Christmas and Easter, by custom, allow for a lavish use of flowers and decorations. Weddings do too.
BUT!
Decorations should frame and highlight the altar, ambo, celebrant’s chair and the tabernacle. Decorations should not overwhelm these liturgical sacred objects, sacramentals.
St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill and St. Joseph in Macon, Georgia know this and use decorations to point to that which is important, not to point to themselves.
The crèche should never be placed directly in front of the altar and is best in a side chapel.
This should be anathema!:
Saint Joseph, Macon, exemplary decorating:
2 comments:
The top photo is ridiculous. How does one gain access to the sanctuary? Jump over the plant line?
Regarding St. Anne, it looks nice but, the trees behind the tabernacle, to me, are attempting to address a shortcoming of the design there, add something where there is nothing. The details of the tabernacle area are difficult to distinguish from the photo - the result of this approach. It's what Fr. Dawid has to work with, I get that but, design wise, it struggles simply because from a distance, I can't tell what some of it is.
St. Joseph is the most cohesive of the three. Not having been significantly altered from the original design, the fixtures are comfortable in their spaces, nothing competes with anything else, it's a very thoughtful and harmonious space. The flowers are dramatic and appropriately so for a festal occasion. The harmony that has been achieved here is what's lacking in most modern Roman Catholic churches.
ByzRus,
Your comments are spot on!
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