 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
 By Michelle MartinStaff writer Building a church takes more than bricks and mortar. It takes inspiration, education, knowledge and know-how. Since most parish committee members have never built a church before, it also takes a lot of help. That's where FORM/REFORM: The National Conference on Environment and Art for Catholic Worship comes in. More than 1,000 people attended the conference at the Chicago Hilton & Towers from June 29 to July 3, providing learning and networking opportunities for professionals involved in church design, construction and renovation and for people who are embarking on their own projects. "It's kind of a one-stop shopping thing," said Paul Covino, who served as master of ceremonies at the conference. "About 60 percent of the participants are members of parish building committees who really want to find out how you get from point A to point Z. For a relatively small amount of money, people can get a lot of their questions answered." Such questions can include where to find artwork, where to find an artist, how to handle lighting, what kind of floor covering works best and what takes precedence when there are conflicts, Covino said. "This is an expensive thing you're going to do," he said. "The conference tries do develop an atmosphere where questioning is permitted." Covino, a chaplain at Holy Cross University and a board member for the conference, has worked on it since he worked at the Georgetown Center for Liturgy, Spirituality and the Arts. The Georgetown Center has sponsored the meetings since the third session in 1995. The first two, in 1984, were sponsored by the Archdioceses of San Francisco and Chicago, and used the publication of "Environment and Art in Catholic Worship" as a springboard. Since then, the conference has met roughly every 18 months in cities around the United States, providing tours of local churches, workshops, "portfolio nights" for artists and architects and more than 100 vendor exhibits, said organizer Terry Wessels. The Chicago conference was the first since the U.S. bishops released "Built of Living Stones," their new document on church art and architecture. Its emphasis on the importance of accessibility, the importance of a collaborative approach and an education for the whole parish, the role of a liturgical consultant, sensitivity to the cultural nuances of parishes, and the importance of an art program was reflected in the presentations. Professional participants, artists, architects, liturgical consultants and others, often return to the conference time after time to build their own networks as well as connecting with potential customers. "It's kind of an attempt at cross-fertilization," said David Philippart, who edits the Environment & Art Letter, among other things, for Liturgy Training Publications of the Archdiocese of Chicago. "It's an attempt to teach each group the other's language. It's a great opportunity, too, to find out what's going on in different parts of the country." Philippart serves on the conference's advisory board, and often finds ideas for the Environment & Art Letter at its meetings. At the most recent session, he teamed with Sheila McLaughlin, the former director of the archdiocesan Office for Divine Worship, to offer a two-part workshop. "The Rite Places," looked at how to accommodate rites in addition to the Eucharist, starting with the rituals of the triduum, and including weddings, funerals, daily prayer and penance. Since the conference began almost 20 years ago, church designers have wrestled with the problem of providing intimate worship spaces in large parishes, generally in the suburbs, he said. "The rites don't countenance huge crowds of 1,500 to 2,000 people," Philippart said. "Maybe things like ordinationsóthe sacraments the bishop performsóbut the ordinary sacraments don't envision these gigantic assemblies. It's very difficult for 2,000 people to do those things together." Other thorny issues took center stage in a presentation by Father Phil Horrigan of the Office for Divine Worship. Knotty problems that crop up in many projects range from placement of the tabernacle and the placement and style of the baptismal font to "What do we have as an image of Christ?" Northbrook architect William Sturm of Prisco Serena Sturm Architects raised new questions in his presentation, the first one the conference has featured on "green design." Using techniques designed to conserve energy and work with a building's environment instead of against it provides stewardship of the earth, Sturm said. "Stewardship is a major part of most religious traditions." His firm, which is working on the construction of a new church on South Michigan Avenue for Old St. Mary's Parish, encourages the use of "daylighting," or making use of the sunlight, using native plants in landscaping and "building for the ages," Sturm said. Poorly built buildings will eventually end up in the waste dump, he added, taking up landfill space and being replaced by new buildings, which require still more resources. But doing that means parishes often must be willing to invest more in their construction projects. "We're trying to build something grand that costs less than grand," Sturm said. "That's why you end up with leaky roofs. We know how to build roofs that don't leak, but people like to cut corners." Valerie Cavin, a Chicago fund-raiser, gave a presentation aimed at teaching parishes how to raise enough money so they can pay for what they want. In "Brother, Sister, Can You Spare $2 Million," Cavin explained why raising money to build or renovate a church isn't the same as raising money for a new gym or parish center. "There's an educational component that's very important," she said. "You need to deepen parishioners' understanding of liturgy and salvation, and why the interior should be arranged a certain way. Some parishioners will not give if they don't understand why the church is arranged the way it is. In a renovation situation, it's often, 'Don't touch my church.' This is really a teachable moment." And if the parishioners must be educated, oftentimes, so must the pastor, Covino said. Pastors who think they can change a church building without getting parishioners' input soon learn otherwise, Covino said, and more than one pastor has had to tear up his blueprints after leaving the conference. "We say, 'Whoa, if this is just the pastor, they're going to have some very angry parishioners on their hands right away,'" Covino said. "More importantly, if they do that, they miss the opportunity to go through some wonderful growth. You have to go through a change of spirit to change your building." Front Page | Digest | Cardinal | Interview |