St. Joseph Then vs. Now

 In April of 2010, Jeffrey Smith took many photos of St. Joseph in Maumee. A lot has changed in 14 years, so I decided to recreate his photos. I don't feel like reposting his photos, so you can find all his photos here. 

The first image was of the main altars. Many things have changed, most notably the cross, St. Joseph and the carpet color. The ambo is gone too.

The next image is of the Sacred Heart altar. As mentioned before, the St. Joseph statue has been moved.

The next image is the BVM altar. The St. Ann statue has been moved to the back of church. 

The base of the altar hasn't changed.

The confessionals no longer have that ugly red curtain, instead getting matching doors.

All of the stations were painted from that weird pink and white. This is the 8th station, Jesus Consoles the Women.

This is the first station, Jesus is Condemned to Death.

The angel font statues haven't changed, but almost everything around it has. The poles supporting the balcony are no longer pink, the confessionals have doors, and some stuff has been moved from behind the statue.

This area hasn't been changed much. This used to be the staircase to the balcony, but when they put more seating up there, they made a safer staircase and removed this one. It is now just storage space.

The last image is the entry doors. Basically nothing has changed.

As for the rest of the images, you can find them by typing "Joseph Maumee" in the search bar.

Historic Hamilton Churches

 Hamilton, Ohio has 4 catholic churches, but 2 stand out as historic. I was in town, so I took photos of those 2 historic churches.

Rising above downtown is St. Julie Billiart. 

The main facade is simple amazing. 

There is just 1 thing that is off.

That is the fact that the facade does not match the rest of the church.

The other historic church in Hamilton is St. Joseph. 

Simple, but very elegant 

Another simple but elegant school

St. Francis de Sales Church, Cincinnati

 I took a trip to Southwest Ohio last weekend and decided to go to mass at one of the best preserved churches in Cincinnati: St. Francis de Sales. I also had to take photos after mass.

A pretty cool fact is that St. Francis de Sales is home of the largest casted bell in the U.S. nicknamed "Big Joe."

The main facade. Absolutely incredible. This is the design of Francis G. Himpler, who also designed St. Joseph Oratory in Detroit, MI.

The bell tower was recently refurbished and looks much better than scaffolding 

The main entrance.

The bell tower entrance.

Inside, the church looks magnificent. Interestingly, none of the peeps have kneelers because there is no kneeling during mass. Still really interesting.

The side aisle and clerestory. 

The balcony and organ. I tried to get up in the balcony, but the door was locked. The organ console and choir are located next to the altar, so the balcony never gets used. This is probably the only problem with the church along with the empty wall.

A closer look at the front doors and windows around it.

The church still has their original ambo. They don't use it, just like many other churches; they have a different one.

The confessionals are very ornate. On the right is the organ console.

These are the probably the most decorated stations I have ever seen. Seriously, why are they so beautiful?

At the back of the church were 2 statues. The bottom image statue is St. Francis de Sales.

The Blessed Virgin Mary altar

And the Sacred Heart altar.

Lastly is the apse and the high altar. One of the best altars I've ever seen

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.