Cathedrals Present the Catechism in Stone and Glass

I was listening to a priest's incredible vocation story at our Serra Club tonight. He came from an entirely unreligious family of a Jewish father and Quaker mother. He credits his first exposure to the Faith when he was living in Europe as a child while his father worked on his Phd. He was able to visit many of the beautiful cathedrals and churches which he felt presented the catechism in stone and stained glass. He talked about the beauty of these Churches and told us if anyone was ever able to build a Church that we should be sure to make it beautiful.

What a contrast to all the Church wreck-o-vators of the past 40 years that have sought to destroy these beautiful buildings and replace them with non descript meeting halls and gathering spaces. It was an apt testament of what we can learn from the visual elements of the Faith.


The top picture is St. Stephen's in Vienna and the lower is a stained glass window from the Cathedral in Cologne.