The bestselling author of Why Catholics Can't Sing returns with another brilliant and witty portrait of American Catholic culture that is sure to offend - and delight - almost everyone.
Catholics, writes Thomas Day, have been so busy arguing among themselves about the ordination of women, what the Church can or can't tell them to do, and similar "hot" issues that they haven't paid attention to a real crisis in their midst - the disappearance of their cultural "soul." In the rush to make the Church more modern after Vatican II, U.S. Catholics have developed one guilt complex after another about their cultural heritage, especially in liturgy, architecture, and music.
Day takes the reader back and forth across the pre- and post-Vatican II divide, from the Latin Mass to the latest liturgical experiment, from the isolationist Church of the past to the trendier-than-thou parishes of today. With an eye for the bizarre development, he examines Catholicism's identity crisis by focusing on the visual symptoms, especially in the arts.
As a corrective, Day seeks a return to a sense of Mystery and a vision of Christian community that is unified in its diversity and uplifting in its expression. He combines historical and theological background with striking vignettes and anecdotes, and leavens his argument with wit. Where Have You Gone, Michelangelo? may contain enough wisdom and humor to help bring Catholics into the next millennium.
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About the Author:
Thomas Day is Associate Professor in the Music Department at Salve Regina University, Newport Rhode Island.
From Booklist:
Since Vatican II, many a Catholic worshiper has wondered, "What in heaven's name is going on?" Although it has been 30 years since such rumblings began, the cumulative effect on the rubrics has dislodged and depressed as many as have been encouraged and stimulated. Thomas Day laments the loss of soul in the music and style of Catholic services, and the changes in church interiors, as well. Indiscriminate abolishment of spoken and musical Latin has created a trend of turgid, unknown hymns that the community seldom welcomes. Costly and often unnecessary changes in church interiors--such as slanting pews and the replacement of baptistries with large pools--are just some of the cultural shocks that have been promulgated. Day believes that ethnic chauvinism--whether African American or Irish or Polish--should not wipe out the culture of centuries. Changes have affected not only doctrine but the beauty of worship itself. Day's book is an eloquent plea for that art and soul necessary to sustain beauty. Eugene Sullivan
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherCrossroad
- Publication date1993
- ISBN 10 0824513967
- ISBN 13 9780824513962
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages240
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