“What is capable of restoring enthusiasm and confidence, what can
encourage the human spirit to rediscover its path, to raise its eyes to the
horizon, to dream of a life worthy of its vocation — if not beauty?” Pope Benedict XVI asked a
group of artists gathered in the Sistine Chapel in 2009.
“Authentic beauty unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the
profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the
Beyond,” he said.
For hundreds of years the Catholic Church has recognized the
power of beauty to bring people closer to God. One blog, titled Art and Liturgy,
seeks to celebrate that beauty with an online competition to determine the most
beautiful church in the United States. The site is run by Arlington Diocese
native Patrick Murray, who works as a projects consultant for Granda Liturgical
Arts.
A spoof of college basketball’s March Madness, the Church Madness
competition is in its second year. Most of the 64 churches in the contest were
submitted for consideration by readers of the blog during last year’s
competition and then were selected by Murray. Nominees are judged primarily on
their interior. St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, last year’s victor, is no
longer eligible.
The bracket this year includes one parish from the Arlington
Diocese — Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, which is grouped in the East
Coast bracket. The church will compete against churches such as Holy
Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, Church of the Holy Innocents in New York
City and the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore.
Anyone is eligible to vote, but the blog encourages people not to
take Church Madness too seriously. “This is a fake internet competition,” the
site reads. The contest is not about vanity or rivalry; rather it is a
celebration of Catholic art and architecture.
Holy Trinity parish was founded in 2001, and the church was
dedicated in 2008. The founding pastor, Father Francis J. Peffley, now
parochial vicar at St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax, credits the church’s
beauty to O’Brien and Keane Architecture and the artists at Dixon Studio in
Staunton, who created the stained glass windows featuring the mysteries of the
rosary.
The church’s interior is colored with warm creams and browns, and
is held aloft with trefoil arches. The sanctuary is a representation of the
Transfiguration. While much new art was commissioned, they also repurposed
statues and Stations of the Cross from closed churches. It was probably one of
the first churches in the country to have all 20 decades of the rosary represented,
according to Father Peffley.
The church’s name was the primary inspiration for its physical
design, said Father Peffley. “Jim O’Brien did a magnificent job (creating) many
reflections of the blessed Trinity throughout the architecture,” he said. “We
tried to make the church a living catechism.”
After learning about the Church Madness competition, Father
Thomas P. Vander Woude, pastor, was reminded of the three transcendentals — truth, goodness and beauty — and their power to “attract the heart,” he
said. He hopes that those who see Holy Trinity’s aesthetic beauty also can experience
the prayerful atmosphere it nurtures. “There’s a beautiful balance there,” he
said.
Find out more
Holy Trinity Church is part of the East Coast bracket.
Online voting for the first round is March 13-15. To vote, go to artandliturgy.com.
