Desecrating Our Sacred Spaces

Why do Christian churches tolerate their humiliation?

A two-week business trip to Australia with stops in Sydney and Perth allowed some time to survey church art and architecture in the Lucky Country. The takeaway is that Australia is suffering the same cultural barbarism that demoralizes Christians everywhere.

St. George’s Cathedral in Perth (dedicated in 1888) is the Anglican mothership congregation for West Australia, and it is magnificent. It is an astonishing showcase of Anglicanism’s superior sacred space aesthetics.

What is most apparent is that St. George’s Perth is a Christian National monument. It has multiple nooks and crannies devoted to honoring the military - the regiments, men, and events that have made Australia a great and proud nation. It is a palpable and appropriate patriotism because the memorials are not constructions born of hubris but of humility in recognition that God commands all the affairs of men. It is an act of fearful submission and reverence that appreciates the eternal.

It’s not restricted to the Anglicans, even though it is the de facto national church because of its colonial heritage. St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney (Catholic, consecrated in September 1882) has similar shrines to the nation’s war dead and the same devotion to beauty and truth in a once barren and forsaken place.

Deo Et Patriae - For God and Country.

Within that submission to the God who actually saves is an impulse that drives remarkable creativity and achievement. No detail is too fine, too obscure, or too expensive. Everyone involved with these buildings understood that they were attempting to reflect a micro-fraction of an incomprehensible glory. They did so as Australians for Australia and as subjects of the British Empire.

Even secular spaces recognize the nation's greatness and tremendous sacrifices in a unique and solemn way. Australians' fortitude, persistence, and resilience are well captured in the older buildings and public spaces.

Anzac Memorial

Sadly, the churches bear the pockmarks of insurgent activity. St. George’s is festooned with notices about all the latest woke things and tap-to-pay cash registers everywhere. Its astounding acoustics are valued for musical concerts, only some of which might be sacred. St Mary’s seems to be holding the line a little better in preserving its spaces for their intended purpose.

The most egregious assault on St. George’s was to deface its exterior with a disgusting modernist defecation. According to Wikipedia, this thing is named "Ascalon" after the lance used by St. George to slay the dragon; the artwork aims “to evoke a sense of righteous power and victory over a force of darkness and oppression. It does nothing of the sort.

One of the responsible “artists”, Christian de Vietri, is a certified teacher of “Haṭha Yoga of the Mahāsiddha tradition.” He is also a “certified… practitioner of Vāstu with a Bachelor in Mayonic Science and Technology.”

The lesson is simple: If you engage Mayonic artists, you get Mayonic “art.” The period from 1888 to 2011, from the church’s consecration to the “blessing” of Ascalon, is not only a matter of the passage of time.

I attended Divine Service with the Saints of St. John's Lutheran Church in Perth. However, I could not commune with them because we are not in A&P fellowship with the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) for many reasons that are only worsening.

St. John’s has a delightful sanctuary built with stone taken from a parishioner’s property in the Perth Hills. A tiny denominational minority lovingly planted it without the state resources and favor enjoyed by the Anglicans or the raw power of the purse that Catholics could tap. The founders were generous and industrious, including a member who hand-made the church’s pipe organ.

Alas, St. John’s has also proved unable to resist modernist deformations with screens and projectors in the sanctuary. The exterior is an architectural jumble of old and beautiful competing with modern and ugly. The original building is horribly defaced by a “spirit of hope” sign that looks to be made of pipe cleaners at first glance.

Christians invested in meaningful sacred spaces because they understood how their natural and fabricated surroundings physically and spiritually affect humans. Buildings reflect a purpose and intention, even unintentionally. Unfortunately, the modern zeitgeist, which is concerned solely with budget and function, has a stranglehold on us. Too many congregations have lost the connection with architecture and art that vitalizes parishioners and complements the difficult task of preaching the full counsel of God as Christians and active national citizens.