There was a growing conflict between what I believed and what I was being taught. The modernist architecture I was taught had rules and was striking enough, but it was unfulfilling and completely devoid of beauty; and, since I was also in the process of embracing my Catholic faith in a more complete way, the clash of values became a painful trial for me. Every Sunday, we get to hear sermons about truth and goodness, two obvious and essential perfections of God. But a third perfection of creatures that points to the infinite perfection of God, according to No. 41 of the Catechism — beauty — is often forgotten in this triad. Truth, goodness and beauty reinforce each other and are inseparable, as God in the Holy Trinity is inseparable, so when beauty is missing, truth and goodness are incomplete. Historically, the life of a town used to be organized around the monastery, church, cathedral and so on, but now the church is often seen as one among many important types of buildings. Catholics need to understand and profess again that sacred architecture is not just a matter of utility or artistic preference, but of the revelation of our faith in built form, a symbol of Christ, his Church and our ultimate home in heaven. Further illustration of how modernism (and in other aspects of our culture, too--not only in architecture) is quite literally evil, devoid of goodness, as darkness is devoid of light. :P
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 15:05:37 +0000
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