A church is ...

Extract from the Archdiocesan newspaper. A new church is going to be built, and this article describes the design brief.

As a central place of worship, the proposed church is "to express and promote community by encouraging prayer, liturgical participation and social interaction".

What about giving parishioners a sense of the sacred, a sense that you are in a Holy place, a place where the source and summit of Christian life takes place?

The seating arrangement is to be fan-shaped to foster a sense of community and to bring the celebration of the Mass closer to the participants.

Doesn't coming together already give people a sense of community? By being present in Church, am I not already close to the celebration of Mass?

"The bottom line is that congregations are best served by sound and visual systems which work in harmony with the space and environment with properly designed acoustics", the Brief explains. "This consideration is of utmost importance as it enhances the worship experience."

"Worship experience"? What is that?

To be fair, note that I am commenting on extracts. Hence, I risk quoting out of context. Ideally I would like to post the entire article here, so that readers may judge for themselves.