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Monday, November 21, 2011

No more Walmart Churches

The Vatican Insider has reported some good news.

There is to be a new Vatican commission: "The Liturgical Art and Sacred Music Commission". It will be established shortly

According to Andrea Tornielli the Commission "will not be just any office, but a true and proper team, whose task will be to collaborate with the commissions in charge of evaluating construction projects for churches of various dioceses."

Further and perhaps more importantly "The team will also be responsible for the further study of music and singing that accompany the celebration of mass."

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Benedict XVI, consider this work as “very urgent”.

Tonielli comments:

"The reality is staring everyone in the eyes: in recent decades, churches have been substituted by buildings that resemble multi purpose halls. Too often, architects, even the more famous ones, do not use the Catholic liturgy as a starting point and thus end up producing avant-garde constructions that look like anything but a church. These buildings composed of cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes and confused spaces, remind people of anything but the mystery and sacredness of a church.

Tabernacles are semi hidden, leading faithful on a real treasure hunt and sacred images are almost inexistent.

The new commission’s regulations will be written up over the next few days and will give precise instructions to dioceses. It will only be responsible for liturgical art, not for sacred art in general; and this also goes for liturgical music and singing too. The judicial powers of the Congregation for Divine Worship will have the power to act."

One wonders what took them so long

I wonder if they will be able to order demolition of existing structures and demand changes in certain interiors ?

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