Elsewhere

 I took a trip to Pittsburgh this summer and couldn't turn down the opportunity to photograph a lot of churches. 

Just like the city of Toledo, Pittsburgh also has some church issues. However, Pittsburgh has some clever ways of keeping their church buildings standing instead of abandoning them.

The first church I visited was Our Lady on the Mount. Just like the name says, this church is located on top of a mountain, where you get the best views of Pittsburgh. 

The next church I visited is St. John Vianney. Originally called St. George, this church is sadly closed.

The next church on my drive was St. Adalbert. Notice the statues at the top of the tower next to the louvres. Very unique.

This next church is the Cathedral of St. Paul. Easily the best looking church in the Diocese.

I couldn't get close enough to this church, but this is the old St. Mary Magdeline. Interestingly the church got turned into a jungle gym. That almost happened to St. Anthony in Toledo.

This next church was named St. Casimir. It got turned into a condo complex. I don't know how they did that, but that would sound cool to live in a church sanctuary

 

The next church is St. Benedict the Moor. I noticed that there was no cross on the top of the tower, instead it is a resurrection statue. I have never seen this before.

This next church is St. Padre Pio. It was very difficult to photo because of construction and 1 way streets going up and down.

The next church I passed by is St. Joseph. There was some debate on whether to keep this open or Immaculate Conception. I don't know which one they kept open though.

The next church I photographed is the now closed Sts. Peter & Paul. It really stuck out in a modern neighborhood.

The last church I photographed is the closed St. Charles Lwanga. This was the only church that looked abandoned.

Obviously there are many more churches in Pittsburgh that I just didn't have time to photograph.

Historic St. Patrick, Toledo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr0wyJythEw

13 ABC Toledo reports on the restoration project at St. Patrick's.

Assumption, Reedtown Memorial

Along with St. Sebastian in Bismark, Assumption Church in Reedtown was torn down. However, these churches were not forgotten. This is the memorial for Assumption church. The original church was to the left. This is not just a memorial, but an entire museum! I didn't go inside, but they have 2 plaques of the original churches. 

This is what the original church looked like. The plaque says:

"Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Built 1867  Burnt 1907"

This is the second church that everyone knew. According to past posts, this church was the same design as Blessed Sacrament in Lawton, Oklahoma. The plaque reads:

"Reed Assumption Catholic Church

Built 1907       Closed 2005

                        Razed 2019

            By Toledo Diocese"

The memorial was erected in 2022 

 

St. Francis de Sales School, Toledo

 

I found this old postcard of St. Francis de Sales high school on Bancroft St. This was before the main chapel was built back in 2004. As for the date, it is somewhere between 1955 and 2003. Notice how the main entrance was on the 2nd floor. This was changed in the 2004 renovations along with the chapel. Some other rooms missing are the weight room, multi-purpose room, and classrooms on the far right.

This other view is from the Accolade from 1969. 

New Statues at St. Joseph

St. Joseph, Maumee has restored and displayed a new statue from Good Shepherd Church. Along with the Pieta and Good Shepherd statues the have restored the Blessed Virgin Mary statue.

This one is very well preserved. It is almost perfect and I have nothing to critique about it either. 

The Good Shepherd statues has received a staff, but I highly don't think it is the original one.

Across the room from the Mary statue is a statue of St. Anthony. It's not new and not the one from Good Shepherd, but still a very good statue.

Next is this statue of a young Jesus. This statue is in the school, which is a very unusual place. I think it would look better in the sanctuary.

 
 

St. Patrick Scaffolding Update

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that St. Patrick in the Warehouse District had scaffolding in front of the front facade. 1 week ago I made a post regarding the construction. Today, I decided to see if anything happened and i found... more scaffolding! I also got closer photos as well. 

The scaffolding now wraps completely around the belfry. 

The main and left entrances are closed, meaning you either have to enter through the side doors or the right entrance. 

In the parking lot was more scaffolding. This could be more to add, or a pile already used. Whatever project they are doing, I hope they get it done soon because when driving on the I-75, all you see is scaffolding from one of  Toledo's best facades. 

I also might be wrong on not thinking it is facade work, because I heard the bell ringing after Mass. Facade work? Maybe. 

 

St. Joseph School Maumee

 St. Joseph has a very simple, but old school next door. Established in 1913, the school has slowly been expanding throughout the years with the most recent addition being new preschool rooms. 

Across the street is the home of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who teach at the school. 

St. Joseph, Maumee Then vs. Now

 St. Joseph, Maumee has been a church filled with history of renovations, remodels and redecorating. I have found an image of the church's interior dating back to 1941. I also took an image of what it looks like now. 

 

First is the 1941 photograph. Where do I even begin? Let's start with the walls. There are many murals above the side altars and 2 large frescos in the apse. Another big thing is the ambo is all the way on the left with a baldachin, along with all 3 altars and the presiders chair. Some little things are the communion rail, the St. Ann statue and cross in different places and whatever those circles are on 

the left and right sides of the image. The altars seem to have more design to them as well.

This is what the church looks like today in the same spot. Many of the murals from 1941 are gone and the apse now has 2 stained glass windows. There are no more baldachins and the altars have lost some of their architectural details. The communion rail is gone along with that beautiful ambo and some of the pews. The apse floor has been raised up a few steps, which is why there is a large 3rd step. A lot of things got moved, like the crucifix, St. Ann statue, and the 2 angels on either side of the high altar. The floor is now all carpet. 

This is a new idea that I will try to do for other churches as well. 

St. John the Evangelist, Delphos

 I was on my way to Van Wert one Sunday morning and stopped in the town of Delphos to attend Mass at St. John the Evangelist. I also couldn't help but take tons of photos. Specifically the statues because St. Johns has a ton of them. 

In this image alone, there are a total of 13 statues! Statues aside, the overall interior is phenomenal. However, one thing I noticed was how empty the church was. Not even the baldachins help to stop this problem. On a different note, The vaulting is very nice and the stained glass windows are very beautiful. 

The first of many statues is St. Jude Thaddeus. My camera wasn't focusing for some reason on this one.

 

The next statue is of St. James the Great. You can see the stained glass windows I was talking about with the Crucifixion on the left and the Resurrection. 

St. John the Evangelist, the eponymous saint. 

St. Philip the Apostle along with the Nativity of the Lord on his right. 

St. Simon the Zealot on the right and St. Matthew on the left. Notice that the St. Matthew statue has his own wall recess. 

St. Andrew on the left and St. Thomas on the right. Just like St. Matthew, St. Thomas has a wall recess. 

St. Bartholomew along with the Good Shepherd stained glass on his left. 

St. Peter.

St. James the Less. On his left is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and on his right is the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. 

St. Paul the Apostle. Reminds me of a church that looks just like St. Johns

The Blessed Virgin Mary. This image shows how empty the church is. That baldachin just looks weird without a roof. 

The last image on the main floor is of St. Joseph. Here, the tried to solve their space problem by putting a grand piano in the space. Instead, it interrupts my photo. 

The best view of a church is always in the balcony. A very unique (and definitely not the original) ambo. 

In the balcony I found 2 more statues. This one is of St. Anthony 

and this one is of St. Ann. 

One of the most unique things about this church is the organ. It's not just one main facade, but two, with one on either side of the balcony. 

Here is a closer view of the other facade. 

For more images, I suggest going to this image gallery here