It's a criticism levelled by many. It's one I've levelled in the past unthinkingly. And yet I distinctly remember as a child being struck by the beauty and the holiness of the Churches my mother used to take me to as a child living in Spain. It stayed with me. And in some way, it drew me back.
There is something about the huge-ness, the awe-someness, the intrigue and the magnetism of a Cathedral. And thankfully, there are those who defend the building of same as something pleasing and not dis-pleasing to God:
One of my cousins is a Capuchin priest. He has worked very closely with the very poor and disadvantaged for decades, and he bristles when people talk about “frivolous beauty” or “liturgical pomp”, and when they declare that beautiful things should be stripped down and sold for the poor. “You help the poor by being with them, living and working with them; being one with them, because one of the biggest needs of the poor is the reception of a simple message: ‘You’re as important as anyone; you are loved and loveable.’ You don’t send that message by making the world uglier for them.”
Sell everything in a church, strip it down and you buy some temporary assistance; then the people who sold all that sinful, frivolous beauty go back home, feeling pretty good about themselves and all the ‘help’ they gave to ‘the poor.’ But when the money runs out — and my cousin says money running out is one of the few things you can bank on — then for the poor who remain, “it’s back to business as usual, but with nothing beautiful for them, anywhere.”
My cousin is a man with a great deal of common sense and compassion; living where and how he has lived, he needs both; he is by no means anyone’s idea of a “conservative” but he feels strongly that comfortable, wealthy people with generous instincts mostly have no idea what the poor “need” and that the poor have just as much right (and expectation) to enjoy the consolation and spiritual uplift of a beautiful church as anyone else. Moreover, struggling people don’t want everyday things like straw baskets to be used at communion, because they use everyday things, every day. At Mass, Jesus deserves beauty and they want to engage him in beauty.
His point is valid. I don’t know that I really understood the power of beautiful surroundings, created with the intention of praising and glorifying God, until I visited Rome and considered that the beauty making me gasp on every corner was created, painted, tiled, built by people who were very likely what we call “the poor” today — artisans and craftsmen who worked with their hands; day laborers who lifted and pulled and hammered and sawed. I remember standing back from the Chiesa Nuova and Gesu Church — churches built (respectively) by Saint Philip Neri and by Jesuits, both of whom knew something about living with and for the poor — and contemplating the sense of satisfaction and wonder that these ordinary, struggling people must have felt when the buildings were finished: look what we have done; look what we have made to the glory of God; we have a share in this; we worship here; this would not have been made, if not for us.
That from The Anchoress, who was inspired by this post at The Crescat rightly titled "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful":
In no other aspect of our lives do we demand a reason for beauty or question its purpose. We accept and appreciate beautiful art, music, or a sunset for what it is and allow it to uplift us. For some reason beauty is not suspect except when found in the Church. Then it becomes a waste of money, gaudy excess, and idolatry. Suddenly we are expected to ban beauty in His own house when He Himself made us with this desire to create and appreciate beauty? How odd.
And this argument against ritual, calling it meaningless pomp and circumstance. Ritual gives order and is rarely meaningless. You can find simple examples of ritual even in the most progressive evangelical home church which may open and close with a prayer each Sunday. And surely Catholics do not have the monopoly of liturgical ritual. Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists all have ritual in their worship practices yet it’s only Catholic liturgy most freely criticized and questioned for its usefulness. Again, how odd.
One might suspect the real prejudice is with Catholicism and not general beauty or ritual in liturgy.
Some months ago, the wife and I took our sons and the oldest's girlfriend to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (the picture to the right taken as we were leaving). It was glorious (click on the link to see an incredible virtual tour).
At one point, one of my sons made mention of the amount of money it took to build such a structure. I didn't have a decent ready-made answer for him at the time in defense.
Perhaps with this post, I now do.
I remember as a child looking at the church architecture. It's a non-verbal message that lingers. It also contributed to my sense of awe, and created a large, hushed space where my mom could linger before and after mass, without having to "shush" me.
When I was a kid, few parents took the bags filled with toys and food to church. We were entertained by the beauty that surrounded us.
Posted by: LindaF | Monday, July 09, 2012 at 04:00 AM
Consider that when God had the children of Israel build the Tabernacle and then the Temple, that He gave VERY DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS, and those instructions included people giving their finest for God and the whole place was done in fabulous detail in gold and silver...if you calculated todays gold cost to Solomon's day the temple would be one expensive build. There have always been poor and yet God did not have them cheap down the construction...He gave detailed instructions that were to be followed to the letter. When I have visited the Vatican and the Vatican Museum, I have been greatly moved, sprititually by the beauty anbd the gifts given to God and the Church by artisans, kings, emperors adn people fromn every walk...they gave their best...the place is full of people giving their best to God over a two thousand year period. Far from being offended God calls us to always give our best and give extravegantly both in the building and in our ministries within the Church and outside of the church to the poor, the least, lost and lost. Where God is probably offended is if the building is a beautiful shell and empty of true spiritual worship towards loving God and loving our brother and sister. I have enjoyed visiting many of the great cathedrals of Europe...one of the things that made them so incredible and great is that in the art, the sculptures, stained glass, doors and so many other features God stories are everywhere to be seen and read by people whether they could read or not. To me those who are offended by such structures do not understand that when we are called to love the Lord our God with our all and our neighbor as ourself...it is not an either or thing and it is with our best in both. When the woman brought the expensive perfume and poured it out on Jesus' feet, the disciples and bystanders were offended but Jesus said that this story would be told whereever the gospel was told (and not in a negative way...) he appreciated and commended her faith and her sacrifice...and it was a beautiful thing. When sitting in a great cathedral or expensive Church you can focus on how much the building cost or you can choose to worship God and focus on Him...because as awesome as the building is, He is worthy to be praised and worshipped with our best. Next time adjsut your focus, fix your eyes on Jesus.
Posted by: Pastorsteve | Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 10:42 PM