By Carrie Gress, The Catholic Thing, March 9, 2021
Carrie Gress has a doctorate in philosophy from The Catholic University of America. She is the editor-in-chief of Theology of Home and the author of several books, including The Marian Option, The Anti-Mary Exposed, and co-authot of Theology of Home. She is also a homeschooling mother of five and a homemaker.
The 1970s were hard years on churches. Altar rails, statuary, reredos, stained-glass windows, and elegant ambos were torn out with wild abandon, while churches-in-the-round, modernist statues, and felt banners replaced them. There’s been a recent surge to return older churches to their former glory, replacing wreckovation with true renovation.
Art historian Liz Lev explains a sad phenomenon in the art world, known in Italian as “chapucismo,” or “a sloppy cob job,” where works of art are destroyed irreparably. The Ecco Homo is perhaps the most well-known example, striking both sorrow and the funny-bone because the finished product is such a caricature. ….