A Look at Church "Renovation"

Last Saturday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured a story on the completed renovation of All Saints church in Milwaukee. Stories of church renovation are nothing new to Milwaukee Catholics. The city offered a high-profile case several years back with the controversial renovation of Saint John’s Cathedral downtown. The renovation at All Saints opens the door once again to a much-needed dialogue regarding the interplay of architecture, design and theology in Catholic churches. I am one of many Catholics who believe that “renovation” is more often than not a euphemism for the evisceration of tradition. Unfortunately, over the past several decades, we have witnessed in America a slapdash, willy-nilly approach when it comes to the “renovation” of Catholic churches.

The contrivances of church renovation aim to replace the overtly structured and hierarchical churches of old with what is often described as a more “welcoming” or “open” prayer environment. The new setting for Catholic worship, suitably egalitarian and modish, succeeds in blurring the lines of distinction between priest and public. Most typically, renovations involve the following: the altar is brought out of the sanctuary and further into the nave of the church, pews are replaced by chairs arranged “in the round,” and quite often the tabernacle housing the Blessed Sacrament is isolated from the main body of the church and relegated to an inconspicuous side chapel. All Saints Parish featured another popular church alteration when it placed the choir in the sanctuary, thus taking the place of the relocated tabernacle. Parishioners have watched the abrupt morphing of the sanctuary into a stage, replete with a set of drums to get the faithful on their feet. No doubt, the freshly polished church is an inviting, cushy place, an ideal setting for fostering an ethos of community. But, at least from looking at the picture in the Journal Sentinel, I had to ask myself: Was the goal to mirror the set of the Oprah Winfrey Show or to construct an appropriate setting for a sacred liturgy? Preferences for the warm and cozy cannot always be lined up so nicely with the more important need for the sacred and solemn.

But beyond the kitschy design and chintzy taste, the problems that stem from contemporary church renovation evince a widespread ignorance regarding the significance of Catholic liturgy. The purpose here is not to offer an overview of the catechism (although I would strongly recommend picking one up), but to remind readers that Catholic liturgy is essentially different from Protestant worship. The latter, in the absence of Sacraments, places its prime focus on communal prayer and readings from the Gospel while Catholic liturgy, like Orthodox liturgy, emphasize the Lord’s presence first and foremost in the Eucharist and then in the Word. (Incidentally, the Orthodox have done a much better job at preserving the harmony between theology and church architectural integrity.) Catholics certainly believe that community is important, but in liturgy, community should always take a backseat to the Eucharist.

But how is community to be understood? Among certain Catholic pastors, there has a concerted effort bordering on the obsessive that chooses to focus exclusively on the cultivation of “community.” Correctly understood though, Catholic liturgy is primarily Eucharist-oriented, with community, or better, communion, flowing naturally from that. This is why the priest and the faithful used to pray together facing the East and the Eucharist. Here, community was appreciated in a richer sense because everyone was praying together facing the same direction. But over the past several decades, thanks in no small part to piecemeal structural changes in church design, emphasis has shifted dramatically to “neighbor and me” centered activity. The renovation unveiled at All Saints reflects this tendency to magnify the importance of the community and individual at the expense of the Eucharist: the relocated tabernacle, the jutted-out altar, the choir in the sanctuary, the in the round design, etc. Liturgy then easily becomes all about “me” rather than God. While still Cardinal, Pope Benedict wrote the following in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy: “Looking at the priest has no importance. What matters is looking together toward the Lord.” And further, “The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-closed circle.” How rich is the pope’s understanding, in contrast to that of many local priests! At most parishes, All Saints included, the priest, like the lead actor in a play, has seen fit to place himself front and center. More can be done, and certainly should be done, to ensure that in the future, Church renovations reflect the beauty of the theological underpinnings of the Liturgy.

The New Face of All Saints:





----

Remembering the "Renovation" at Saint John's Cathedral:

Before:


After:




Incidentally, during the heated debates over the renovation at Saint John's a few years ago, I remember defenders of the project asserting that the "in the round" design has strong roots in early Christian worship, especially in ancient European churches. No it doesn't! Early Christian churches, like Saint John's in Milwaukee, feature a long arcade leading into the apse. The sanctuary containing the altar is exclusively reserved for the apisdal section of the church. In times past, the altar was usually protected by a canopy or baldacchino/ciborium. (Saint John's had a beautiful baldacchino but it was demolished in the course of the "renovation".) The altar was never placed in the nave of the church. In the West, the readings took place in the bema, which was an elevated section within the nave, but this area was conspicuously reserved for the clergy. A screen, or iconostasis separated this area from the rest of the nave. Santa Sabina, one of my favorite churches in Rome, is one of the best examples of an early Christian basilica. It features these elements magnificently.

Santa Sabina, Rome

Some also claim that the Byzantines worship in the round, but this also is incorrect. The Greeks were fond of incorporating massive domes into their churches as the centerpiece of the Greek cross layout of the church. But the domes always hovered gracefully over the nave, while the priest executed his ministerial duties in the sanctuary, behind the iconostasis. The nave was reserved for elaborate processions into the sanctuary. The altar was never placed in the nave of the church, as the ingenious renovators of Saint John's have done. Even from an architectural point of view, the in the round design is inappropriate because it ignores the integrity of the building's elongated structure. It looks clumsy.

__

A revealing exchange between Former Milwaukee Archbishop Weakland and Cardinal Medina regarding the inchoate renovation Saint John's:

Medina: "...it would seem to this congregation that the ancient and venerable high altar together with its baldacchino should be retained, given also that it is a most suitable location for the reservation of the Most Blessed Sacrament."

Weakland: "We are not a corporation with head offices in Rome ... it is my obligation to insist on the rights and duties of the local bishop in the Catholic Church."

End Result: Weakland flustered by Vatican rebuke nonetheless marshals his demolition crew forward with his plans.