Another way of viewing worship building differences

Before I forget, while driving today I thought of another way to bridge some perception gaps regarding the ornate Catholic Church viewpoint and the more spare (and sometimes Spartan) Christian places of worship, and also the mosques that are beautiful but without images.



It is the Catholic viewpoint that in the Church one is looking into a glimpse of heaven. In a Church even the poorest person is standing on the threshold, gazing "over the priest's shoulders" as it were, into the direction of heaven in anticipation of what that will be like. That is one reason that Catholic Churches have always been ornate and gilded, and with statues of the saints. When one looks into a Catholic Church they are designed to give the impression of gazing toward the altar and beyond that to have a glimpse of heaven and the saints who reside within. So it is highly appropriate in a Catholic's mind to have the finest materials and beauty, and with representations of the saints, and it is not at all an idolatrous point of view. Rather it is human's attempt to artistically and reverently create the atmosphere of anticipation of heaven to come for the faithful and believers. Even the poorest person can touch gold leaf and valuable woods and marbles, and "see the saints" in the pictures and statuary when they enter a Church, and that is how it is in heaven. So while driving today and thinking, as I always do, about different ways to bridge gaps and articulate Catholic points of view, I realized that many do not understand that the Catholic Church has always viewed its churches, from the smallest to the greatest, as a physical setting to stir the feeling of being on the threshold of heaven and gazing within with joyous anticipation.



For Christians with more spare settings, they do not have that view at all. They view the church as the place to "get down to business" and pray and hold worship service. I think non Catholic Christians do not realize at all nowadays the origin of the thought process of the sacred space of Catholics as being doorways through which the anticipation of heaven is viewed for both rich and poor, as it is in actuality in heaven. So they too sometimes think that the adornment of the Catholic Church is the object of the worship and praise, rather than understanding that for two thousand years, the building of a Catholic Church had this unspoken but very real intention of being designed to "look into heaven in anticipation." These non-Catholic Christians who have much sparer settings are not trying to adorn and populate a space with the setting of anticipation of heaven. Another example of this glimpse is the design of the various Orthodox Churches, where one can truly feel "inside" heaven as every inch is decorated with icons and images and there is more of the actual atmosphere through use of incense.



Muslims can now better understand through my explanation why there is a sometimes jarring comparison between a mosque and a Catholic Church. Mosques are beautiful with natural and calligraphy adornment, but they are prayer and worship spaces and do not have images. It would not occur to the average Muslim that a mosque would be a glimpse of heaven and that is fine because that is not the purpose of the mosque nor their religious world view. In this way they are like the non Catholic Christians who have a "getting to the business of prayer and worship" view of their sacred space. In the more basic Colonial times and still today the space may not even be a church but the "meeting room." So you have a range in Christianity from extremely basic and sparse to closer in adornment to Catholic style, but all agree that they are viewing their space as the place where people gather and do their business of worship and prayer. The Catholic Church is unique in that it has an additional objective throughout its history of architecture and adornment that gives the worshipper the feeling of standing on the threshold and gazing into the fixtures of heaven and its presumed certain inhabitants, the saints and the angels.



I hope this helps. It's rather obvious but I'm amazed at how many obvious things are misunderstood and taken for granted, hence not discussed and often misunderstood as a result!