California Bungalow is a late link in a chain that takes us back ultimately to Old Christendom.
Does the Church Have a Duty to Protect Her Own Cultural Heritage?
"Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way." -Vatican II
From Architecture to Contraception: A Journey to Paris
The mercy He gives us, one of many mercies, is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Why the Pope Praises Modernist Architects
Sacred places are the first places to be destroyed by invaders and iconoclasts, for whom nothing is more offensive than the enemy’s gods.
A Restoration of Hope
Above: Immaculate Conception Church postcard, c. 1910. Quietly, around the world, the Catholic faithful who believe in restoring and preserving the sacred traditions of the Catholic Church are finding each other and, with the leadership of their pastors, are helping rebuild and restore hope. We see this evidenced in a resurgence in traditional Catholic publishing,…
Vatican II Iconoclasm: Destroying What Our Fathers Built
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 and naturally influenced its architecture and design. This ended up destroying the monuments that our…
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 poet Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791–1863) celebrates him in one of his gracious sonnets: Among all…
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, and usually gave a large sum. Collections were then made throughout the city and surrounding…
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 modern art can achieve the beauty possessed by numerous cultures before our time. From the…
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 chaos made of metal with bright colors. It contorted in every direction as if the…
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, I found myself bombarded with kitsch. I didn’t know enough about the Mass itself to…