St. Francis de Sales

I stopped for the noon Mass at St. Francis de Sales, yesterday. As soon as I walked in, I was shocked to see that the William H. Machen Stations of the Cross, one of the treasures of the artistic patrimony, not just of the Diocese, but of the city of Toledo, have been replaced by a dime-a-dozen set of sculptures. I'm looking in to the reason for this, and hope it will be temporary. We have an obligation to make sure such artworks are preserved.

St. Stephen, Seneca County

St. Francis de Sales, Downtown

I have some pictures to post, when I feel up to it. Not as many as I'd have liked to take, this time. An unexpected bit of information gathering got in the way.

Mother Teresa Visits Toledo, July 23-24, 1976

Excerpt from the Mansfield News Journal, Sunday, July 25, 1976

Servant to the poorest of the poor by her own definition but considered by many of her contemporaries as a sort of living saint, the small, wizened nun made an unassuming appearance riding down the Toledo Express Airport escalator Friday in a 50-cent white cotton sari and sandals.
The throng awaiting her arrival puzzled many uninformed bystanders. Among the crowd were a large number of children and teen-aged youths and a heavy sprinkling of nuns and priests as well as area protestant representatives and city officials. A sizable contingent of Mennonites, members of the Toledo Indian community and a rabbi completed the mix.
…Wherever she appeared throughout the day she was surrounded by persons wanting to touch her, to talk to her - children wanting to be held
She appeared at a special public evening meeting at Toledo's 2,500-seat Masonic Auditorium and the city's fire marshal had to order several hundred persons to remain in the lobby because of the danger of standing in the aisles.
Many waited through the hour-and-half program for her to come and talk with them briefly.

"When we appear before Him, we will be judged on what we have been and if we have seen Him in the poor and hungry" she added. "But I think the hunger from being rejected, lonely, having no one to love or be loved is to have forgotten what human love is — that is the hungry Christ, the lonely Christ."
"A mistake we often make," Mother Teresa said, "is to look for the poor of the world while overlooking hunger in our neighbor or in our own home — Christ in disguise."

She was in Toledo under the auspices of the department of religious education of the Catholic Diocese of Toledo, while en route to the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia the first week in August.

The Other Toledo

There's a good post at In Umbris Sancti Petri.
(Photo Credit)

Demolition

Demolition of the Century House began today. All the exterior stone is going to be stripped off first before the house is demolished. It's going to be reused on a new home somewhere. It's amazing how much stuff has been saved from this house...By sometime next week she should be gone...

Check out the website for updates on this (http://www.stmarynorwalk.org) I'll be posting pictures throughout the week.

Bishop Hoffman with John Paul II

February 8th marked the fifth anniversary of Bishop Hoffman's death.

Tridentine Latin Mass

The Tridentine Latin Mass will be celebrated at Immaculate Conception, in the Old South End, this Sunday at noon. The church is at the intersection of Broadway, Eastern, and Maumee, and is easily spotted.

St. Joseph's, at Locust and Erie, in the Vistula Historic District celebrates the Tridentine Latin Mass on the first Sunday of each month, at 8:30 AM, on the last Sunday of every month, at 11 AM, and every Thursday at 6 PM. They've been doing it for some time now and, since their average weekly Mass attendance is almost 90%, ( Yes, that's 90 ) they must be doing something right.

Some other parish in Toledo might want to take the second Sunday. That way the extraordinary rite would be available every week.

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

Saints in the Neighborhood

The Toledo Diocese has been blessed by the presence of St. John Neumann and Bl. F.X. Seelos. We shouldn't overlook the presence nearby of Ven. Solanus Casey of Detroit.

A laugh

I've been trying to think of a post for tonight. I thought of some things but couldn't find the pictures for them...then i came across these.
That's Sister Mary Agnes Link (waving). She lived in this house when the sisters lived in it. She's probably the most lively person in our parish, and i think she's almost in her 90's.


This is in the master bathroom of the Century House. Keep in mind that nobody has lived the house in or used the upstairs bathrooms since 1989 when the sisters moved out and it was converted to a preschool.

Also...once the Century House is gone, i'll be putting something together, either on the website or in book form, with information and plenty of pictures. More details later.

St. Mary Norwalk

Little Flower, Toledo

I was aware of the fact that Little Flower parish is thinking of building a new church. A comment, recently, set me to looking into their need for one. The current building dates from well before the mad dash to the suburbs, so, like many suburban parishes, Little Flower has grown dramatically. Let's put it this way. If, some Sunday, 100% of the registered members decide to show up for Mass, they're going to have to move it out into the parking lot. The current building is just too small and doesn't even come close to meeting the needs of the parish.

