Books

Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals

Reviewed by Michael Daniel

Contents - Jun 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Church reform: from Stage One to Stage Two - Michael Gilchrist Archbishop Pell installed in Sydney - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Basic Ecclesial Communities: Adelaide's 'new model of church' - Michael Gilchrist Annual women priests protest in Adelaide - AD2000 Report Denver document addresses challenges to Catholic marriage teachings - AD2000 Report US missionary risks death in Colombia - Zenit News Service Anglican defence of Catholic inter-Communion ban - Fr Geoffrey Kirk How a small rural parish survived against the odds - Paul Newton Light to the Nations 2001 - Young Australian Catholics celebrate their faith - Mary-Jane Donnellan Letters: Archbishop Pell (letter) - Godwin Brown Letters: Ballarat Diocese (letter) - Fr Gerry Baldock Letters: Encouragement (letter) - John F. Doran Letters: Consecrated life (letter) - Therese O'Rourke Letters: Indian appeal (letter) - Kevin L. Fernandes Letters: Annunciation (letter) - Andrew Scholl Letters: Altar (letter) - Stuart J. Blackwood Letters: Science and Christianity (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Letters: Sexual abstinence (letter) - Errol P. Duke Letters: 'Lest we forget' (letter) - Marion Craig Books: The Turin Shroud: Past, Present and Future, International Scientific Symposium - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'As One Struggling Christian to Another: Augustine's Christian Ideal for Today' - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: 'Blessed Columba Marmion: a Short Biography' by Mark Tierney OSB - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Wedding Present' by Viscountess Margaret Long - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Doctors of the Church' by Bernard McGinn - Angela Joseph (reviewer) Books: 'Praying The Psalms: A Commentary' by Fr Stanley L. Jaki - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Praying with Thomas Aquinas' by Houle, Monshau and Norris - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Reflection: The priest: mediator between God and man - Archbishop George Pell

Heaven In Stone And Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals (Crossroad Publishing Company, 2000, 128pp). Available from AD Books.

Few who visit Europe fail to visit the great cathedrals such as Notre Dame and Chartres. They and cathedrals in the New World based upon these awe-inspiring monuments to God, such at St Patrick's in Melbourne, fail to move few who spend time in them. Yet most people are unaware of the rich symbolic dimensions of these buildings.

Heaven in Stone and Glass is an interesting guided tour combined with a meditative reflection upon the structure and features of a great medieval cathedral. Thus, such cathedrals are cruciform, as a reminder of the importance of the Cross in Christian life; they are traditionally dark, with the only light coming through the windows, reminding the believer that it is Christ the light who enlightens their darkness. Similarly, cathedrals face east, symbolic of the Church being oriented towards the second coming and have a steeple roof above the nave, reminding worshippers that the Church is the ark of salvation.

Heaven in Stone and Glass is a timely reminder that churches and cathedrals, as places of worship, should be authentic "sacred spaces" that speak of God and facilitate the encounter between the believer and the transcendent God. They should not be functional buildings used to house services or, at worst, display halls of the most banal kitsch our society is capable of producing.

Michael Daniel teaches at a Melbourne independent school.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 5 (June 2001), p. 17