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Christchurch Catholic Cathedral hailed as incredibly sophisticated architecture by visiting expert

A visiting American expert on historic buildings talks about the partially destroyed Catholic Christchurch Basilica:

The cathedral was still "incredibly beautiful", McNamara said. "It's very sombre and melancholy of course - but I could see the beauty and sophistication in this architecture, and it really stands out as a fine building anywhere.

"Even in the churches that you see ... in other parts of the world, to have this stone exterior instead of brick, to have these grand colonnades on the inside that are natural stone and not just plaster, reflects that it's at the higher end of buildings of its type.

"You could tell coming down the street something grand, valuable and important was here. I wish I'd been here to see it in its full glory."

With the cathedral's fate still to be decided, McNamara was reluctant to declare that it should be rebuilt. He said grand architecture was at the heart of Catholic worship.

"It is an inordinate and disproportionate expense to build a beautiful church but it's part of the nature of Catholic worship," he said.

"It's not something that can be easily dispensed with."

He says much more about the nature of Catholic worship in the video attached to the story, in that we make visible what is invisible in order to prepare for heavenly things. That's why beauty in our churches is so incredibly important.

Related link: Expert hails Catholic cathedral

Comments

  1. Perhaps the Catholic Community can rally around Mr Anderton and obstruct any moves to demolish this fine old bit of architecture. All the more so now that they have shown themselves to be the guardians of Christchurch's heritage.

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  2. It was a much more impressive and beautiful piece of architecture than the Anglican cathedral - I found the sight of its damage far more disheartening.

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  3. "It is an inordinate and disproportionate expense to build a beautiful church but it's part of the nature of Catholic worship," he said.

    here's a novel idea - just this once, the church can actually follow Jesus' teachings, sell all their wealth and give it to the poor.

    Bet they don't though, as they know the religion is a scam and wealth in this world is worth far, far more than any treasure stored up in heaven.

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  4. Selective bible quotation... check

    Cheap use of Jesus when suiting argument...check

    Mind reading abilities... check

    Moral posturing... check

    Utilitarian banality... check

    Non mention of how much the Church already aids the poor and sick, both through history and in the now... check

    Marxist claptrap about wealth redistribution (as if that ever solved a thing) ...check

    Inability to appreciate the sublime... check

    Failure to take into account the wishes and intentions of those gone before, (hint; many were materially poor) who built and paid for said beautiful structures... check

    ReplyDelete

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