"The Theology of the Church Building"

"No more barren concrete bunkers, please!" cries Fr. Giles Dimock, OP, Professor of Theology at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio — Why We Need Beautiful Churches.

Questions asked: "Why are so many modern church buildings so barren? Why have so many lovely old Irish Victorian church edifices, neo-basilican or neo-classical structures, been stripped and whitewashed away?" Questions raised and thoroughly answered: "Are beautiful sacred buildings needed? Can't we, the Body of Christ, worship anywhere?"

Short answer: "[W]e do need beautiful sacred buildings after all, because they correspond to the needs of our religious psychology, because God used sacred places in manifesting his presence in history, because Christ dwells in his Church, and because our edifices are a sign of that indwelling, both in us and in the Eucharist which is our consolation and joy."