Archie Lock

Dr. Martino

SRT 250 01

May 2nd, 2021

Project 1: Sacred Space

Introduction

Growing up in the UK, I attended a christian primary school (ages 4-11). I was not a religious

person, probably due to the fact that nobody in my family had any strong connection to

religion and faith. Despite this, I still have memories of singing hymns in school and

attending church services around two times a year. In school, I remember making christingles

and having services every christmas time where we would sing and celebrate Advent. Those

memories have stuck with me despite being such a long time ago. 

Outside of school, I did not have any connection to sacred space apart from a couple

weddings and funerals, most of which I was too young to remember. However, when I was

around 17 years old, an old friend of mine sadly passed away suddenly, and the funeral was

held in St. Mary Redcliffe Church in my hometown of Bristol. The church is over 900 years

old, with a spire reaching a height of almost 300 feet. I believe the high emotion of that day is

one of the main reasons why I remember the church so vividly. Despite not feeling any

connection with God, with so many people in attendance I could feel that other people were

in the right place and felt at home. 

Other than these fond memories, my only other experience with sacred space is being

fortunate enough to go to The Vatican. My family and I did a whole tour of the ‘city’, seeing

wonders like the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica with my own eyes. Once again, I did

not feel any connection to God whilst experiencing The Vatican, however I knew about the

history, and learned more about it during the day. It was also very crowded, many people like
myself were clearly tourists, however many people also seemed like they were there, in one

of the most sacred places in Christendom, to become closer to God. 

Part 1

In this part of the podcast, Fr. Sunghera explains that the quality of light that is encaptured in

sacred buildings has to be modulated. It is not about having a lot of windows that pour in

light, it is more about being able to feel that nature is present. Fr. Sunghera explains this by

saying that being able to notice clouds on a particular day preventing natural light into the

building can connect us to the cosmos, by this he means that we can feel more connected to

the world, or universe around us. He also believes that the natural light coming in can be

related to transcendence of the spiritual, how the light from above can be connected to higher

powers, and how this light is necessary in a sacred space where you are trying to connect to

God. The light itself coming in almost resembles God coming down from above and

connecting with you. 

Historically, places of worship only had natural light, one of the hosts speaking to Fr.

Sunghera states that she was in the process of finding a new parish, and one she visited had

no natural light whatsoever, she claimed that this made it hard for her to get into a ‘prayerful’

mode. 

In the case of Notre Dame, Professor Binski and Jean De Jandun describe the chapel in

incredible detail, and how the lighting, colors, windows, walls and ceilings were all created in

particular fashion to try and create a feeling of heroic transcendence (America). This can be

related to the impact of light that Fr. Sunghera discusses, and how the natural light creates a

feeling that God is nearby. The article also states how our senses to color and light have been

deadened from the creation of artificial lighting. This can be directly related to the host of the

podcast stating that she found it hard to be prayerful because of the absence of natural light

(Jesuitical).
Part 2

Fr. Sunghera explains that the main reason US churches are unable to build the same caliber

of structures of centuries ago is down to the labor. Many of those structures built hundreds of

years ago were built by immigrants and slaves, therefore more money could be spent on the

expensive, luxurious materials needed to build such incredible structures. Nonetheless,

communities can find other ways of being creative with small budgets, and many

communities believe that the money that could be spent on such lavish infrastructures can be

more beneficial elsewhere. Fr. Sunghera gives an example of a poor hispanic community in

Grand Rapids, Michigan, which sold tacos on the weekend to pool together as much money

as possible to go towards their new parish. He mentions that a relatively well-known artist

who was baptised in the same community provided original pieces of artwork for the parish,

once more illustrating the creativity needed to be sustainable and cost-effective. 

In contrast, medieval builders wanted to capture as much beauty and elegance as possible in

sacred spaces. The term opulence is defined as great wealth and luxuriousness and is

mentioned by Professor Binski about Notre Dame. It feels like the builders of gothic

cathedrals tended to have a ‘the more the merrier’ approach when it came to design and

luxuriousness, whereas nowadays it tends to be a ‘less is more’ approach by communities. Fr.

Sunghera talks about how one community wanted to illustrate their care for the environment

and used sustainable, slightly more expensive materials to portray that care, however this

would not have been a concern in historic times. 

Part 3

When asked if there is a distinctly Catholic aesthetic in architecture today, Fr. Sunghera

dismisses the idea that there is, and focuses more on the ‘sacred’ aspect. Fr. Sunghera uses an

example of a student who when talking about the topic at hand stated that he wants something
that he never could have imagined, a God that is greater than himself and that he cannot

picture, basically stating that he does not want a traditional, common image of God. This

imagination allowed the architects to build something unique that was not uninspiring unlike

so many common cathedrals. 

Fr. Sunghera’s comments illustrate a never-ending imagination of God as ‘the other’ and how

God can be anything that people want to believe. The contrasting perspective by Hugh of St.

Victor is quite difficult to understand. Hugh states the beauty of diversity and how the earth

has innumerable creatures and living things which seems like it goes hand in hand with

Sunghera’s comments. However Hugh believes that this sense of ‘fullness’ in the world is too

full, there is too much variety and God is too kind to us. I examined this in a way that God

has given us endless possibilities and opportunities, but we should not treat him the same, he

is almighty and therefore we cannot envisage him as whatever we please. Baxter concludes

by saying that the damage caused to Notre Dame is damage done to a place where God is

visible, which once more contrasts Fr. Sunghera’s comments about God being ‘the other’. 

Conclusion

From an academic viewpoint, I believe this project has broadened my understanding of

worship and architecture. I have never really thought too deeply about the differences

between such old beautiful cathedrals and the ethics behind them back then compared to the

efficiency of building cathedrals now with many more factors on the table such as budget,

sustainability and community. The priorities have shifted positively from hundreds of years

ago as more is considered when undergoing these projects, for me, this illustrates that God’s

love has become stronger, because the community comes together to build places of worship

that benefit as many people as possible, and not just the wealthy kings and emperors like

many centuries ago. 

Personally, I did not feel any strong spiritual journey during this project, however I do have a

greater understanding for how religious people view God, especially from reading the article

about Notre Dame. I remember watching the fire of Notre Dame live on the news, and as

someone who was not particularly interested or educated about the cathedral, it did not affect

me much. However, after this project and learning more about the subject of worship, I now

feel for the many people who witnessed the fire breakout who felt like they were losing their

connection to God. I may never feel that connection, but I can at least appreciate that people

do have that connection, which means I can be more understanding and accepting of how

they feel.