The materials with which we build and furnish places for worship are not merely functional. They create an environment for liturgy that is either inspiring or insipid, sacramental to specious. This essay argues that the classic materials of church architecture and art—limestone, marble, slate, terra cotta, oak, gold leaf and others—serve the action of the liturgy better than plastics, polyesters and laminates. Cost-effective over time, the classic materials can be obtained for reasonable prices, too. Because decisions concerning church buildings and furnishings are literally cast in concrete for generations, every parish considering renovation or new construction should read this essay. "The design and construction of church buildings is both a tremendous responsibility and a tremendous challenge," Peter Smith writes.

"We must regain a sense of the building—a symbol of the holy assembly itself—as a work of art. . .Only then may we presume to hope that the churches we build will stand as equals with Chartres, Vézelay and Hagia Sophia, the very modern and revolutionary church of their own ages."

Paperback, 7 x 10, 32 pages.