The church of the year 2000: A dialogue on Catholic architecture for the third millennium

This dissertation will systematically present the Competition for the Church of the Year 2000 as an indication of the present state of the dialogue between Catholicism and contemporary architecture.; The Catholic Church has always called upon architects to assist in the design of churches to serve the liturgy and devotional life of the Catholic parish. In the 20th century the Church has continued to do this, yet the designs of most modern Catholic churches have changed significantly in terms of architectural expression, liturgical arrangements, aesthetics, symbolic content and imagery. These changes are the cumulative (and perhaps unintended) results of numerous philosophical, cultural, and aesthetic forces that have shaped contemporary architecture, and that have subsequently impacted church design.; The first two chapters examine the general dialogue between the Church and contemporary architecture through the work of the 20th century Liturgical Movement. These chapters consider the thoughts of the major 20th century thinkers in both liturgy and architecture, and the most important cultural and philosophical forces that have shaped contemporary secular and sacred architecture. The third chapter proposes a structure of architectural thought for understanding the meaning of Catholic church architecture from the viewpoints of sacramental theology and Catholic building tradition. Since sacred architecture involves matters of memory, imagination, and architectonic language, the fourth chapter explores these matters in the context of the City of Rome, which is the setting for the church competition and the historical Holy Years. The remaining three chapters outline the specifics of the competition, the respective architectural theories and project proposals of the six selected architects, and the jury deliberations.; The research concludes that in order for the Catholic Church to engender a contemporary architecture that serves her cultic requirements and the devotional needs of her faithful, and preserves the memory and traditions of the faith, the Church needs to reflect on the architectural aspects of her sacramental symbol system, and to communicate it clearly to the contemporary architects who are employed to design churches that are meaningful, appropriate, and respectful of the deep traditions of the faith.