Minister of Environment

Know the Liturgical Year:

• Advent/Christmastime, Lent, Triduum/Eastertime, and Ordinary Time
• Review the devotional needs and practices of the Community.

 
Action

1. Review the conditions and effectiveness of the environment(s) for worship in each Church
2. Prepare the environment for the Liturgy of the seasons and feasts

 
Administration

1. Participate as an active member of the Environment and Art Committee
2. Minister within budget, on time, and in collaboration with the Pastor and Committee members

 
The Parish Environment and Art Committee: Getting Started

• by Christina Neff, Artist and Chair of the Environment and Art Committee of St. Nicholas Church, Evanston, IL

 
Every parish, large or small, urban or rural, rich or poor, needs to prepare and care for the environment for liturgy. In some places, this may be the work of sacristans. Most parishes have small groups or individuals who make banners or order flowers, often with no real link to other liturgy preparation. So, starting a parish Environment and Art Committee is not so much a task of beginning anew. It’s an attempt to reorganize those who are already doing things into a focused committee that works with those who prepare the music and the celebration of rituals. Who are the people of talent and skill needed to pool their gifts as the Environment and Art Committee? Search the congregation – by way of bulletin advertisements, brief announcements at weekend Masses, or maybe a sign-up booth in the vestibule. Comb the parish census for names, paying attention to jobs and educational background/training. Personal contacts will probably yield the best results, however. Find the architects, the graphic designers, the artisans, the painters, those skilled with textiles and the art history majors. Call on the carpenters, the engineers, the gardeners and the dreamers. Some of them may have already volunteered for various projects in the past, others may need to be asked or courted.
 
Strive for balance by including anyone and everyone who shows interest in working and learning. Don’t forget about newly registered parishioners. Many people truly long to involve themselves in the arts. Invite all potential members to an organizational meeting to define roles and responsibilities through discussion.
 
Requirements of Liturgical Art and Space
“The power to uphold the mystery”
 
Beauty and Mystery: Because the assembly gathers in the presence of God to celebrate God’s saving deeds, liturgy’s climate is one of awe, mystery, wonder, reverence, thanksgiving, and praise.  So, it cannot be satisfied with anything less than the beautiful in its environment and all its artifacts, movements, and appeals to the senses. The beautiful is related to the holy. Where there is evidently no care for this, there is an environment basically unfriendly to the mystery and awe, an environment too casual, if not careless, for liturgical action.
 
Relationship and Hospitality
Attention must be given to the demands that liturgy makes upon the space for liturgy: the gathering of the faith community in a participatory and hospitable atmosphere for word and Eucharist, for initiation and reconciliation, for prayer and praise and song. “Every church building is a gathering place for the assembly, a resting place, a place of encounter with God, as well as a point of departure on the Church’s unfinished journey toward the reign of God. The building itself becomes a sign of the pilgrim Church on earth and reflects the Church dwelling in heaven.” (BLS #17) Thus, every aspect of the building, and everything done around and inside the building deserves attention to detail. Avoid unnecessary clutter and organize what needs to be placed throughout the building.
 
Presence and Participation
Christ, taking on human flesh, reveals the Father, ‘No one has ever seen God.’(I Jn 4:12) The liturgical space encourages and fosters a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ. We encounter this presence sacramentally through symbols, art, words, gestures, music, and the celebrating assembly. God is revealed and encountered within His creation: fire, water, bread, wine, oil, cross and his holy people. The seasonal environment is an essential component that can significantly enhance this encounter. The presence of God is encountered through our participation in His creation. The mystery of God is unfolded in the prayer and ritual of the faithful community. 
 
Quality
Quality is perceived only by contemplation, by standing back from things and really trying to see them, trying to let them speak to the beholder. Built of Living Stones 146 Quality means love and care in making something, honesty and genuineness with any materials used, and the artist’s special gift introducing a harmonious whole, a well-crafted work. This applies to music, architecture, sculpture, painting, pottery making, furniture making, as well as to dance, mime or drama – in other words, to any form that might be employed in the liturgical environment or action. Quality rules out anything trivial and self-centered, anything fake, cheap or shoddy, anything pretentious or superficial.
 
Appropriateness
The environment is appropriate when it is beautiful, when it is hospitable, when it clearly invites and needs an assembly of people to complete it. If an art form is used in liturgy, it must aid and serve the action of liturgy since liturgy has its own structure, rhythm and pace: a gathering, a building up, a climax, and a descent to dismissal. The art form must never seem to interrupt, replace or bring the course of liturgy to a halt.
 
Liturgical Color

• WHITE is used for the seasons of Easter and Christmas; on feasts and memorials of Christ, other than his passion; on feasts and memorials of Mary, the angels, saints who were not martyrs; at baptisms, weddings and, in the United States, funerals
• RED is used on Passion Sunday and Good Friday, Pentecost and other Masses of the Holy Spirit, celebrations of the Lord’s passion, birthday feasts of the apostles and evangelists, celebrations of martyrs and for confirmation
• VIOLET (shades of blue and red) is used in Lent and Advent. The blue shades of violet might be used for Advent (suggesting Mary, night) and the red shades of violet for Lent (suggesting the passion) to show the difference in the character of each season. Advent is a time of preparation/anticipation whereas Lent has the notion of penance/renewal. 
• GREEN is used during Ordinary Time. Varying the shade of green used in the vestments and the environment during the wintertime and the summer/fall time can be considered.

 
  
The variety in the color of the vestments is meant to give the effective, outward expression to the specific character of the mysteries of the faith being celebrated, and in the course of the year, to a sense of progress in the Christian life. Color involves emotional and psychological factors. Colors and shades of colors can be soothing, arousing or neutral. The use of colors in liturgical vesture (as well as in banners, paraments and other church textiles) should follow general color theory, be mindful of the tradition and be appropriate for the intended space.