Nativity Scenes Everywhere!

It's Christmas season again, which means churches are setting up their nativity scenes St. Joseph in Maumee has all of their nativity scenes set up.

This is the outdoor one in front of the church.

Metal scene illuminated at night.

Inside, there is a much better scene.

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WGTE's "Holy Toledo" Documentary

Originally filmed in 2009, WGTE's documentary of the Toledo area's most beautiful churches is well worth watching. You can see it at the link below:

https://www.wgte.org/television/local-programs/holy-toledo

Elsewhere In Ohio

 

I found a postcard of the old Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Cleveland. The date is between 1915-1930.

Photo Album Churches

 I was cleaning out my basement and found many photos of churches around the area. The dates are from around 1994 to 2009.

The first images are of St. Mary in Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan. They were taken in August 1998.

The next images are of the Corpus Christi procession at the closed St. Anthony in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. I couldn't find the dates on these ones.

This image below is St. Anthony, but in 1997.

This image was taken at St. Charles Borromeo in Newport, Michigan. You can see the Knights of Columbus and the impressive altar. This was taken in June 2009.

 

St. Anthony's Future

 St. Anthony in Toledo has been in the news lately. It seems to be the only closed church that has a chance. This time, Lucas County Landbank has continued a funding for the building to still be used. 

Final funding for St. Anthony renovations

Virtual Tour of Sorrowful Mother Shrine, Bellevue

Check it out at the link below:

https://viewer.threshold360.com/?thresholdId=8506307-1739440202&preset=share

Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Rossford

 Hidden away in the neighborhood of Rossford is the small closed church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The parish joined with St. Mary Madeline to form All Saints on Lime City Rd. 

It's a small church, but somehow still has a bell. 

Simple entrance with 3 Christian symbols

The cornerstone gives a date, but a small portion is missing. I would say 1937.

Before the main church was built on Lime City Rd, the two parishes were joined together, but still had 2 buildings.

Simple brick facing

The sun was shining on this window and I got a good shot of it.

Just next door is the old school.

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