Where I was raised, we didn't have many tornadoes, but floods were a different matter. This was the Church of St. John Gaulbert, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after the 1889 flood. It was one of the oddities of the flood. A house was washed up against one of the walls. A stove in the house started a fire, which resulted in the church being under water almost to roof level while the roof and tower were on fire. At least 2,200 people died that day.Tuesday, June 10, 2008
While We're on the Subject
Where I was raised, we didn't have many tornadoes, but floods were a different matter. This was the Church of St. John Gaulbert, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after the 1889 flood. It was one of the oddities of the flood. A house was washed up against one of the walls. A stove in the house started a fire, which resulted in the church being under water almost to roof level while the roof and tower were on fire. At least 2,200 people died that day.
And yet in all that grief a kind of hidden message: the flames that destroyed also rekindled the rebuilt hearth. No matter how drenched in sin, our Lord's wash'n'tumble dry cycle will rehabilitate the most delapidated edifice!
ReplyDeleteThe church that replaced it is now co-cathedral of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.
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