House of Worship

Last week I was a guest at a wedding in RI. The ceremony took place at a Catholic church, St. Mary’s in Bristol, and I was struck by its beauty. I had a chance to visit a number of cathedrals and churches in Italy, France and Germany and found this church to be on the par with the best and more beautiful then most.

While there I started thinking about criticism I’ve heard over the years about gilded houses of worship in impoverished neighborhoods, particularly in the third world. (I must admit I was a mild critic myself.) However, sitting in this splendid place I started to change my position. I imagined a person struggling all day coming home to an earthen floored, one room home with the only ornaments being pictures cut out of a magazine and maybe a religious symbol or shrine. And I thought about what a pleasure it must be on that one day a week when they are able to sit and relax in the splendor of such a place. I want to think that there is a sense of not only belonging to a community but ownership. This is their place. This is an extension of their home. It is the formal living room where they gather with their friends and the more humble the home the greater the significance of this great house.

Another though rattling around in my brain while admiring the architecture, color and stained glass was that this building must have given a great amount of joy to the designers, artisans and builders of this a magnificent structure. I imagine that the official justification for such opulence, particularly in the face of poverty, is that it represents respect for and a desire to properly worship ones God. I suspect God isn’t impressed easily and tolerates this because it enriches what would otherwise be drab and gray lives of the parishioners as well as the builders.