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Table of contents
1. Our changing sense of the sacred
A. Introduction
B. Physical change means inclusion, accessibility
C. Flexibility is emphasized
D. Music bounces
E. Adapting to changing cultures
F. Renovation "after-care"
G. Changing attitudes toward children
H. In contrast to West, others reviving religiosity
1. OUR CHANGING SENSE OF THE SACRED
A. INTRODUCTION
About 2,000 places of worship are being renovated at any one time in the United States, and
most, if not all of them, are losing traditional ornamentation, woodworking and stenciling,
replacing these with simpler furniture and interiors, according to James Postell, University of
Cincinnati associate professor of interior design who specializes in the renovation of liturgical
environments. Both economic and social factors are driving this change. First, knowledge of
once-traditional crafts is harder to locate, and the time-intensive labor associated with wood
carving and stenciling is very expensive. Second, congregations today want to place emphasis on
the worship ceremonies which are also changing rather than the physical aesthetics.
B. PHYSICAL CHANGE MEANS INCLUSION, ACCESSIBILITY
James Postell, associate professor of interior design, who specializes in worship-space design and
renovation: "We're moving the altars forward. The tabernacle is separating from the altars. The
ambry is becoming more prominent. The tabernacle is separating from the altars. Inclusion and
accessibility are the watchwords. Churches are putting money into crafting and the design of
altars, ambos, ambrys and fountains. The enormous amount of design attention is compensating
for the lack of ornamentation in churches today. Though it's a great opportunity for designers, I
now see a divorce between the architecture which once held all this richness and the interior."
contact: 513-556-0228
C. FLEXIBILITY IS EMPHASIZED
Earl Rivers, UC professor of music and director of music, Knox Presbyterian Church, said that
Knox Presbyterian Church modified its traditional sanctuary to accommodate portable and
removable pews. The new flexible space allows for many possibilities in worship and
performance, including space for dramatic/music presentations by children and space to move the
communion table into a more intimate setting within the congregation. contact:
513-556-2696
D. MUSIC BOUNCES
Composer Bonia Shur, director of liturgical arts, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, explained that the opening and closing songs used in Reform Judaism worship services
have taken on a lighter character, "a bouncing character" in the last 25 years. These songs were
originally much more solid and formal. contact: 513-221-1875, ext. 291
E. ADAPTING TO CHANGING CULTURES
Philip Horrigan, director of the Department for Environment and Art in the Office of Divine
Worship, Archdiocese of Chicago, said that, formerly, churches were built and the worship rituals
had to adapt to the space. Now, the opposite is true. The spaces are adapting to worship and
cultural needs. "Inside, there are liturgical areas for celebration instead of just one big space. The
architects are experimenting, and the parishes are open to this. The curves, lines and forms are
different, driven by new technology, new materials and changing cultures...The churches founded
by the Polish and Irish are being renovated by, now, largely Hispanic congregations. That means
various changes, perhaps creating space for devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe." In the future,
Horrigan predicts that congregations will return to tradition to some degree. "They won't return
to traditional form and line but will incorporate a traditional feature like iconography, a bell
tower, a rose window or an arch. It will be a reaction because we've been through a period of
austerity." contact: 773-486-5153, ext. 266
F. RENOVATION "AFTER-CARE"
Thomas Wray, Rector, St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Cincinnati, and doctoral student in liturgical
design, studying "aftercare" of renovated worship spaces: "It's important to ask the question:
how is this new space calling us to new prayer? Gestures, ritual, postures and other external
actions need to be consciously re-examined after a renovation. Otherwise, it's a lost opportunity
to renew both the church as building and the church as people. In a very hands-on manner,
churches are discovering new ways to live and pray in these spaces. Aftercare is one of the
neglected areas of design, but it is emerging as a field unto itself. You need to really think about
how you want to use a new space before the first procession." contact: 513-779-1139
G. CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARD CHILDREN
Author Gerard Pottebaum, president of Treehaus Communications and organizer of a 1996
national conference on the spiritual life of children, is presently helping to organize the first
international conference on the spiritual life of children to be held in Chichister, England, in July
2000. "There's a growing awareness that children have a relationship with God, and often enjoy
profound experiences of transcendence. Religious education in many denominations has
traditionally approached children with the attitude, 'you don't know who God is till we tell you.'
This undermined our trust in our own original experiences of God and often served to alienate us
from those experiences, experiences that, nevertheless, influence us deeply as adults." This
attitude is changing, says Pottebaum, pointing to a "Montessori approach" to religious education
spreading throughout the United States, particularly in the Episcopal and Roman Catholic
communities. "Children experience God's presence although they do not have the language to
describe their experiences. Without imposing on children, we need to provide them with access
to biblical images and metaphors worthy of their original experiences of God." contact: 513-683-
1429
H. IN CONTRAST TO WEST, OTHERS REVIVE RELIGIOSITY
Author and ethnographer Henry Glassie, college professor of folklore, Folklore Institute, Indiana
University, says that the simplification of religious ritual and spaces, the "privatization" of
spirituality if you will, is a phenomenon of "middle class industrial countries" like the United
States, Germany, Sweden, etc. It is not the path of the rest of the world, specifically Hindus in
India, Buddhists in Japan and Muslims in Africa and the Middle East. "For the world's majority,
we're seeing a tremendous revival of religiosity...in rich, complex ritual and structure. This meets
two needs: connecting the individual to God and connecting the individual to the collective, which
gives order to life in the wider community...Worldwide, it is a suicidal course for the Catholic
Church to simplify its ritual. Millions of Catholics worldwide want the ritual of Latin...statues and
incense. While economics serve to order society in the West and churches empty, religion is the
increasingly powerful alternative to the political order in many other parts of the world." contact:
812-855-1027, M-Th; 812-855-1499, Fridays
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