Ten Things I Learned About Building a New Church

Avoid the enthusiastic amateur – Sylvia who has an interior design company may be a very sweet person, but if she is not knowledgable about liturgy, architecture and church history she is not really the expert you want. George who is a civil engineer may be terrific to help with the parking lots, the drains and the traffic flow systems, but he may not be the person to advise on color schemes, liturgical arrangement and historic church architecture. You get the idea. Again–get people who know what they’re talking about. If you want some names, send me an email.
Use old stuff – To tell you the truth there is a glut in the market for old church stuff. You can get baldachins, altarpieces, statues, stations of the cross and stained glass windows for a fraction of their worth, but you must not add these things as pretty furniture to the building you’ve managed to erect. Instead, find these items at the beginning (especially the big architectural items) and plan your whole church around them. Otherwise they will look like a diamond set in a plastic ring out of a vending machine.
Modern materials make beauty affordable – If you keep to a simple architectural style and use new materials and new building methods you can afford a beautiful church. Let’s say you need to build a church that will seat 1500 people. You could build a beautiful neo gothic church using modern materials (steel and plasterboard) at the same cost as building a hideous warehouse type building. Really. Find the right architects and you can do this. Think what would happen if you built something beautiful in your community rather than a utilitarian preaching hall with extra Catholic pretty stuff.
Use Experts – Don’t fall into the trap of American Amateurism: “How hard can it be to build a nice church? You just put in seats for X amount of people and get a good sound system right?” No. Not right. Think it through. Consult experts on liturgy, on church history, on evangelization of the culture, on architecture on what the whole point of building a Catholic Church might be. The experts are out there. They are passionate. They want to help. They can help. Drop me an email if you want some contacts.
Do What is Beautiful, Good and True – Don’t skimp and save. Build a temple that is a beautiful and fitting place for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is important. It is a public witness of what is important to us as Catholics. Catholics build beautiful churches. Its what we do. This is a witness to our children, to ur community, to the world. Let’s do it right!