Churches for a new century : from the baroque to Richard England's sacred spaces

Abstract

This research about sacred spaces gives a brief background about the architectural church buildings in Malta, both before Vatican Council II and after. The study comprises: (i) the history of the modern liturgical movement, (ii) Vatican Council II approach, (iii) Post Vatican Episcopal conferences documents, (iv) four churches by the contemporary architect Profs. Richard England, and (v) a critical evaluation of these churches. This study is limited to four contemporary Maltese churches, namely; the Manikata Church, the Millennium Chapel, the Hal Farrug Church and the Filfla Church. Though many years have passed since the Manikata Church was built, it is still authentic. The Millennium Chapel has proved to be a valid contemporary Chapel and conducive to personal prayer and recollection. The Hal Farrug Church and the Filfla Chapel are still proposals, but are studied in this dissertation because their design is very authentic and appealing for our times. This dissertation gives due consideration to the importance of designing and building Churches in a contemporary form and definitely not in an old and outdated style. Churches must be appealing and attractive, buildings speak and have an effect on the congregation, both in drawing people to worship and also to the quality of worship and communion with God.