AmericanPapist Comments
*sigh*
"The enemy laid hands
on all her treasures;
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuary—
those you had forbidden
to enter your assembly."
"The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has handed over to the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD
as on the day of an appointed feast."
Lamentations 1:10, 2:7
In Cranbourne, Victoria, AUS ( a suburb of Melbourne ) what once was St. Agnes is now Heavenly Pancakes. The food is quite good. If you would be interested I do have a few pictures. It is notable that the restaurant looked more like a church than where I went to Mass while down under.
If only the renovations of churches that will still be used as churches preserved the church-look so well. At least the chapel-turned-apartment kept the stained glass and the cross above the arch, which is more than has happened elsewhere.
It is ironic that churches are trying to look like apartments and book stores, while the apartments and book stores are happy to look like churches. Perhaps, if the imitation continues, churches will again look like churches, since that's what the book stores look like.
Andrew - yes I would be interested in pics.
Doc A - now there's an interesting take.
I remember going to a tri-level dance club in Ireland that was built inside the previous structure of a Church. I didn't find that out until late in the evening when I pointed out to a local how much I loved the architecture. Yikes.
Agreed Doc Angelicus,
processions -> parades
Churches -> state buildings, bookstores,
I'd like to see something original AND beautiful from the secular world which seldom shows gratitude for its roots
Couldn't they at least choose some decent-looking bookshelves? That stunning architecture with that banal furniture looks so incongruous. The designers of the apartment complex did a much better job.
There is a show in HGTV called "Rezoned" about buildings like firehouses being turned into houses. Since watching that show I've had a mad desire to live in an old theater, and living in an old monastery wouldn't be bad either (if the reason for the monastery being deserted is the monks needed a bigger one!), but I do think turning a church or chapel into something else is crossing the line. I can't believe no one has brought this little story yet:
In the temple courts [Jesus] found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
And what of the peasants who sacrificed to create something beautiful for God, somewhere He could tabernacle that was fitting for the King of kings?
This just makes me sad, though I wonder if this bothers me less than the thought of the cathedrals of Europe all becoming mosques.
I wonder when and if the structures will be renovated back into churches or will they be like Hagia Sophia, a reminder that the faith and love for Him must live in the hearts of the people in order for Him to remain in the tabernacles in our churches?
There's a lot of this in Quebec, now, since no one goes to church (relatively) but nobody wants to pull down all the beautiful churches their forefathers erected. They also keep the "churchy" elements, and seem very proud to have found a solution for "recycling" these buildings, since they have such "special" architecture!
One has to pray for the day when they are converted back.
If you want to see a new company that is converting gymnasiums and meeting rooms into beautiful school chapels, etc. check this out.
www.lumenchristidesign.com
Best comment on my blog so far about this:
"My house shall be called a house of prayer, and you have made it into a kitchenette!"
WAC
Suprisingly though not the worst wreckovation I have seen in Holland. This past summer I was there and saw a lot. The worst and most offensive was in the little town of Hoorn (which Cape Horn is named after).
In the town I managed to find the biggest church in town by its tower looming near the town square, going inside I expected to find a desacralized protestant church for sure, (likely to be a museum I thought)
Instead I found a department store replete with 8 foot drop ceiling with tile and florescent lighting. Looked like a cheap cheap nasty place. I dont recall being quite so offended in all of my time in Holland. Pray for us St Willibrord and St. Lymilla (patrons of Holland)!
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