Duncan Stroik writes in Crisis of the need for priests and seminarians to achieve literacy in art and architecture, expected as they are to play the role of curator of artistic beauty as often as they curate beauty in the liturgy. Renaissance priests, as it were, seem especially needed in an age when art and architecture have in many quarters abandoned the contemplation of beauty altogether.
. . . priests are the caretakers of the Church’s artistic patrimony. Each pastor is ostensibly the curator of a small art gallery as well as the overseer of a physical plant which needs constant maintenance, repair, and additions. Then there are the lucky few, or perhaps not, who have the opportunity to build anew. Building a church is a grand undertaking which includes thousands of decisions from hiring the right architect to raising millions of dollars to critiquing the statue of the Blessed Virgin to deciding whether the door hardware should be bronze or polished brass. And it all has to be done in addition to the full time job of running the parish.Given that many pastors have to be shepherd, curator, head of the physical plant, chairman of the music and education programs, and chief development officer, does it make sense that they should have some training in art and architecture?
