Another Parish Church Destroyed by Manipulator?

This is so sad to see. It appears as if this was a beautiful small church at one point, no doubt, constructed by the sacrifices of many parishioners over the years, but now, it looks more like a pagan temple.

Mass in the round
Circular arrangement accommodates changes at local Catholic church

WARRENSBURG -- After a long winter of services in a nearby funeral parlor and the local Presbyterian church, parishioners found something both ancient and modern when they walked into the newly renovated and reopened chapel of St. Cecilia's Catholic Church for an evening prayer service in late May.


. . .instead of two tidy rows of long wooden pews facing the front of the church, rings of cushioned chairs circle a gleaming wooden altar set right in the center of the chapel.

No matter where they sat, parishioners could look ahead past the altar, into the faces of their friends, neighbors or fellow churchgoing strangers.

So who is the man responsible for this destruction?

The Rev. Richard Vosko, a tall man in black slacks and a black polo shirt buttoned up at the neck, explained the new floor plan to the congregation with wit and optimism, though he touched on somber issues.

For more information on the Vosko, including his manipulation techniques to "persuade" parishioners in accepting the absurd, click here. Some have likened his methods to the "brain-washing techniques the Asians employed during the Korean War..."

"As you transform this building into a new church, you see yourselves gradually transformed into a new 'Church,' " said Vosko, a representative from the Albany Diocese's Architecture and Building Commission.

The changes at St. Cecilia's will benefit these parishioners' children and their children's children, who will have a very different concept of what "Church" means, he said.

And therein lies the problem - the church is no longer the Domus Dei- the House of God - but something entirely different, the transcendence and holiness having been excised, all in favor of "me" and "we" in place of God...

Thankfully, though, Vasko and those with similar liturgical and theological perspectives appear to be part of a dying breed. And that's good news for renewal of the sacred.