Why Are Modern Churches So Ugly and Why it Matters?

Why does beauty matter in worship — and why has the Church so often abandoned it?

Support the channel by visiting: https://brianholdsworth.locals.com/ or
https://brianholdsworth.ca/help

In this video, I respond to a surprising defense of postmodern architecture in Catholic sacred spaces and explain why modern and postmodern aesthetics are fundamentally incompatible with Catholic theology. Drawing from metaphysics, liturgical theology, and Church teaching, I argue that sacred art must aim at objective beauty, not subjective style - because beauty unites where style divides.

Classical architecture didn’t just aim at beauty - it succeeded. And that success is why Gothic cathedrals still evangelize centuries later, while modern buildings fade into irrelevance.

Timestamps:
0:00 — Beauty and evangelization in the Church
0:19 — Frank Gehry and the philosophy of “intentional stupidity”
2:33 — Why prayer requires environments that elevate reason
4:15 — The problem with stylistic relativism in sacred art
7:33 — Modern art movements and their philosophies
9:06 — Objective beauty, God, and Catholic metaphysics
11:13 — Style is divisive, beauty is unifying
11:40 — Classical art’s enduring, universal appeal
14:36 — Why modern sacred architecture fails evangelization

Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com

Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/