Episcopi vel per se ipsos vel per sacerdotes idoneos qui peritia et artis amore praediti sunt, artificum curam habeant, ut eos spiritu Artis sacrae et sacrae Liturgiae imbuant.
Insuper commendatur ut scholae vel Academiae de Arte Sacra ad artifices formandos instituantur in illis regionibus in quibus id visum fuerit.(See below)
One of the most important teachings of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council was the provision for the establishment of schools or academies of sacred art in order to train artists. To the best of my knowledge this responsibility entrusted to local Episcopal conferences has never been implemented. Not only does the council specifically mention artists; it specifically entrusts the responsibility of ensuring the quality of their work to the concern of the Bishop and appropriately trained priests to help in this endeavor. My questions are simply these:
Where is the Institute for the Sacred Arts in the United States?
Why haven't the bishops established this particular institute for the United States?
Why do the American Bishops frequently use artisans not from the United States when commissioning liturgical art?
As a Catholic that believes the expression of our religious faith deserves the highest caliber of materials and environments, it confuses me why we continue to utilize religious goods suppliers to furnish our sacred spaces. When a particular parish community decides there is a need to initiate a new piece of sacred art or renovate a liturgical space, quite frequently the clergy pull a religious catalogue off the shelf and make an order. My concerns are multiple. Why do we insist on using catalogue pieces that are premade in a workshop, usually in Europe and do not exhibit any sense of originality or quality from their inception? Why do we endorse studios and assembly line liturgical goods production houses that basically fill in the blank on the liturgical need and massively produce the same product for hundreds of locations. Usually these studios are located in Italy another European location. Why don't we utilize the best artisans and craftsmen in the United States to fashion sacred art and liturgical spaces for our Catholic Churches?
There are most likely multiple answers to the questions I have outlined. It has been 44 years since the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concillium and completion of this task does not seem to be any closer than in 1963.
It confounds me that our own Catholic clergy persist in absolute decision making authority when it comes to the execution and implementation of new liturgical spaces or the commissioning of sacred art. Most clergy with which I am familiar do not know the difference between Baroque and Bauhaus but they insist on making the decisions about church design and architecture.
The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council did not intend for this to happen. When proclaiming an appreciation of art and artists the Council Fathers envisioned a partnership between the communities of Church and artisans. Such a relationship was uniquely intended to incorporate mutual understanding of the Church's needs for artistic integrity and the implementation by the artisans of qualitative expressions of religious belief. Such an understanding does not imply that the most expensive representations of religious expression constitute the highest quality of the artistic endeavor; rather it suggests that the highest quality compositions by artists should be included in the Church's expression of her beliefs.
It seems that in neglecting the need to establish an American Academy for Sacred Art the symbiotic relationship between Church and Artisan is seen as unimportant or unnecessary. The deeper understanding of God's expression of Himself through the artisan appears to have been relegated to mass produced; fill in the blanks, religious articles.
As the Catholic Church in the United States continues to develop a deeper understanding of its mission and sacramental activities it is time to implement the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and establish an institute for the study and preservation of sacred and liturgical art.
The United States is and has not been a missionary church under the jurisdiction of the Propaganda Fide for quite some time. Directly associated with this fact, we need to start utilizing and implementing liturgical designs from highly talented and qualified American artists and craftsmen. One of the most alarming endorsements I often see is the openly commercial endorsement by establishments such as EWTN of foreign liturgical "crafts" guilds and establishments. The domestic Catholic network in the United States should really begin to focus on the many talented and inspired Catholic artists and craftsmen that reside in the United States. Perhaps organizations such as EWTN would even use this as an opportunity to showcase American artists and craftsmen that are especially astute in their representations of sacred and liturgical art. My goal is not merely to provide artistic isolationism when determining Catholic needs for good architecture and design. My goal is to promote and establish a Catholic communal appreciation of quality liturgical art and design that is available in the United States.
