The Liturgical Environment: What the Documents Say 3rd Edition by Mark G. Boyer (review)

When did people start thinking that liturgical law was architectural law?

In the past fifty years, this genre of book has been quite popular, assisting one to navigate the manifold documents of Vatican II in order to re-imagine churches in keeping with the spirit of the Council. On the one hand, Boyer tries to be thorough by combing liturgical documents for anything that might have relevance to the design of the ambry or the location of the tabernacle. On the other hand, the book suffers from the liturgical functional views of the famous little pamphlet Environment and Art in Catholic Worship (U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Liturgy, 1976), from which it quotes. Thus, rather than beginning with the representation of Christ’s one immemorial sacrifice, or the feeding on the Word of God and the Bread of Life, every chapter commences with the “the norm of active participation of the assembly in liturgical celebration.”

In his introduction the author notes that Redemptionis Sacramentum “attempts to get at an interiority or spirituality that is an important part of active participation, insisting that not everyone must have something concrete to do beyond the usual actions and gestures of the assembly” (xii–xiii). Unfortunately, the rest of the book interprets “full and active participation” as everyone actively doing something, and architectural success is judged by how much the liturgical elements foster activity. In Boyer’s treatment of the building shape he sees the basilica as historically enabling participation because there was no seating and “people could see and hear each other” (8). In the cruciform shape, participation was at a minimum due to the fact that people sat in pews and “saw only the backs of the heads of people” (8). Not only are these false conclusions, but the author shows his limited knowledge of Church history. It was in the Middle Ages that the cruciform plan developed, while pews did not come into popular use until the Reformation. Boyer sees the post-Vatican II “theater church” as a great improvement over the cruciform since worshippers can see each other and are closer to the action. Recognizing the problem of adapting an entertainment model for a church with active participation, Boyer criticizes the stage as encouraging passive watching. Even better and more participatory in his view is the elliptical sports stadium where “all are in full view of each other and interact with each other” (9). This leads us back to the so-called original environment, the house church or living room, beloved by liturgical design consultants, where furniture is arranged in a circle similar to a stadium.

The modernist liturgical design consultant either likes, or has been trained to prefer, a minimalist northern European space and works at finding theological reasons why these preferences should be universal. To support this agenda Boyer offers five principles: suitability, simplicity, genuineness, audibility & visibility, and dignity.

Simplicity means a clutter-free church, no distracting flowers on old high altars, and “a sufficient distance should separate the tabernacle and altar” (19–20). Even better is to employ lighting or some other device to separate the tabernacle during Mass so that one is not distracted by it. His minimalist interpretation of Church documents leads him to say in regard to genuineness that “wood should look like wood…stone should look like stone” (21) and that fake appointments (tube candles, silk flowers, faux marble) imply that the liturgy is fake. These false syllogisms and others run through the book.

Visibility implies that the assembly can see the ministers at the altar, the ambo, and the chair, while ministers can see members of the assembly and make eye contact with them. The principle of visibility, one of the most insidious ideas in church architecture, has led to the destruction of many historic churches and has led to a pseudo sacrament of proximity.

One of the ways that modern church architecture has fostered...