under control

It is still hot and I am still talking about the church field trip. And I said most of what follows in a much more compact way in a comment on Facebook so if you're caught up there, you can maybe skip this one 😉

In introducing the Kollegikirche (Kollegi = Kollegium = college, because the school next door used to be a boarding school run by the Benedictines), our guide noted that the time just before Vatican II, the pressure for modernization in the Catholic Church in Switzerland was immense. Parishes were experimenting with liturgy reform - in one town one way, in the next town another way, and it was all "kind of chaotic." Luckily the reforms implemented by the council laid down some guidelines that were subsequently interpreted by the Bishops' Conferences - for example, the idea of "concelebration" was introduced, so multiple priests could celebrate Mass at the same time, instead of each priest having to say one privately every day. 

His point was that this particular church was designed and built in the in-between years, which is why it retains anachronistic features like the side altars. But the subtext I got (and it should be said again, sometimes I'm way off about what people are trying to say in German, so this could be my imagination) was "whew, glad we got that little fire under control!" 

We learn over and over in my theology classes that Vatican II was a breakthrough in the Church, a flood of reforms of an institution that had been stuck in the Middle Ages, with heels firmly dug in in reaction to the Enlightenment and the Reformation. But I feel like the least enlightened thing about the Church, the hierarchy itself, survived pretty much intact. The changes were well-intentioned, but they were imposed from the top down in a way that in the end satisfied neither those who felt strongly connected to the old traditions nor those who wanted more autonomy. At least, that's how I understand things - as a post-Vatican II child I feel like I have very little hope of ever understanding what living through this was like. But in any case there's a phrase in German, "Der Geist weht, wo er will" (the Spirit blows wherever it wants to) which I assume comes from John 3:8:

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

"The Spirit blows wherever it wants to, but within the Church it too has to follow canon law and the guidelines of the relevant Bishops' Conference!" just...doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Here are some more photos of the church, which definitely made me think about the Spirit, and how "getting things under control" rarely helps as much as we imagine it will, and how our beautiful parts and our questionable parts go hand in hand.

The side altars, with their sparse decoration and light from above, were striking and peaceful and  moving.

Something went very wrong with this picture but this was on another one of the side altars and I love it. Crucifix or chalice or both?

I don't even know the liturgical term for this but it's so clearly a throne...the furniture is beautiful but...how exactly are we following Jesus here?

The tabernacle. Again, beautiful craftwork and there's undoubtedly some symbolism that I'm completely missing. But honestly...you may have slipped the bonds of death, Jesus, but you're not getting out of this one!