The iPhone and God

A young Catholic reflects on the resilience of beauty in modernity. Well, Rocco Palma has a near-orgasm over the iPhone. Money quote:

Message here? The quest for, and appreciation of, beauty still exists in the worldand a bitten-into piece of fruit marks its vanguard.

As an amateur architecture buff I see a parallel at work. While the modernist project in design sought to exalt utilitarianism, banishing what it saw as a superfluous emphasis on the "decorative," the post-modern movement has restored the balance, as if to say, "Sure, functionality is helpful, but in our focus on function the uplift of something bigger went missing."

There's an analogy of faith in this. People want to belong to something that makes greatness manifest in our own time, a movement that can show beauty and achievement as more than just traits of the past. If that weren't true, today's masses wouldn't go to the ends of the earthor, alternatively, blow thousands of bucks after keeping vigil all night on a strip-mall pavement to it seek out, bring it home and plug it in...

If only Apple's sense of embracing the future was heeded within the walls of the church. We need to change the perception that the only future we can offer is a return to the past.

If the Vatican opened churches as beautifully innovative as Apple stores, the faith would be stronger.