Building from Belief: Advance, Retreat, and Compromise in the Remaking of Catholic Church Architecture

Imagine what Sundays in a parish could be if worshiping communities are assured that the liturgy in their spaces might be a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy. Or what townhall meetings could also be in a place where parish committees are inspired to know that they can be the instruments of truth and beauty. The essays in Building from Belief focus on Catholic church architecture and invite those who are involved in the creation of worship space to be "the world's memory of what beauty looks like, and what sanctity feels like." The essays are an invitation to build the promised kingdom, allowing the grace of God into our hearts and in our spaces. DeSanctis encourages those who embark on the journey of building to ask the same question that the Fathers of Vatican II asked: how to be Church in a modern world. He shows that the worship that rises from our communities is indeed a true expression of that belief. Includes eight pages of full-color photographs with black-and-white photographs and illustrations throughout.