What is Catholic Urbanism?

In practical terms, our proximate aim is to (1) educate and inspire the lay, professional, and clerical faithful in the theoretical science and practical arts of building better cities; (2) advocate for policies in civil and ecclesial orders for better urbanism; and (3) serve as a network and resource for real development.

The first mention of a city in the scriptures is the city built by Cain after he murdered his brother (Gen 4:27). Rome was also built by a murderous brother. At the end of the scriptures is the description of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a bride prepared for the groom (Rev 21:2). The city is the inescapable foreground and background to scriptures, history, and tradition. It has been the focus of Plato’s Republic and St. Augustine’s commentary. 

What the secular world misses is the fundamentally sacral nature of cities. The earliest archeological developments suggest that societies of people gathered around sites that were places of sacred character. These pre-modern people would not have even understood the distinction between religious and secular. It wasn’t a simplistic theocratic system or “integralist” project for the ancients. It was much more diffuse and less systematized. Christianity liberated the pagan peoples from the tyrannical and capricious deities with their totalitarian demands. 

The new urbanist movements in their various forms are responding to a serious set of real problems with the way cities have emerged in the 20th century. It is without exaggeration to say that almost every social, spiritual, economic, and environmental challenge facing us in the 21st century is caused or exacerbated by the urban fabric. Autocentric urban development, with its emphasis on suburban sprawl and modernist architecture, is a major contributor to the loneliness epidemic, obesity, economic disparity, and devastation of the natural world. I’ll go further and say that the design of many North American cities is not just bad in a general sense, but anti-Christian and demonic. From the isolating and inefficient planning to the hostile architecture as well. 

The responsibility of the clergy is to sanctify Christians, and the responsibility of Christians is to sanctify the world. That includes the built environment. Meanwhile, the institutional Church is one of the largest landholders in the world. With the changing winds we all feel, if the Christian people, as clergy and laity, do not affirmatively work towards building a better built environment, there will be a serious account to be paid at the last day. Fortunately, there are some efforts towards that end.

At the center of the New Jerusalem was the Lamb of God, the tree of life out of which the streams of living water flowed. At the center of this enterprise and every great European city is the liturgical life of the Church. There is a lot of excellent work done on sacred architecture and the role of traditional liturgy in bringing about a revival in the Church. The focus of Catholic Urbanism is to assume that the Temple should be the Center of the city and to find ways to make that not just metaphorically, but literally true. To produce harmony with nature, between neighbors, and with the Divine. To fulfill our calling to respond to the needs of the poor. Simultaneously, finding ways to work in an alliance with existing new urbanist movements to implement sound urban reforms. To develop and transform our cities to be a catalyst for culture, family, and religious life so that God may be “all in all.” 

Regina Angelorum, ora pro nobis.