Authors

John Cluver practices archicture and historic preservation in Philadelphia, PA as a partner in the firm Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP.

Michael Coates is a New Jersey native who has been conducting capital campaigns and development studies for churches in all corners of the nation for the last fifteen years with Guidance in Giving, Inc. He lives in Newnan, GA with his wife Jessica and their two sons, Matthew and Daniel.

Brother Nathan Cochran, O.S.B., is a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He is the Curator of the Saint Vincent Art Collections, Director of the Saint Vincent Gallery, and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts at Saint Vincent College.

Sir J. Ninian Comper was born to an Anglican vicar and his wife in 1864. He first studied under the stained glass artist C. E. Kempe, who favored a late medieval/early Renaissance style. He then studied under the Gothic revival architect G. F. Bodley, one of the designers of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

   One of the last of the Gothic revival architects, he both designed and restored churches. His first original design was Saint Cyprian’s, Clarence Gate, in London. It featured an altar separated from the nave by a gilded rood screen topped with a large crucifix. Later churches incorporated classical elements as well. He defined his style as “unity by inclusion.”

    Among other works, he designed eight stained glass windows on the north side of the nave of Westminster Abbey. When he died in 1960, his ashes were interred beneath those windows.

This essay by architect Sir J. Ninian Comper (1864-1960), originally titled “Of the Atmosphere of a Church,” was published as a book by Sheldon Press in 1947. Part I appeared in Issue 39.

Most Reverend James D. Conley, STL, is the bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska. Before his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI to the see of Lincoln in September 2012, he served as auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Denver under Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. He earned his Master's of Divinity from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., in 1985 and a licentiate in moral theology from the Accademia Alfonsiana, part of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

The Most Reverend James D. Conley was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita in 1985. He was ordained in 2008 to the episcopacy and served as auxiliary bishop of Denver until his appointment as bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Joseph Connors is Professor Emeritus of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University and Michael C. Duda Visiting Professor at the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture, 2020-2022. He is the author of Borromini and the Roman Oratory and is completing a comprehensive monograph on Borromini.

William R. Cook is a distinguished Teaching Professor of History Emeritus at SUNY Geneseo and author of The Catholic Church: A History in the Great Courses series. 

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The Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone is Archbishop of San Francisco and the founder of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.

José Cornélio da Silva has been a practicing architect since 1983, working in traditional and classical architecture, conservation and restoration, and garden design. As an academic, he has taught in several American and European universities, and presently lives in Portugal. 

Rev. John J. Coughlin, OFM, serves as Professor of Law and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He received his doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and his J.D. from Harvard University. His latest book, Law, Person and Community will be published by Oxford University Press in late 2011.

Norman Crowe is Professor Emeritus at the the University of Notre Dame's School of Architecture. He is the author of Nature and the Idea of a Man-Made World (MIT Press, 1995).

Jaap Dawson is an architect in Delft, The Netherlands, where he teaches architectural design at the Technische Universiteit. He grew up in Miami and in Holland, Michigan, studied literature at Cornell, depth psychology and theology at Union Theological Seminary, and received his doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Daniel P. DeGreve is an architect in Columbus, Ohio holding a Master of Architectural Design & Urbanism degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati. Email: [email protected]

Daniel P. DeGreve, R.A., practices traditional architecture in Columbus, Ohio. He has worked for Classical architects in Washington, D.C. and Columbus, earning his Master of Architectural Design & Urbanism from the University of Notre Dame and Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati.

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Nathan S. Dennis is Assistant Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at the University of San Francisco. He specializes in late-antique and early-medieval art, architecture, and theology in the Mediterranean and Levantine world.

Michael Dennis is an architect and Professor of Architecture Emeritus at MIT. He is the author of Court & Garden: From the French Hôtel to the City of Modern Architecture (2025) and The Venetian Façade (2024), both published by Notre Dame/ORO in the series Ratio et Architectura. Also, Temples & Towns: The Form, Elements, and Principles of Planned Towns (2022), and Architecture * the City: Selected Essays (2020)

Michael E. DeSanctis, Ph.D. is Professor of Fine Arts and Director of the Honors Program at Gannon University in Erie, PA. He writes widely on Catholic church architecture and serves as a liturgical designer and consultant. He can be reached at [email protected].

Victor Deupi is a Lecturer at the University of Miami School of Architecture in Coral Gables, Florida. His book, Architectural Temperance: Spain and Rome 1700-1759, was published by Routledge in 2015.

Hendrik Dey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at Hunter College, CUNY. He is the author of The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome, A.D. 271-855, with Cambridge University Press.

Helen Dietz, PhD, who lives in the Chicago area, is currently completing a book on fifteenth-century Flemish liturgical painting.

