121 Michael Raia: Beauty & Importance of Sacred Architecture

On Wednesday, June 5, Deacon Mike Beauvais spoke with Michael Raia, an architect with Studio IO about the importance and beauty of sacred architecture. In the first part of the show, Michael Bonin with the Central Texas Fellowship of Catholic Men spoke about the significance of men's fellowship and how it is valuable in building their Catholic faith. The slogan for CTFCM is "no man left behind", with the goal of making men's fellowship available to every single Catholic man in our diocese. Its purpose is to help men become better disciples of Christ through prayer, study and fellowship. There are local Catholic Men's Fellowship groups at many of the parishes around our area. If you are a man searching for Catholic men's fellowship, check your church bulletin for details! Mike is heading up a men's fellowship group at St. Mary's in College Station on Wednesday mornings at 7.  

In the second half of the show, Michael Raia spoke about beauty and architecture, and all things related to our reach for God through the eyes of beauty. He has a 12-year background in design work and project management for an architectural firm. About a year ago, he started his own company, a design consultancy specializing in work for Catholic clients. Michael talked about how the beauty of architecture can draw us into the faith initially by gaining our attention and making us wonder about the origin of beauty, its application to understanding the Old Testament, its meaning and significance for our lives, and how beauty affects the Church today. We are all called to be holy, and we can have help in obtaining that holiness via active participation in the liturgy. But how does the liturgy actually encourage our sanctification and our holiness? When we talk about liturgy, we are talking about evangelization and discipleship; they should never be separated. The way of beauty is our lead into that type of discussion, it is what initially speaks to us and draws us in to desire truth and learn more about Church teachings and morality. Listen to Michael Raia discuss this beautiful perspective on the importance of beauty and architecture, and how they aid our effort to pray the Mass and live out our call to holiness. We hope you enjoy this episode! Be sure to give us a like on Facebook @redcradio. And remember, when choosing between the values of heaven and the values of earth, always round up!