Modernism in Catholic Architecture

As someone who can appreciate modern architectonics, I have always been fascinated by the imagination of those architects who had enough creativity and vision to construct buildings and monuments that capture the attention of the multitudes, and withstand the test of time. Having said that, I cannot but feel deep disappointments at some of the current Catholic structures erected around the world. When you study some of these fallacious edifices, you wonder where the Catholic identity went. Consequently, there is no evocation of transcendence or mysticism to these farcical constructs, and you wonder with whose approval (and what were they thinking) were the final designs selected.

Feast your eyes on the Church of the Sacred Heart in Munich. Here you can see an exterior image of this Catholic Church, followed by an interior pic. I did not know that scaffolding became a fashionable component of sacred architecture.

Although simple in format, where is the Catholic identity in this architecture? All I see is a cube with what appears to be flimsy walls that a gust of wind can topple. Where is the crucifix? Can you see a tabernacle in this image? Any icons?









Here we have Christ Church in Austria. Do they celebrate the black mass in there? What does this hodgepodge of glossy panels remind you of? Is that a target off to the right, or was this picture taken through the crosshairs of a hunter's rifle?



While I remain overwhelmingly a traditionalist when it comes to Catholicism, I'm not an ultra-trad. or someone who practices a strain of truncated Catholic fundamentalism. This means I can appreciate progressive architecture as long as it edifies traditional Catholic beliefs, and is consistent with present liturgical praxis. But where is the edification or the Catholic identity in the structures above? Is this minimalism in the extreme [extreme minimalism sounds like an oxymoron (with emphasis on -moron)]?

On a related note, if you take a peek through the posts of the Catholic Church Conservation blog, you will find some of the most abhorrent and disrespectful liturgical abuses you never knew were possible.