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Back in 2002, when this was a brand new blog, I wisecracked about a group of lay people with the ambitious project of building an enormous monument in honor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, in the form of a triumphal arch in Buffalo, overlooking Lake Erie.

This was the design concept they were working with at the time:

I suggested they expand on the theme:

But nobody’s called to thank me for my contribution to the effort.

Anyway, they’re still working, and they’ve reworked the design.

I’m afraid it’s still not very appealing; it’s weirdly futuristic and geometrical. The stark structure rising up at the end of a promontory doesn’t look welcoming; it doesn’t have the gentleness, delicacy, or stateliness suitable to a Marian shrine. It’s a blunt object — well, actually it’s round-ended — and really rather masculine in form. The only sign of motherhood in it is the use of abstract-looking egg-like ovals.

As for the structure at the base of the arch, that looks more like a shrine cafeteria than an actual shrine:

And I have to wonder — is this to be built on reclaimed land? Putting a 700-foot monument on landfill might lead to some engineering problems.

But I’m not a pro about this. Maybe someone with actual knowledge of architecture could look at these concepts and comment more insightfully.

The Very Rev. John Shepherd, Anglican dean of Perth, Australia writes in the Times:

Music of quality, in the context of worship, does not entertain or divert. It reveals. […]

Any work of art, be it sculpture, painting, literature, poetry or music, whose implications are immediately obvious and can instantly be grasped can never enlist our imagination, and so cannot equip us for mystery; and what cannot equip us for mystery cannot equip us for God.

This is why the Church should have no truck with banality. Yet, sadly, this is not universally the case.

Wisdom: let us be attentive! See the rest.

On March 30, I posted a comment about the Murphy abuse case and the NYT’s article accusing Pope Benedict of having stopped the priest’s trial. The trial judge, Fr. Thomas Brundage, has now issued a correction of an erroneous statement he made last week, so I have updated my commentary with the additional information. His defense of the Pope’s reputation remains unchanged.

As we celebrate Christ’s institution of the Mass and priesthood tonight, I should probably be praying and meditating upon sacred texts. However, it seems like many Catholics and evangelicals (yes, I’ve also heard from Benedict’s fans among our evangelical protestant brethren) are concerned about the latest media attacks against the Holy Father.
Don’t be.
Pray for Pope Benedict. Defend him when you come across unfair attacks against him. But leave the worrying to the Holy Spirit who chose Benedict as successor to St. Peter. Simply put, God is not going to abandon such a faithful servant in this time of hardship. And if it be God’s will that the Church’s enemies drive the Holy Father out of Rome, there is little we can do to stop it.