Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Vatican sources are reporting the establishment of a Liturgical Art and Sacred Music Commission by the Congregation for Divine Worship. Its task will be to collaborate with commissions in charge of evaluating church construction projects. The team will also be responsible for the further study of liturgical music and singing. Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, and Pope Benedict XVI consider this work “very urgent.” Critics charge that in recent decades churches have been replaced by buildings that resemble multipurpose halls or boldly shaped structures that risk denaturing modern places for Catholic worship. Too often, critics complain, architects do not use the Catholic liturgy as a starting point and end up producing avant-garde constructions that look like anything but a church. Tabernacles are obscured and sacred images are almost nonexistent. The new commission will be devising regulations on church design that will give precise instructions to dioceses.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

“His presence brings prestige to our nation and to the entire Group of 7. It is the first time that a pope will participate in the work of the G7,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
Gerard O’ConnellApril 26, 2024
“Many conflicting, divergent and often contradictory views of the human person have found wide acceptance … they have led to holders of traditional theories being cancelled or even losing their jobs,” the bishops said.
Robots can give you facts. But they can’t give you faith.
Delaney CoyneApril 26, 2024
Sophie Nélisse as Irene Gut Opdyke, left, stars in a scene from the movie “Irena's Vow.” (OSV news photo/Quiver)
“Irena’s Vow” is true story of a Catholic nurse who used her position to shelter a dozen Jews in World War II-era Poland.
Ryan Di CorpoApril 26, 2024