Tear down this temple

Channel 4, here in Britain, is normally associated either with 'celebrity reality shows', or supposedly intellectual programmes about postmodern, secular society. In short, it's a pile of poo. But over the Christmas holidays the station redeemed itself in my eyes by running a series called 'Demolition'. The public had previously been encouraged to vote on which buildings in Britain they hated most, which constructions blighted their lives and their neighbourhoods, and, the public having voted, Channel 4 compiled an X list of the worst buildings in the country.

The idea is that this X list could be used as a basis for the opposite of preservation orders, where buildings of architectural merit are preserved. These buildings need to be demolished as soon as possible, and the hope is that the production of an X list will help to shortcut the normal years of bureaucratic wrangling before a building can be destroyed. For some examples of the worst buildings in Britain, go here. (As a side note, high up on the list of the public's most hated buildings is the new Scottish Parliament, but the so-called professionals love it: it won Stirling RIBA Prize for architecture last year. Having seen the building myself, I would say the interior is quite exceptional, and the exterior exceptionally awful. Albertus Minim: modern architects are often good at interiors, very poor on exteriors.)

Anyway, the programme led me to think how wonderful it would be to have a Catholic equivalent. Parishioners voting for those ecclesiastical structures that have blighted their prayer lives and removed any sense of the transcendent from their worship. Of course, there are the well-known monstrosities of episcopal vanity such as Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, which looks to me like someone has plocked down the crown of an Intergalactic Emperor in the middle of a drab English suburb, or Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, apparently constructed so that mall rats will feel at home in church.

However, I think we should concentrate on those small, local parish churches built over the last few decades that have probably done as much to demoralise Western Catholics as anything else. It would be great if we, that is Catholic bloggers, could insititute nominations and votes, by country, for those churches that really, really, REALLY need to be pulled down. I remember myself, when a child, being forced to sit in a 1970s concrete barn for Mass, during which my main occupation was trying to decide if there was any way at all to find a pattern in the 'ornaments' scattered randomly on the walls. There wasn't. I wonder how many other children had their faith damaged by sitting in buildings which suggested car parks, or shopping malls, or corporate headquarters, more than the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Our Lord.

So write in, nominate the church or churches in your country that should be destroyed, so that something better might be built in their space. Best of all, if you could send either links to pictures of these places, or if you have photos, email them to me and I can post them here. For myself I can think of at least three suburban parish churches within a few miles of where I live that should be destroyed. I will try to get pictures of them posted here soon. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing your nominations for destruction.

Comments

[Kale]

I would certainly nominate my home parish on grounds the funds raised, raise a new one.

It doesn't have a good picture online, but imagine a smaller wooden LA Cathedral front. No stained glass windows, lite pink interior and typical prayer barn setup.

[Chad]

Let's see...

1. Cathedral Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, Clifton, Bristol, UK http://www.cliftoncathedral.org.uk/

Walked past it a hundred times, but never got up the courage to go in. Surrounded by beautiful Georgian buildings. Scary.

2. St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco, US http://www.sfarchdiocese.org/cathedral.html

Never seen in person, but the pictures say it all.

[Ken]

The New Basilica of Guadalupe should be destroyed as soon as possible http://www.delange.org/Guadalupe/Guadalupe.htm

No kneelers; the lights look like a beehive; just awful, especially in the setting, next to the beautiful old basilica. Hardly an appropriate place for one of the most important relics of the Western Hemisphere.

In building this, I can only imagine that the architect's desire was to bring the tepid, modern Catholicism of the post-industrial west to the traditional and devout Catholicism of Mexico.

[berenike]

See blog for orrible Polish church in innocent Ukrainian village. Though not the worst.

The new sanctuary of the Divine Mercy.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanktuarium_Bo%C5%BCego_Mi%C5%82osierdzia The Sanctuary of Divine Providence Cardinal Glemp is still trying to build outside Warsaw.
http://www.templum.pl/

[Christine Johnson]

Good Lord! The LA cathedral has that beautiful Tabernacle that they preserved where Our Lord is NOT? They put that off to the side somewhere and have hardly anything behind the altar? ugh.

Our parish's church has only been open since early 2004 and it's okay (I can at least see the Tabernacle from the rest of the church thanks to a glass wall), but I sure wish it had stained glass windows. I wanted to nominate a parish, but I couldn't find pictures that showed why I wanted to. The place I'm thinking of has the tabernacle hidden somewhere secret, stations of the cross that must be some kind of code (my then-five-year-old asked where they were), no kneelers, chairs instead of pews that are on a terraced floor (so that the altar is lower than the entrance of the church), an altar surrounded by pews on three sides... It was very icky. Even my hubby (not Catholic yet) flatly stated that we wouldn't go there again. No one knelt for the Consecration (except my daughter and I). blech.

[Albertus Minimus]

Christine, if you have e a digital camerra, or know someone who has one, then you could email me the photos and I will post therm here. It's something I want to get on to doing myself, as I tend to think tthat worse than the huge cathedrals are the many parish churches built without any sensitivity to Catholic art and culture over the last fewe decades.