Who builds God's house?:

...But the opportunity was not taken, and for reasons that are more complicated than simple anti-Catholic prejudice...

...Working from a list prepared by one of our group, we had sent letters to about a dozen Philadelphia-area architects...

...None of the other architects had this problem...

...When it came down to the final vote, however, we ended up selecting the firm with the extensive Protestant church experience...

...For the architect-owner (who did all the talking), there was a constant struggle not to use words like "priest," "parish," and "Mass" when discussing our project...

...A REPORT FROM THE MAIN LINE At the time I left the Catholic church and formally joined a Protestant congregation in the late 1960s, there was considerable grass-roots enthusiasm for Catholic and Protestant dialogue and shared action...

...For another, the prominent location of our church on a major thoroughfare in the heart of town would make the new addition to our church a highly visible advertisement of their skills and accomplishments...

...As it turned out, we inadvertently ended up with an ecumenical mix: one firm with extensive Protestant church experience, one with mainly Catholic church experience, one with some Protestant church and other relevant experience, and one firm (Jewish name, assumed to be Jewish) with extensive institutional and commercial experience...

...For one thing, our prestigious Philadelphia Main Line address would certainly look good on their resumes...

...Interfaith understanding was not one of the evaluation criteria we had established for selection of an architect, nor was it ever brought up during any of our committee discussions...

...All of the candidates made it very clear that ours was a job that they would give their eyeteeth to have...

...We received seven proposals, most responding to our letter point by point...

...This firm had recently completed an impressive new sanctuary building for a neighboring Protestant congregation...

...We conducted a formal review and evaluation of each response, and decided to interview four firms, after which a WHO BUILDS GOD'S HOUSE...

...Also, the slides of some of his church work reflected a certain sameness, especially with respect to sanctuary design...

...As the interviews progressed, the committees began to get a feel for the style and approach of the different firms...

...All showed an emphasis on the altar, with lighting effects that suggested God's presence emanating from on high and flowing from the priest-celebrant to the congregation...

...Their accomplishments and technical competence were very impressive, and they were very well connected in our township...

...But more important, we would have been creating an opportunity for bringing in some insights from another religious tradition that might have enriched us...

...Our letters also included some preliminary drawings and sketches made by one of the committee members...

...The problem, however, did not lie exclusively with him...

...Several included detailed drawings of similar projects...

...It is fair to say that our group was not exactly open to new interfaith initiatives...

...The unspoken message we got from all of this was that the Catholic architect really didn't understand what we were about, our concept of religion, or what we were striving for in our new space...

...The interviews took place on two consecutive weekday nights, with each architectural firm allotted an hour and a half to present its case...

...All were relatively small in terms of size and staff, and their character seemed to be shaped by the principal, who was generally the one doing the talking during the interview...

...After all, we had estimated that the proposed improvement would cost about $500,000, a considerable sum for our small congregation, but not a very big job in the current construction market...

...ARCHITECTURE & ECCLESIOLOGY final selection would be made...

...Unfortunately, what we were looking for was the indication of his willingness to be open to input from our always vocal but sometimes frustratingly democratic congregation...

...Since then, that fervor has cooled significantly...

...So, the net result of all this is that when our final committee vote was tallied, the Catholic firm ended up lower in the rankings, and we had chosen an architect we could be sure spoke our language...

...Although the rational Protestant part of me fully concurs with our committee's choice, there is another part of me, the former Catholic, that regrets not having chosen the Catholic entrants...

...And no one seems to care...

...But most important, the architects seemed to be very sensitive to who we were as a Christian congregation and the fact that we would be trying, with our new addition, to express that identity to ourselves and the community...

...Upon reflection, that concern was indicative of just how much more insular and provincial our congregation has become with respect to interfaith activities, including our relationships with other local Protestant churches...

...It was certainly at odds with our still-unformed concept for our new narthex space, which we would like to reflect our church as a community of God's people, reaching out to our local neighborhood and the world...

...JOSEPH P. SPAMPINATO Joseph P. Spampinato is an engineering executive in an aerospace company in Pennsylvania...

...It was during these interviews that the committee learned why these architects prized our job so highly...

...The one mention made of this architect's predominantly Catholic building experience was in a negative context, questioning whether his experience would be suitable background for our specific Protestant tradition...