Most often the major metropolitan areas of the country contain many of the individuals that possess artistic expertise and creativity. It makes logical sense then that most artists that specialize in liturgical and sacred arts would cluster around the larger Catholic populations in our larger dioceses and archdioceses. Sacrosanctum Concilium makes a very specific point that the Bishop should entrust the proper understanding of proper artistic and liturgical integrity to priests especially trained and associated with the visual arts. One step further would also to provide for the establishment of a liturgical arts organization within each bishop's local jurisdiction. This group would serve as a conduit for local artists and parish communities that are seeking to utilize each artist's and craftsmen's unique skills and talents. At the same time, perhaps this same "liturgical arts" group could provide an educational element for priests and parishioners alike. Lectures, seminars and workshops as well as exhibitions of liturgical and sacred art might be arranged so all of the faithful would appreciate and understand the true importance and necessity of such contributors.
One of the only examples of such an exhibition of liturgical and sacred arts took place in Philadelphia in 1976 during the 41st International Eucharistic Congress which was held in August of that year. The location was the old Philadelphia Civic Center and exhibition space was provided to showcase local examples of sacred and liturgical art. Quite honestly, the exhibition covered a large space within the exhibition hall. It was also an opportunity for me as a high school student to begin to understand the truly symbiotic relationship that exists between the Church and the Artist, Sacred Art and Liturgical Expression, as well as the relationship between architecture and sacred space. During my tour of the exposition, I was introduced to many artists and craftsmen that continue to produce exceptional pieces of art that are most worthy additions to sacred spaces. Some of these artists, such as Robert McGovern, Bill Daley, Wayne Bates and Anthony Visco have been great sources of friendship as well as artistic mentors over the past 35 years or so. During my tenure as a seminary student, I was very fortunate to have experienced both artists and their works. In particular Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary commissioned and still uses original furniture constructed by George Nakashima. The liturgical furniture have for over 30 years provided exceptional examples of good design and exceptional execution of natural materials in the liturgical space. During this period George Nakashima was even a frequent visitor, and even made use of fallen trees from the campus in his woodcarving projects.
Of course one of the most enduring mandates of the implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium was the entrusting of an educational understanding of the sacred and liturgical arts to the Bishop, who in turn delegated this task to Msgr. John Miller in Philadelphia. Throughout the years, Msgr. John Miller has taught many a future priest the qualitative differences between vellum and plain old paper, the nuances of quality between hand woven wool and mass produced polyester as well as the material exquisiteness of handcrafted liturgical vessels when compared to off the shelf items. Quite frequently his voice was similar to St.John the Baptist calling out in an artistic wilderness where the message of liturgical quality of materials was not always understood or appreciated. I am glad to say that after thirty years he is still teaching me and other former students about the necessity of highest quality materials in our oblations to the Almighty.
Clearly the intentions of the Second Vatican Council regarding art and artistic expression within the Church were intended to launch a Renaissance of craftsmanship in our contemporary Church. Unfortunately, in most cases this rebirth and new appreciation of artisans and their crafts has only been experienced on a limited basis. That is exactly why the United States Bishops need to establish an institute that promotes and fosters an appreciation of all of these artistic disciplines. Not only would such a school of sacred art provide much needed education for clergy and faithful alike, it would provide an creative incubator for ecclesial art. Artisans, clergy, faithful people would all have vast resources available to further appreciate and explore the relationship between the Church and Artistic expression. Such a relationship would provide opportunity for mutual cooperation with all parties to explore artistic expression and its age old relationship to the worship of God. At the same time, we would experience a marked increase of qualitative liturgical accessories and vessels for use in our pursuit of the Divine.
In a business scenario, it is a "win-win" situation. It is the same in pastoral, and artistic terms as well, all parties involved would benefit from establishment of liturgical arts appreciation programs. Such development hopefully would produce artistic and architectural representations that are worthy of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
***SacroSanctum Concilium, Chapter 7 number 126
Bishops should have a special concern for artists, so as to imbue them with the spirit of sacred art and of the sacred liturgy. This they may do in person or through suitable priests who are gifted with a knowledge and love of art.
It is also desirable that schools or academies of sacred art should be founded in those parts of the world where they would be useful, so that artists may be trained.
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