CURRENT FESTIVAL SERIES
The Living Presence Festival Series:
The Living Presence of Christ in His Church is an ongoing reality which calls out to be lived and explored during the Covid 19 pandemic, which is now in the midst of the fretful Delta variant resurgence. The Symposium Planning Committee is working to determine a future date for the symposium, and elected in the interim to create a series of five “Festival” events that would build up to the full in-person event. Each Festival Series explores a building block of the upcoming Symposium, and is intended to include a short video tour, a round table analysis or presentation, and a live discussion in which guests and attendees are invited to join the conversation. Each Festival event also will be used to take viewers to a church, studio, or other creative space they might otherwise not be able to visit, using the new technologies to expand our horizons wherever possible.
Festival Series 1 - Aired 10:00 AM, September 23rd, 2021
Joyfully Returning - Insights from the Pandemic on the Value of Presence in Catholic Sacred Architecture
Key thematic questions:
Does celebrating the Liturgy in a physical church building matter, and opposed to watching by video, and why?
What are we doing when we participate in the Mass virtually? Is it the same as in-person, and if not, how, why, and what can we learn from that? What does it mean to “gather” virtually?
Why should we return to physical presence in a church?
What does it mean for a Sacrament to be “virtual” since by definition a Sacrament includes some sort of physical presence?
If we give thanks to God in the Mass and receive the gift of his Body and Blood made possible through His Sacrifice, at which we are present, what are we “giving” when we are participating virtually?
Insofar as circumstances require some virtual participation in the Mass, how can it be done well, in a way that points to real presence, not distracts from it?
How can we keep from letting technology re-direct the celebration of the Liturgy, and instead creatively find ways to use the technology to reinforce genuine participation in the Liturgy?
Video Tour: PCSA members Michael Patrick, Andrew de Sa, and Very Rev. Ed Hathaway, Rector of the Basilica of Saint Mary, in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, explore the Basilica in terms of encounter, movement and presence.
Round Table: Fr. Michael Witczak, Associate Professor of Liturgical Studies/Sacramental Theology at the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America, and Samuel Rowe, Director of Music and organist at the Basilica of Assumption in Baltimore, MD, joined Michael and Andrew to discuss the themes raised in the video tour.
Festival Series 2
Foundations - Understanding the Theology and Philosophy that give meaning to Sacred Architecture
Festival Series 2 will explore the fundamental truths, and our understanding of them, that should shape the making of any Catholic church building. Our rich history provides fertile soil for creative development in all the Arts, which in turn give their very best to express, illuminate and celebrate eternal aspects of God and the Sacraments that give life to the Christian journey, while also becoming an integral part of the action of the Liturgy as an expression of the Theology of the Church. The School of Theology and Religious Studies, and the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America will play a leading role in outlining important elements of our Faith that every Artist and every Christian would benefit from knowing better than we might.
Festival Series 2 is in planning, more details will be provided, so please check back to this website page frequently for updates. Also, we invite everyone freely to submit any suggestions for the event or contact us to help in planning and organization.
Video Tours: Our intent is to use great church buildings around the world to point out important theological and philosophical truths and principles expressed in great Art, Architecture and Music
Round Table: The Round Table will feature authorities on Theology and Philosophy to expand on the examples in the Video Tour and present important concepts relating to church design.
Join the Conversation: The floor will be opened up for your comments, questions and suggestions. A link to the Webinar will be sent to you after your registration is received.
Festival Series 3
Action of the Liturgy - Exploring the Creation of Sacred Church Architecture, Art and Music
Festival Series 3 will allow us to take you deep into the heart of the creative process, by visiting the creative studios and music rooms of the artists who create the setting for the Holy Mass and many other Sacraments in our churches throughout the world.
Festival Series 3 is in planning, more details will be provided, so please check back to this website page frequently for updates. Also, we invite everyone freely to submit any suggestions for the event or contact us to help in planning and organization.
Video Tours: We will visit an Architect’s office, Artist’s studio or Musician’s place of composing; also, churches under construction or completed, local or global; and engage in conversation with the artist in each case.
Round Table: The Round Table will encourage an exchange of ideas between the creative artists in the collaborative work, and also between the artists and the Pastor of Patron who commissions their work.
Join the Conversation: The floor will be then opened up for your comments, questions and suggestions.
Festival Series 4
A Tradition of Presence - A Look into the churches in our tradition that have continued the Living Presence of Christ in the world
Festival Series 4 will provide an opportunity for us to visit some of the greatest Catholic church buildings, monumental or intimate, parish or monastic, and experience through digital technology the way that the Living Presence has been at work throughout the ages. Inspired by this, we hope all will take the opportunity to visit these churches in person when they can.
Festival Series 4 is in planning, more details will be provided, so please check back to this website page frequently for updates. Also, we invite everyone freely to submit any suggestions for the event or contact us to help in planning and organization.
Video Tours: Tours will be video recorded to allow us to capture as best we can the features and beauty that characterize each work of sacred art that we visit.
Round Table: The Round Table will feature experts in the types of design or composition, and the connection between these and their surrounding culture.
Join the Conversation: The floor will be then opened up for your comments, questions and suggestion
Festival Series 5
A Living Presence - Continuing the Tradition: Exploring the churches being built today
Festival Series 5 will allow us to visit some of the most successful, promising or interesting church buildings of the 20th and early 21st century, and to explore how in this culture each church continues to Incarnate the theology of the Church.
Festival Series 5 is in planning, more details will be provided, so please check back to this website page frequently for updates. Also, we invite everyone freely to submit any suggestions for the event or contact us to help in planning and organization.
Video Tours: Tours will be video recorded to allow us to capture as best we can the features and beauty that characterize each work of sacred art that we visit.
Round Table: The Round Table will feature a discussion about what we can learn from each type of church being built today.
Join the Conversation: The floor will be then opened up for your comments, questions and suggestion