With trepidation I began reading Annette Jiménez’s Catholic Courier article on the rebuilding of Saint Pius Tenth Church. The older building, you will recall, was destroyed by a fire January 2015. As I began reading I feared that the diocese may soon have yet another “worship space” designed according to the heresy of Arianism.
Since Vatican II, church buildings have increasingly underplayed the transcendent and emphasized the merely horizontal, earthly “community”. For many years now we have been hearing about the human Jesus (our brother) and practically nothing about the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
Sure enough there were quotes and paraphrases in the article from the rebuilding committee concerning “nurturing community” and “diversity” and concern for “future generations”. And, there was nothing said about the church building as a temple for the holy sacrifice of the Mass, a place where heaven and earth meet. Nothing about the church building as an earthly foretaste of heaven. Nothing about beauty, nothing about art.
At least there was something about “strengthening Catholic identity”. That caught my attention, and encouraged me. And, there was this from committee chairman Brian Porter: “From the altar out is really how it starts”. Encouraging.
I became very encouraged when I went back and reflected on the professionals working on the project; most notably, wonderful liturgical designer Rolf Rohn and Monsignor James Moroney, the rector of St. John Seminary in Boston and consultant to Rohn Associates. Monsignor Moroney, we read in the article, was recommended by Bishop Matano, a bishop who understands the importance of Catholic orthodoxy. This is great news! We may see a wonderfully new and truly Catholic Saint Pius Tenth church rise up on Chili Avenue.
Are we finally free of the likes of Sovik and Vosko? Are we going to be building Catholic churches again? Let us pray!
Check out the Rohn & Associates Design website and see why I think its involvement bodes well for the rebuilding.
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On the list of “pick your battles”, the design of a new church ranks pretty high in my estimation. So much truth can be obscured if not downright perverted by badly-designed worship spaces. More importantly, it’s a mostly permanent (barring calamity like fire) monument; and if it’s monument to foolishness, that’s a BUNCH of souls affected over many years.
So my prayers go with this community and hope it galvanizes and fights for a sensible design.
This is encouraging, Bernie! Thanks for sharing that. And I agree with everything Scott said, above.