...We have forgotten how to talk to each other in terms we can both understand...

...So we were surprised by both the number and enthusiasm of responses we had to our solicitation for architects...

...It is ironic in that we consider ourselves to be a risking congregation...

...A reminder of this sorry state of affairs came to me recently through my participation in one of the most traditional of Protestant periodic rituals-a building campaign...

...All things considered, they were the ones that the committee felt were most capable of working with us and the congregation to come up with a design for our new addition, and then working effectively with a contractor to convert that design to brick and mortar reality...

...The choice was obvious and unanimous...

...We pride ourselves on our openness, inclusiveness, and proactive stands on the moral issues of the day, such as minority rights, women's rights, homosexuality, disarmament, and Central American policy...

...Yet, on the issue of interfaith relations we have tended of late to put our priorities with our denomination, our seminary, and our college...

...This is a concept right in tune with conservative Catholic liturgy and religious perspective, but very much different from our Protestant view which puts more emphasis on God working through the people...

...These had been used as the basis for the preliminary cost estimate and as major selling tools for our successful building campaign...

...Our congregation had approved and pledged funds for a plan to enlarge our facilities to provide some badly needed additional classroom and common space...

...It is hard to believe that we are the same group of people who on an Easter Sunday ten years ago marched down the street to the local Catholic church to hand out balloons to share our celebration of the Risen Christ with the nonplussed parishioners as they came out of Mass...

...These days grassroots-level opportunities for Catholics and Protestants to work together and learn from each other don't come along that often...

...Often it appeared that either he didn't know or was not comfortable with the Protestant counterpart words...

...The letters asked for written proposals covering a broad list of evaluation criteria felt relevant by the committee, including a description of similar projects the architects had worked on, specific experiences with our township's zoning and building regulations, experience with a construction-manager approach to contracting, fee structure, and equal-opportunity employment practices...

...As an example of his ability to work with the congregation, the architect related an anecdote about a recent commission...

...The imposing of solutions from the top is-not our style...

...During the interview, leadership of the firm's presentation and discussion passed easily back and forth between the two partners, one of whom had been identified as prospective manager of our project...

...And, finally, there was the technical challenge of the job itself, which required an architectural blending and physical merging of a hundred-year-old stone church structure with a thirty-year-old stucco education building, with several different, mismatched levels...

...I had volunteered to be a member of the Building Committee because of my position as chairman of the church trustees (Buildings and Grounds Committee) and some construction trade knowledge...

...Judging by the slides that were shown by each group, they all had some very impressive projects to their credit...

...In checking with this church, we found that they had nothing but high praise for their new building, the manner in which the architects worked with the congregation and the builder, and the way they shepherded the project through the maze of two township bureaucracies amid opposition from some of the church's neighbors...

...Maybe we should all pray for a new John XXIII...

...The "Catholic" notion of power flowing from God through the clergy to the receiving congregation was reinforced later during the discussion...

...An underlying feeling that pervaded our interview with the Catholic firm was the impression that they really didn't understand us...

...It had not occurred to the committee that our little project would be considered such a plum...

...Too bad...

...The fervor had been ignited by the love, humanity, and openness of Pope John XXIII and fueled by the pent-up desire of both groups of Christians to let down barriers and work together...

...We could have easily selected them with the confident expectation of a fine job...

...His point in telling the anecdote was that he was willing and able to stand up and take the heat when it might be necessary to communicate unpopular decisions made by authority figures to a skeptical congregation...

...We asked that each firm bring the person who would be responsible for our project, in addition to slides and pictures of recent projects...

...Any of these four, we felt, could do our job justice...

...One of his tasks as architect was to help sell the new building to the stubborn and vocal holdouts...

...The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, against the will of the people of the parish, had decided to raze and rebuild an antiquated, but historic church...

...And maybe, just maybe, the architects might have learned something from us that would, in turn, enrich their work for their Catholic clients...

...The firm also had a good working relationship with a construction firm who happened to be our first choice for construction manager...

...Ma"ybe somebody should take the initiative to create some new opportunities...

...Catholics have gone back to talking to themselves in their own unique lexicon, and Protestants have gone back to doing their own thing...