Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Building a church in the twenty-first century United States is no easy matter! Last week I shared with you how a Catholic Church has to balance old and new and the need for it to be both a dwelling place of God and a meeting place for his people.
How do we build a church which is within the tradition of Catholic churches, and yet is also a home to the many different ethnic groups and cultures represented in our modern American society?
At Our Lady of the Rosary parish we not only have a vibrant Vietnamese community, but members of the African-American community and a growing Hispanic community from many countries in Central and South America. We also have French, Hungarian, English, Nigerian, Indian, Native American, Indonesian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Italian and many others.
How do we build a church that is welcoming to all? One answer is to build a modern structure that does not really speak for one particular culture and so it is welcoming to all. That is one solution, but in doing so we would break with the ancient tradition of Catholic architecture and have a building that may not even look like a church, much less like a Catholic Church.
The other solution is to build a church that is within the Catholic tradition, but which is so basic that it can adapt to any culture. This is one of the reasons why we chose the Romanesque style of architecture. The Romanesque style developed in the early Middle Ages in Europe, and with its simple forms and dignified style it became popular all across Europe--and it adapted and changed according to the culture in which it was built. It became a ‘Catholic Classic’ and has endured the test of time.
As the Christian faith spread, this simple and classical form of architecture travelled well and was built in many countries and adapted in many ways down through the centuries. So, for example, you can find Romanesque style churches in Poland and Scandinavia, South America and Central America and in India, China and Vietnam.
The Romanesque style is simple, basic and adaptable to all, and I believe it allows us to build within the Catholic tradition while also having a church that is welcoming to all. As such I hope people from all our communities will catch the vision and join with us in making our new church their own.
Yours faithfully,
Fr. Dwight Longenecker