Published: February 13, 2008 02:28 pm            

Back Roads: Elevating the human spirit

Originally published in the February 8, 2008, print edition.

The architecture of churches, temples, mosques and other places of worship have a history of both elevating the human spirit and debasing it.

The sight of a sparkling white country church on the prairie, or in a clearing in the woods, can cleanse the spirit of despair and light a flame of hope in a traveler’s soul. The same church, burned to the ground by racist bigots, can bring an entire community to its knees weeping.

The ancient cathedrals of Latin America and Europe with their spires, vaulted ceilings and massive doors seem to create the potential for, through the work of human hands, a pathway to the almighty.

But in India when the Hindus murder the Muslims in prayer in their mosques, and the Muslims follow with grisly retribution, it is clear that human hands can also create a wide highway to hell.

In rural Minnesota the European immigrants brought both those tendencies into their churches. In Browerville the Polish and the Germans both built sublime Catholic churches in the 19th century.

Since, in Europe, the two nations had been warring, the immigrants brought those memories to Browerville. Both were Catholic but they separated their cemeteries by barbed wire. And neither attended the other’s church. But today only one church stands. It is best not to remember whose it is.

In nearby Melrose it is the German church, St. Boniface that stands. But, to placate the Irish Catholics in the community, the Bishop renamed the church St. Mary’s. That’s a name that any Catholic can appreciate, although there still may be those Irish who miss their St. Patrick’s.

St. Mary’s, built in 1898, is an imposing cathedral-like presence from the outside. It is made from massive blocks of red stone, and towers above its surroundings. Its gray granite stairs lead up to three heavy wood doors. The doors open soundlessly onto an entry way and then into the main church.

Upon entering, whether it is night or day, you will be transported immediately upward to a high domed series of ceilings. You will see a blue the color of the sky on the dearest spring day of your memory.

You will, thanks to the hands of mere men, be lifted out of yourself. You will be filled with joy.

This is the best of what we can do for each other in these places of worship.

        

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