Now, if you read this blog regularly, you know that showing me a picture like the one above is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. In this case, I'd like to wish the parish well. I'd encourage them to look to the future, rather than clinging to the past and to find out what people actually want a church to look like, rather than having a small committee of "experts" tell them what they should want in order to match the "cutting edge" of ecclesiology. ( Which usually means being permanently stuck in neutral around 1979. ) Times have changed. Follow the lead of the Holy Father and of the young architects, designers, and artists, rather than has-beens like Vosko. Consider providing a home for some of the artwork from the closed parishes. It's high in quality, can fit into a new design beautifully, and should be used instead of collecting dust in storage. Don't forget to make room for some of the excellent artwork the parish already has.

The Holy Father says the Church isn't an either/or proposition. It's both/and. Church architecture and design should never be a matter of hidebound idealogy, whether "progressive" or "traditionalist". It should be a matter of old and new working together for the glory of God, the true purpose of any church.

And if you're looking for ideas on the sort of thing most people really like, try one of the most successful suppliers, Granda Liturgical Arts.

Requiescat in Pace

Fra Andrew Bertie , 78th Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

“The other military orders were there to fight the Saracens and to save Spain or the Holy Land or Prussia from the pagans. But we always had this special commitment to the poor and the sick. Our aims today are exactly the same as they were in 1099, the sanctification of our members through service to the sick”.

UPDATE: There's a good article at Catholic News Service

Ash Wednesday in Rome

Courtesy of Argent by the Tiber

The Most Beautiful Blog in Existance

Fotos Cofrades

Rosary Cathedral

By Carl Spitzweg

St. Mary, Norwalk

St. Paul, Norwalk

Little Flower, Toledo

Now, this I like.

Cut the Doom and Gloom

There's a good post on all the reasons, and there are many, why the pessimistic attitude some people take toward the Church's future, at Adam's Ale.
I might add that studying history is the quickest way to disabuse yourself of the notion that things are so terrible now.

St. Michael the Archangel Byzantine

There are some comments on Lent, by Fr. Jim Kubajak, at the Blade.

Monsignor George F. Houck

Monsignor George F. Houck (1847-1916) served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland beginning in July 1877, and wrote several books detailing the early history of the diocese (which then included what is now the Diocese of Toledo). But he started out working as a clerk in his father’s boot and shoe business in Tiffin, and attended Heidelberg College for two years.

He studied at seminaries in Cincinnati and Cleveland, and was ordained in 1875. After two years as pastor at St. Joseph’s in Crestline, Bishop Gilmour named him Secretary and Chancellor of the Cleveland Diocese. Other duties included serving as Chaplain at Cleveland’s St. Vincent Hospital and ministering to prisoners at the City Workhouse. He was named a Monsignor by Pope Pius X in 1904.
(Photo and information from “Ohio’s Progressive Sons”, published in 1905)

Inscription from Monsignor Houck's tombstone in St. Joseph Cemetery, Tiffin.

St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center

The Hidden Treasures of St. Paul, Norwalk

Yesterday i had the opportunity to go up in the bell tower at St. Paul's here in Norwalk.

First let's start off with the windows you pass on the way up. The two big windows in the center of the picture above are what i will have pictured here.
With exception to the Sanctuary windows, and the windows in the sacristy, these are the only other original windows in the place. (remember, everything was replaced by those horrid beer bottle fragments) These windows aren't much exciting, but they were still way more than i expected, especially in a place where no one can see them, and you can't make out detail from the outside.
(at one point in time, the room that the large window is in probably housed the blower for the old organ, maybe could have been visible from inside the church? no one really seems to know...)


The organ was where that crucifix (that should be in the front of the church) is. Now there is a ventilation system behind that wall. Behind the vent system, is a ladder, then the window.
moving on up...we pass the top of the main window. Not sure if there is any symbolism in it, but still a nice mix of colors.
The next room we come to houses that top window. Again, makes you wonder why they replaced the windows in the church, when they had windows similar to this.

Now onto the bells.
They have 10 bells. The three swinging ones are the ones they normally use. The others are rarely, if ever used. Maybe Christmas and Easter. Glorious sound, another pity that they aren't used as much. This photo was taken sometime before they were installed around 1906-07.

These three are the ones they mainly use.

The rest hang, and are rang by clapper only. All motorized now, of course.

Of course i have many more pictures. If you are interested in more, please let me know.