Will There be a Sprinkler System in Heaven?

When I was in Europe two years ago, I was struck with how beautiful the churches are. The architecture was beautiful. The stained glass windows were beautiful. The altars and Tabernacles were beautiful. And when I was kneeling in a pew at the Basilica of St. Prassede in Rome, I looked at the floors which were also beautiful and wondered, "Why don't we have churches like this in the US?"

Fast forward two years, and I had the opportunity to meet and attend a presentation by Dr. Denis McNamara, 1/3 of the Liturgy Guys podcast. Dr. McNamara's area of expertise is church architecture, and he talks, teaches and speaks about why churches are built the way they are. Wanting to spread this wisdom, I recently taught my middle schoolers (and the high schoolers) about church architecture. I started by asking them to label the parts of our church. I instructed them to label anything they knew and if anything was missing from the map, they could draw it in. Here are some of the things they came up with:

Someone has a sense of humor. (There's always that one kid.)

Not bad...not bad at all...although I did have to correct a lot of the kids about the difference between an ambo (which is reserved for the proclamation of the Word) and a regular old podium or lectern.

This kid got extra credit for labelling the Eucharist and knowing the word "ciborium." (I'm a kind teacher...Spelling didn't count.)

This one was my favorite. I looked at it and said, "Is there really an apple somewhere in our church?" Then I noticed the "taberm" above it. Only a middle schooler could come up with a "tabermapple."

Finally, this one led me to realize that the things we notice in our churches are exactly what we don't pay attention to in churches that we see as ontologically correct. Donation envelopes? Response cards? Choir storage? The sprinkler system? I can assure you I wasn't thinking of any of those things in churches like this:

Or this:

Or this:

These churches made me think about what the focus was supposed to be on: Jesus, the Church, Heaven. The golden Tabernacles were a worthy dwelling place for the Lord. The sturdy, immovable altars built from marble made me think of Jesus. The columns made me think of the people who hold up the Church. The arches and vaulted ceilings covered in decorative vines and frescoes made me think of Heaven...because yes, our churches are meant to make us think of Heaven because the Mass is supposed to be a foretaste of Heaven where we will be with God for all of eternity. In Heaven we let go of all earthly things because they just don't matter anymore. In fact, St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow, Poland, the church where I felt closest to God, was one where I didn't even dare to bring a camera into because I felt I was in such a sacred space!

What this lesson with the kids made me realize was that they're curious and they are hungry for an understanding of what the faith is all about. They aren't too young to understand! They had thoughtful questions and wise insight on how to make the Mass experience more meaningful simply by looking at the way a Church is built. We MUST start teaching our kids about ALL of the faith - everything has a reason, and nothing is done by mistake. When we say that God has a plan, we mean it. His hand should be in everything, from what He wants us to be in life to every brick in His Church.

If you're looking for the book that I based these lessons on, here it is...It's been an interesting and easy to read resource!