What does a sacramental imagination make of the religiously mundane? Sleeping Among the Saints “Chalkware Catholicism” is a phrase I coined some time ago in my writing on sacred art and architecture to describe an approach to the faith, once widespread among the faithful, that relied heavily on the plaster statuary — or “chalkware” — […]
Eucharistic Liturgy
Eucharistic Liturgy · November / December 2020
Ongoing Renewal of the Eucharistic Liturgy
What remains to be realized in the liturgical vison of the Mass implemented by the Second Vatican Council? Some Catholics speak of their regret at not having a sense of God’s presence when they enter a modern Catholic church. There are churches in recent years that have been restored to recapture this feeling which Catholics […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · September / October 2020
What Have We Learned from the Eucharistic Fast?
As we were quickly thrust into a “eucharistic fast” it is important to reflect upon what transpired and why. What did we learn? The source and summit of the life of the Church is most fully realized when the community gathers around the altar and makes real again the sacrifice of Christ. The priest in […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · September / October 2020
Of What Use are Church Buildings in Times of Calamity?
Church Buildings have historically been considered as sanctuaries in difficult times. What meaning do they have when people are barred from entering them? Those Emmanuel readers with a special interest in Italy, even before the tragic turn COVID-19 recently took through that overwhelmingly Catholic country, may have known it as a place where devotion to […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · July / August 2020
Advice to Pastors on Preserving a Legacy of Artistic Expression
How do pastors convey the rich meanings of Catholic sacred art to a congregation naïve of religious visual language? Our Secularized Scene Not long ago, while wending my way through the collection of paintings from medieval Europe at a major metropolitan museum, I came upon a conversation between a boy and his parents that struck […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · July / August 2020
A Refugee Family
This article was originally given as a homily for the Feast of the Holy Family, 29 December 2019. The Holy Family was a refugee family. There is little doubt about this. We hear in the Gospel of Matthew that King Herod was determined to kill the Christ child. So, an angel appears in a dream […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · May / June 2020
Topiary, Aviary, Bestiary, Breviary: An Organic Reading of Church Architecture
What do our great church buildings tell us about our relationship to creation? Our Mechanized Environment The Swiss-born Modernist architect LeCorbusier (1887-1965) is credited with having inspired several generations of architects throughout the world to regard their art as one aligned with the mechanization of human life, something akin to the business of boilermakers or […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · May / June 2020
“Warming” Modernist Church Architecture: A Response and a Way Forward
In this article Patrick Dolan thoughtfully engages Michael DeSanctis’ article, “The Truth About “Cold,” Modernist Church Architecture” In his article “The Truth about ‘Cold’ Modernist Architecture” in the March/April 2020 issue of Emmanuel Dr. Michael DeSanctis deftly describes the concern and frustration a number of Catholic faithful and even some clergy feel about many of […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · May / June 2020
Living Laudato Si’
Addressing the many issues Pope Francis identifies in Laudato Si’ can seem like a daunting task. How can your parish begin? This past June, I had the privilege of being invited to attend Laudato Si’ and the U.S. Catholic Church: A Conference Series On Our Common Home. The gathering was the first of three biennial […]
Eucharistic Liturgy · March / April 2020
The Truth About “Cold,” Modernist Church Architecture
Discussion about Modernist church architecture is often charged with emotion and rooted in personal taste. Why is this the case and how do we move beyond it? There’s a persistent refrain one hears from certain corners of the Church today that goes something like this: The wholesale reconfiguration of the Catholic place of worship presumably […]