Cardinal Ravasi – stop building ugly churches!

Ugly, modernist, and devoid of any uplifting character reminiscent of Grace!  So says Cardinal Ravasi, who has apparently taken a break from making confusing, nebulous statements regarding marriage and sexuality.  Stick to architecture, cardinal!

Believe it or not, we actually don’t have things as bad in the US as they do in Europe. There, the modernism – theological, liturgical, AND architectural – is truly run amok.  A sampling:

France:

Foligno. Poor St. Angela, to think how she suffered, and now to face this!

Even Rome is not immune:

This is one of the winners of a church design contest for new parishes in Rome. It appears things will not be getting better there anytime soon:

Not that the US is entirely immune.  The disaster below is from the disastrously modernist St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN.  It is no coincidence that modernist architecure goes with modernist, abusive liturgy, modernist, error-filled theology, and sex abuse.  St. John’s has been a locus of all of the above:

You know, there was a simple formula that worked well for many centuries to express important elements of the Faith, provide a dignified, glorified environment for the Mass, uplift souls, speak of the glorious mystery of God, and edify souls.  It seems that in today’s Church, anything and everything is permitted, even encouraged, except to build churches in that traditional style.  Don’t worry, it will change.  Cold concrete monstrosities like the above will not last.  They won’t last to the end of this century, more than likely.  But this will:

A church in Oaxaca: