By Harry Murphy, Editor, The Georgia Bulletin

(Noted church architect Robert Rambusch of New York delighted audiences at two sessions by tracing church construction from Christ to modern times.)

Until about 313 B.C., Christians worshipped in humble conditions because they were poor and there weren’t many of them, he said in the Thursday afternoon session of the Congress held April 16-18 at the Atlanta Civic Center.

After the Emperor Constantine declared in the Edict of Milan that Christianity was the official religion however, that faith began to emerge and so did Church construction.

It was also about that time that the Church quit holding up those who refused to fight for the emperor as the true saints, he added.

“Christ himself was not a temple Jew,” said the architect, “but may have been a synagogal Jew.”

He said that both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection show that the basis of Christianity is “not in a site, but in Christian love. The early Christians put the emphasis on community and not on buildings.” “The Last Supper did not take place in a church, but in a rented ‘Holiday Inn’ room,” Rambusch noted, but said there are two schools of thought (1) Only the church building itself is holy and (2) the whole community is.

As more and more persons joined the Church, they could no longer fit into people’s houses, so they moved to public buildings.

Early churches truly were public buildings, he said. People stayed in churches to be cured, one man for a year, Rambusch added. During one plague, there were 300 beds in a single church “and no one thought anything about it,” he said.

“Criminals, except debtors and Jews pretending to be Christians, could find refuge in churches,” he added.

Some churches had sloping floors so that they could be washed down each morning after pilgrims had spent the night on them.

Picnics and dancing were common. There were debates, councils, trials, elections and freeing of the Roman slaves in churches.

Farmers bringing produce to town often brought their stalls with them when they sought shelter in churches from the rain. “It was a healthy, understandable thing - you served human needs.”

He told of an opera scene where Tosca is involved in a many-sided plot of love and intrigue in a church simultaneous with the archbishop coming in for a solemn celebration.

“If that’s not happening in your church, something’s wrong,” Rambusch said, to the accompaniment of audience laughter.

Pilgrims in this country, like early Christians, built their churches to look like houses because ornateness reminded them of paganism, the architect said.

On modern church building, Rambusch questioned whether each denomination can continue to build separate low-rise structures on expensive real estate for only three hours use each week.

Instead, he favored “multi-celebrational” buildings which can be used for such things as separate Latin and English liturgies of the word, with common liturgies of the bread; fireplaces and recreation rooms where parishioners can go after Mass for conversation; and counseling rooms (“You’ll never catch me going to a priest who keeps those dentist’s hours in a big fancy rectory - the most gossip occurs in those houses nearest the rectory. Whenever anyone goes to the rectory, they’re usually in trouble.”)

He said some churches are renting space in downtown areas to hold services, building high-rise buildings and renting the space they don’t need and cooperating with other denominations in building which all can use.

A Catholic church in Ireland, Ind. cooperated with the city in a building which can be used as a city hall, auditorium, parish office and church.

He criticized churches which have fences around them. “Is this putting out a welcome, or keeping other denominations out?” he said. “Does this protect or invite destruction? If you show that is what you think about people, that’s what they’ll think about you -- smash, a rock through the window.” He said there always will be a need for a cathedral and for some fixed parish churches, but there also is a need for multi-celebrational buildings which can be moved as conditions change.

Thomas Hughes, an Atlanta architect responding as a member of a panel, said that multi-celebrational use has decreased because “there is a need for order and beauty.” “I would be worried if I played basketball in the same area where I tried to have some meaningful discussion,” he reasoned. “There needs to be some multi-use areas, but others need to be honored.” Andrew Tomcik, a designer from Georgia State University, agreed somewhat with Rambusch, saying that people should have a large part in the designing of their churches.

In the Saturday morning session, Rambusch said that everyone is for church renewal “until they see what it looks like, and then they balk.” “What we are doing, is redefining,” he said. “Who are we as persons of God?”

“Something happened when the priest faced the people,” he added. “This change tells people a lot and causes you to redefine your relationship.”

He viewed architecture as a “sort of Rorschah inkblot test (which reveals intellectual and emotional factors). It tells who the people are and who the priests are.”

In early days the priest and choir were amongst the people, but then they were moved away. The divinity of Christ was emphasized and his humanity played down, said Rambusch. Mary was pictured as an empress or a princess. There was incense and genuflection and the priest was placed in garb different from the congregation. Many monks became popes and thrones were installed in churches.

“A lot of people think Christ had an altar rail at the Last Supper - he did not,” the architect quipped.

“But altar rails came in and we started kneeling. Standing represented a resurrectional theology - kneeling a penitential one.” There was a devotion to saints and saints’ relics, with some churches having 20 saints’ altars.

“Once there was a feeling that looking at the host would keep you from growing old and people would rush from church to church to look at the elevated host.”

“Some people made up their own rite, saying the washing of the priests’ hands was in remembrance of Pontius Pilate and the priest kissed the altar five times because Christ had five wounds.” Then, Rambusch said, there was turning toward the humanism of Christ and the pulpit was moved back among the people. Mary was pictured as the “woman next door.” The Baroque era entered.

In the 19th Century, the Church had lost its relevancy to the people, he said, and recited this ditty:

“Mr. Jones went to Church every Sunday,

Mr. Jones went to Hell for what he did on Monday.” He said one problem with Americans is that they are immigrants and feel

they must build great shrines for their religion. “The National Shrine in Washington is great for pageantry, but it destroys community,” he contended. “It is destroyed anytime you have over 300 or 400 persons worshipping.” He cited a $1.5 million, 10-story church built in a section of Muskegon where the average parishioner lived in a one-story bungalow. “They’re still in hock.”

The architect boosted open area altars where the casket at funerals can be placed beside the pulpit or at the foot of the altar. “If you have to put it in the center aisle, everyone has to squeeze around dear old Uncle Louie to go to Communion,” Rambusch said.

“I hope something will be done so the Church will have a successful Rorschach test,” he concluded.