Why is Roman Catholicism so obsessed with aesthetics?

Question

I used to volunteer at my church before I became disillusioned and became an atheist. Part of the work I did involved putting flowers up around the church. Sure, they looked and smelled nice and all that. But the pricetag was outrageous! The church would spend hundreds of dollars each year on them.

My question is, what function does this serve? How does this fulfill Jesus' work? Couldn't the money be better spent for other charitable causes, such as supplying food to the poor?

True, I'm sure other faiths do this, but this one I know for sure does as I have experience.

JimPettis, I saw on your site some good books to read. You forget the Inheritance trilogy! Eragon, Eldest, and a third ones coming out. Have you read these books? Opinions?

Answer 1

We decorate our sanctuary because it is the house of God. Jesus resides in the tabernacle. If you read, in the Old Testament, God instructs the Israelites to build a very ornate temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. Something so precious deserves a fitting place. It is how we show honor and glory to our Lord in a human way.

Jesus resides in the tabernacle of each Catholic Church. He is our Lord and he is present, 24/7. Our devotion is expressed in this way in addition to the things we do to help others. Catholic Charities is the number one contributor to the poor, homeless and needy, here in the US.

When you see a palace you know a king lives there. When you see the sanctuary and the Church...you know the King, our Lord, lives there.

Answer 2

Oddly enough (since I'm a devout Catholic), I completely agree with you. I don't see the sense in pouring hundreds of dollars or more into flowers that are going to be thrown away in a few weeks. Especially when so many people have gardens. Donating your own flowers would not only cheaper for the parish, but it would also make it more of "your" church. It'd make it more meaningful. And meanwhile the money saved could be going into a more worthwhile endeavor - like helping the poor.

Answer 3

Perhaps because human beings are all to often obsessed with aesthetics! In so many cases, the way something looks is far more important to people than the substance of what it is. How many men line up to date the 300 pound girl with a beautiful personality, how many people by a car because of the color, how many people spends thousands of dollars to change their external appearance? "Curb appeal" applies to a lot more than real estate...people are attracted to beautiful buildings with beautiful landscaping and gorgeous windows.

You could ask the same things about most places...why does McDonald's bother with landscaping, how could a few plants help sell hamburgers? Why does the university I work at spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire a grounds crew, buy equipment, and supplies in order to plant gardens and flower beds and trees and other things to "beautify" the campus...does having a pretty campus do anything to help the university fulfill its mission of educating people? Hardly...just think about how many scholarships they could offer, how much more parking and classroom space they could build, how many more people they could educate if they stopped worrying about landscaping and sculptures and how the buildings looked and other aesthetic considerations!

Answer 4

I hate to give you a Biblical example because a lot of people are annoyed by those, but the apostles asked the exact same thing when the woman came to wash Jesus's feet. It isn't bad to want your church to look nice for God. It isn't bad to put some effort into making your place of worship a place you'd want to invite Jesus to when he comes again. If you did nothing at all to help the poor and spent every last cent on things that don't "fulfill Jesus's work," that would be bad. But a balance of making things nice and helping people out isn't wrong.

Answer 5

Even though you're an atheist,I applaud your view of that false religion. They are too busy trying to do good deeds and performing useless sacraments(same with many other religions).They think they are earning their salvation. They ignore Ephesians 2:8-10 which states salvation is a GIFT from God. How does one earn a gift? You can't. By recieving it,THEN you do good works to SHOW Christ lives in you.Faith in Christ and what He did at the cross (and rose 3 days later to defeat death) has ZERO to do with religion.


Religions are man-made and mostly for the wrong reasons.

Answer 6

Of course - and the RCC is hardly the only sect guilty of this. Most are - look at the chapels on most Christian TV shows. By no means are the RCs the only ones at fault in this.

Jim, http://www.life-after-harry-potter.com

Answer 7

The Catholic church isn't the only one doing this.

Answer 8

Oh, I can beat that:

"Vast sums of money are spent on jeweled crowns and lavish clothing for some special statues of Mary. (You can see pictures of them in the Catholic devotional book, “Miraculous Images of Our Lady.”) In the Philippines, there is a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary that is nearly 5 feet high. It wears a crown of gold studded with diamonds, rubies, and other gems. There is a large halo like a sunburst behind its head, made of gold and diamonds. In Spain, a statue of Our Lady of the Forsaken has elegant gowns and mantles decorated with gold and jewels. It has a large collection of jewels, including $50,000 worth of jewels that are a gift from Queen Isabella II. Our Lady of Guadalupe is best known for a painting in Mexico, but there is also a statue in Spain that wears gold and jewels. It has a sunburst headdress with 30,000 jewels. In Germany, a statue of Our Lady of Alotting has a gold crown covered with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds. It wears a necklace of pearls and rubies, and a gown that is decorated with gold, pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The statue is in a shrine with a silver altar and walls that are decorated with silver. In Spain, a statue of Our Lady of the Pillar wears clothing decorated with gold and jewels, and a large gold crown covered with jewels. There is a sunburst (halo) behind the statue with a diameter that is larger than the height of the statue. A full-color, close-up picture of the crown and sunburst shows that they are covered with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. (There are so many jewels that I can’t see the gold underneath them.) On the wall behind the statue are 148 gold stars; 80 of them are set with jewels. Even paintings of Mary can wear jewels. In Russia, there is a painting of Our Lady of Kazan that is covered with a rizza (a structure of gold that covers the entire painting except for the faces of Mary and baby Jesus). This rizza has more than 1,000 diamonds, rubies, pearls, and sapphires on it."

Now, don't think I'm bashing all Catholics...I just think they (as we all do) have some serious house cleaning to do.

Answer 9

Why do you decorate your home? People come to church for serenity and comfort.