A Minnesota native, Thomas M. Dietz received his education in the history, theory, and criticism of architecture and art at MIT. He is currently an architect in Chicago.

Fr. Giles Dimock, OP, studied Liturgy at Notre Dame and at Sant' Anselmo, and theology at the Angelicum in Rome, earning a licentiate and doctorate respectively. He has taught at Providence College, Franciscan University in Steubenville, the Angelicum and the Dominican House of studies in Washington, DC. He has written many articles for liturgical and theological journals. He now serves as a parochial vicar at Saint Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Charlottesville, VA.

Reverend Giles Dimock, O.P., S.T.D., studied liturgy at Notre Dame and at Sant’ Anselmo, and theology at the Angelicum in Rome. He has taught at Providence College, Franciscan University in Steubenville, the Angelicum and the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

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William Dowdy is an associate with Anderson | Kim Architecture + Urban Design. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Chico, California.

Jean Duchesne is Emeritus Professor of English at Condorcet College in Paris. A founder of the French edition of Communio, he was Cardinal Lustiger’s Special Adviser and is now his literary executor.

Kyle Dugdale is an architect, critic, and historian. He teaches history, theory, and design at Yale School of Architecture and at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Rev. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. Before entering religious life, he was a practicing architect in Arlington, ,Virginia.

Steven Dunn is a graduate student in architecture at the University of Notre Dame, having previously studied history at Whitworth University and architectural history at the University of Oxford.

Richard Economakis is associate professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame. The author of several books, he is also a practicing architect.

Reverend Terrence Ehrman, C.S.C., teaches theology at Notre Dame and was previously assistant director of the university’s Center for Theology, Science, and Human Flourishing.

Breda Catherine Ennis is Professor of Fine Arts at the American University of Rome, where she also hosts "Art on the Air" — a weekly art program on the secrets of Sacred Rome. Vatican Radio One-O-Five Live (Inspiration).

Fr. Michael Enright is pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Chicago, Illinois.

Rev. Michael Enright is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and serves as pastor at Saint Paul Church in Chicago. Father Enright has written books and articles for publication, and enjoys stone carving.

David Riccio is the President of Canning Liturgical Arts, where he has been a leader for thirty years. He is an industry-recognized expert on historic flat and ornamental plaster as well as decorative painting techniques, gilding, and glazing, and has developed multiple innovative solutions for complex restoration conditions.

Hope Ensing is the Director of Canning Liturgical Arts and a graduate of Hillsdale College with a B.A. in History. Supplemented by her background in Art History, German, and Italian, her research encompasses Dutch curiosity cabinets, Murano glass, and the glassworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Anthony Esolen is professor of classical literature at Thomas More College. His latest books are Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church and Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture. This article is adapted from chapter two of the second.

Rev. Daniel Estivill was born in 1950 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has been an architect since 1974 and served on the faculty of architecture at the National University of Buenos Aires. He was ordained a priest in 1982 and was Professor of Iconography and Iconology in the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome from 1997 to 2014.

David W. Fagerberg is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, and director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy.

A native of Rochester, NY, Dennis Fleisher has served as an acoustics consultant and a designer of spaces for worship, music performance, and education since 1981. The majority of his work has been in liturgical spaces including over 250 churches and chapels and 30 cathedrals. [email protected]

Born in 1955 in Massachusetts, The Very Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B. has been a monk since 1979 and a priest since 1984. He served as the pro-President of the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico at the Athenaeum of Sant' Anselmo from 1997 to 2000, and is the founding prior of the Monastery of San Benedetto, located in Norcia, Italy, the birthplace of St. Benedict. Father Cassian is also a member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, and is the author of numerous studies on Roman Catholic liturgy. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named Father Cassian as a consulter to the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Scott Ford, LEED-AP, is Executive Director of Community Investment in South Bend, IN. He has worked in urban planning and architecture, including with Moule & Polyzoides Architects, Duany Plater-Zyberk Associates, and McCrery Architects, and in economic development with Brailsford & Dunlavey and Detroit’s Greater Downtown Partnership. Scott holds an M.Arch from the University of Notre Dame and a M.Phil in Land Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Dom Forte is an architect in Santa Barbara, California.

This homily was given by His Holiness Pope Francis on January 1, 2016, the Solemnity of the Mother of God in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Jack Freiberg is professor of art history at Florida State University and the author of Bramante’s Tempietto, the Roman Renaissance, and the Spanish Crown.

Pablo Alvarez Funes practices architecture in Madrid, Spain, and has written and lectured on the history and theory of Spanish Architecture.

Rev. Peter Funk, O.S.B. has been Prior of the Monastery of the Holy Cross, a contemplative Benedictine monastery in the Archdiocese of Chicago, since 2004.