Ugly as Sin

Why don’t Catholic churches look like churches any more? That’s the question Michael Rose sets out to answer in Ugly as Sin.

The book begins with a meditation on Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to illustrate the principles of sacred architecture. The author then leads us on a guided tour of a traditional church, starting from the facade and proceeding all the way inside up to the altar and the tabernacle at the front. Along the way, he gives us the history of each architecural feature — much of which was new to me.

Then we come to modern churches. Why do they look so bland? According to this book, it’s largely due to a group of people called liturgical design consultants, aided by a document titled Environment and Art in Catholic Worship — a provisional subcommittee report widely misunderstood to be some sort of official directive from Rome.

So can a sense of the sacred be restored? Michael Rose thinks so, and he points to examples of modern interiors that have been transformed by renovations. As for the exteriors, he says, we will simply have to abandon the existing modern buildings and start again. The book is amply illustrated with photographs demonstrating his points.

Michael S. Rose. Ugly as Sin: Why They Changed Our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces and How We Can Change Them Back Again. Manchester, N.H.: Sophia Institute, 2009. Paperback. 256 pages. ISBN 1933184442. $18.95.