Updated Examples

Recently completed  Masterpiece at the Shrine of Our Lady Of Guadalupe In La Crosse, Wisconsin  by Duncan Stroik LLC (Church Architects)

http://www.stroik.com/portfolio/shrine-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe/

and

http://www.stroik.com/portfolio/our-lady-of-the-most-holy-trinity/

(Both built from scratch – arrows to the left and right of the first picture in the link that take you though the portfolio of the Church – and you see the Holy Communion Rail and gates and brass fixtures constructed to perfection)

http://www.stroik.com/portfolio/altar-rails

Typical upgrade restorations complete and others  in progress not shown by the same architect can be seen in this perfect before and after example The Monastery of the Infant of Praque following the post conciliar iconoclast destructive modifications and now (stunning) new Catholic renovation

http://www.stroik.com/portfolio/monastery-of-the-infant-jesus-of-prague/

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McCreary has extensive experience in dealing with the two different types of Catholic Bishops and has multiple types of Traditional Catholic Architecture upgrades going on in the US

http://www.mccreryarchitects.com/

as do Cram and Ferguson,

http://www.cramandferguson.com/new-pagedf/

So when I hear from people the Catholic Restoration movement is the wishful thinking of bloggers I respond with “Oh really”

What about these millions of dollars being spent to restore the Catholic sanctuaries from the generation of Conciliar Era Inconclasts and Suppressionists

One Communion Rail at a time – One Parish at a time

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 How to re-build the Communion Rails

I have someone that will be giving me design blue prints on re-building the Communion Rails and I will be seeking permission to publish share-  Please discuss with your Pastors and raise to agenda in Parish Councils the subject(s) of Catholic Restoration –

Many people have forgotten what Catholic Churches are even supposed to look like and or what they looked like before the liberal reforms and the iconoclast movement that occurred in the Church that we are only now beginning to recover from one Parish at a time

I have some resources to share – some links and some beautiful photographs – Denis McNamara’s books are an excellent resource on this subject of which I have included three references below – We will share more on this topic soon

Believe it or not a large percentage of Catholics do not even know that in the religion of Catholicism – Sacred Art, Sacred Architecture, and Sacred Music are actually components of the Word of God -of equal weight to that of Sacred Scripture. This is something to which the alien lands of the protestant country to which we live in America have witnessed the convincing of the opposite and to that of only the Sacred book, a heresy to which the majority of “liturgical Christians” ,shocking though it may sound, have been proselytized into error

Back to the point of order ‘ Outstanding Resources’                                                    “Heritage” is amazing but expensive –- stunning designs as seen in the link but obviously requiring a benefactor

http://heritagerd.com/manufacture/religious/furniture/communion-rails                    

However !

Keep in mind that most Parishes have engineers, designers, doctors, carpenters, and laborers within the Parish community! all of whom can contribute to work and design in making the job a “materials only” upgrade expenditure that can be easily raised in a Restoration Fund Raiser

Sacred Architecture and Sacred Art resource books for your review as follows:

Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy: Denis R. McNamara

http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Architecture-Spirit-Liturgy/dp/1595250271/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NW94V1M13EY9Z5TCKK3

The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal: Duncan G. Stroik:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595250379/ref=ox_sc_imb_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

How to Read Churches: A Crash Course in Decoding Ecclesiastical Architecture: Denis R. McNamara

http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Churches-Ecclesiastical-Architecture/dp/0847835987/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

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Altar Rails – why this barrier is a very needed part of our Theology and Christology

http://creamcitycatholic.com/2014/02/17/the-altar-rail-why-this-barrier-should-stay/#prettyPhoto

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If the armor of the Knights of the Immaculata is too heavy for the average person or if Restoration of authentic Catholicism is not among your burning critical path forefronts of thought you could always revert to Catholic Liturgies like these that Crescat shared from Easter Sunday Mass that will bring you back to focus

WARNING – This Catholic Mass video could harm you!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thecrescat/2015/04/happy-easter-yall.html

Deep breath as we return to Catholicism

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First off many ask “Why do Traditional Catholic Churches look in many ways like a Court Room – simply put “Because they are supposed to”  The court rooms came AFTER the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ” In the Traditional Mass the first 1/3 of the Mass is spent on one’s knees whereby the individual ( you and me) put ourselves on trial before the God of the High Altar We accuse ourselves of all we have done wrong – repeatedly ! We have three chances to pray it out and there are THREE CONFITEORS during the course of a proper Mass

Here is one illustration

Catholic Masses are also now said in the traditional Rite on the beautiful side Altars of the many Cathedrals, especially in restoration minded Dioceses (including in Saint Peter’s in Rome !)

In a regular Church the low Altar is more than just out of place, example as seen here

A “Catholic Altar” should look something like the following – (Please double click for the detailing of higher resolution)

A recent photograph of a Catholic Church Altar on Easter

This is what a Catholic Church looks like                                                                 Here is a wedding photo from only 60 years ago at Saint Stanislaus

The High Altar today at Our Lady of Good Counsel NYC from Catholic Underground’s regular First Saturday Vespers

A traditional Catholic Church in Budapest

A Greek Orthodox Church as seen below, – Forget just rails they have entire screens that partition the laity from the Sacral

~Correction~

 ~Patrick Comerford image of a Greek Orthodox Church in Rethymnon~

But if we are to get there as seen in some of these amazing depictions of Catholic Churches that are extant today –everything starts at the rail

More to follow

Ave Maria