How can lay people extirpate poor taste like this of yesterday, today?
People have complained for years about this amusement hatched by a Fr. G. McDonough, OSA.
We can all agree: the altar is to procure His glory. God says: "I will be sanctified in them that approach to Me" (Lev. x. 3). We are all sanctified in the sanctuary. The former altar said Sanctum Domino while this altar says Zeitgeist. Anyone is free to disagree, but the art historian will not.
"Quagmire altar."
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that the persons who designed this wreckovation forgot
ReplyDeletethat no feature should have honors that the altar does not. For
example, if a cathedra or sedilia has a canopy or is raised on steps,
the altar must have those honors also.
Having the sedilia raised 2 steps above the altar obscures just Who
is being worshipped here.
Airport lounge, anyone?
ReplyDeleteThis arrangement looks 100% Protestant.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder why there are no vocations in Ireland, and none for the Augustinian Order (which this priest was a member of).
The Augustinians are just about extinct in Ireland...and many other places!
Have a look at the Chiesa del Gesù, where they put a "scrivania" so that they could all "stay together"...
ReplyDeleteWhy must they destroy what I'm sure was once a beautiful altar piece with this modernity? Isn't destroying works of art a crime?
ReplyDeleteI hope this is not an indication of the "Irish Zeitgeist"...Jesus, help us!
ReplyDeletePrayers that this sanctuary will be returned to the "hermeneutic of contintuity"!
Looks like many 'renovated' churches in Ireland... we have a few in our Diocese.
ReplyDeleteActually the "High Place" was called that for a reason and originates in the seating of the judge(s)in the ancient Roman basilicas and was retained for the clergy. What I find most annoying (besides this obscession with juxtaposing minimalist "art" with Baroque/Gothic/ etc., etc.) is this SHINTO altar arrangement (a bouquet on the front left corner of the altar and two candles at the front right corner) which seems to be of Italian concoction. One expects a tea ceremony not a mass. If memory serves there used to be a rubric about not placing floral arrangements on the mensa but, hey, who needs these stinking rubrics?
ReplyDeletelook up the meaning of extirpate
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I do not confuse this parish church with the ancient
ReplyDeletebasilicas such as St. John Lateran. Even there, while the cathedra
is indeed given 2 or 3 steps more than the high altar, it is so far
back in the apse that visually, the two do not register together.
Furthermore, the high altar is given a stupendous baldachino, and
the cathedra is without a canopy. No person with eyes to see will
be confused as to Who has the greater honors.
Contrast St. John Lateran with this church. The sedilia and all the
ancillary seating is close to the altar, which makes it impossible
not to note the contrast in treatment between the two. The dramatic
lighting, the large backdrop, the ornamentation, and the elevation
are all given to the seating. This arrangement renders more
symbolic honors to an altarboy sitting beside the priest than it
does to the Lord of the Universe. Here the altar is, visually speaking, an afterthought.
Does anyone have pictures of the altar before the renovation?
ReplyDeleteI can say that yes, this is bad. However, I saw much worse this sunday in the states. The church I was forced to attend was renovated in the 1990's and featured a 12-15 foot light up stained glass jesus above the altar. The "sculpture" looked like a cartoon.
ReplyDeleteI should have taken a picture of it for you, as it was, and remains the worst piece of "art" I have ever seen.
It is not like some of the old Irish churchs in the old sod that I have seen. It look like the church of ireland or englnd type of altar.
ReplyDeleteI have been to this church two or three times for the Mass on St. Patrick's Day, and every time I go, looking at that altar makes me depressed. I much prefer it when they have the Mass at the Church of St. Isidore.
ReplyDelete