The "What's This Doing Here?" Award

The award for the most overwhelmingly impressive church to be found in a very small town goes to St. Michael's in Kalida.

First Annual Cat Amongst the Pigeons Awards

Over the next few days, I'll be recognizing the best and the worst of church design in the diocese. All views expressed will be based on my personal opinions along with years of studying such matters. They'll also be based on what I've seen, both in visits and in photographs. I'll freely admit I still have discoveries to make.
The compliments will far outnumber the condemnations.
Of course, there are a lot of awards I COULD have presented for fun. For example, the "Go Home, Dorothy, and take Toto with You Award" for the group I'm most sick of hearing from, and the Joseph Goebbels Memorial Award for hopelessly biased reporting. You can probably figure those out, if you care to.

The Cathedral

Rosary Cathedral, originally uploaded by artbabee.

The Cathedral

Rosary Cathedral, originally uploaded by artbabee.

The Cathedral

Rosary Cathedral, originally uploaded by artbabee.

The Cathedral

Rosary Cathedral, originally uploaded by artbabee.

The Cathedral

Rosary Cathedral, originally uploaded by artbabee.

The Cathedral

2006-06-05 018, originally uploaded by lexioh.

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

The Isaiah window.

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

A detail of the mural from the old baptistry.

St. Joseph, Galion

Aside from the usual problem with the spire, it looks the same. HERE'S their website.

This appears to be St. Patrick's church, in about 1911. The parish merged with St. Joseph's in the 1950's. Much simpler, but the design's just as good.

A Reminder

We're always looking for pictures from any parish in the diocese. Don't worry that they're not professional quality. Neither are a lot of mine. It's the building that counts.
E-mail me at rovingmedievalist@yahoo.com
I'm not as mobile as I used to be, so getting out to a different church is like planning a military campaign, nowadays.

Our Lady of Mercy, Fayette

Simple, but very pleasant looking. They know how to landscape, too. HERE'S their website.

St. Joseph, Blakeslee

Very good. The tower looks like a very welcome later addition.
(Photo Credit)

St. Augustine, Napoleon

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

The tympanum over the main entrance.

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

A detail of the mural from the old baptistry.

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

Advanced Notice

I want to put this out here while i'm thinking of it.

At St. Mary's in Norwalk Ohio, we are going to be tearing down the former convent (called "The Century House). We can no longer afford the costs of maintaining the building. Before we tear it down, we will be having an auction that is open only to our parishioners, then in the following week (or whenever, the date has not yet been decided) there will be an auction open to the public. The auction is for anything and everything in the Century House that anyone wants. From floorboards to doorknobs to trim. Whatever is in there is up for grabs. It will be set up like a silent auction. Folks interested in old architecture or that collect/salvage things from old houses may esspeciially want to attend this auction. I will have more specific details once i return from the trip. For more information, please refer TO THIS PAGE (http://www.stmarynorwalk.org/centuryhouse/chouse.htm) on our website. Probably after the Christmas Break, i will have available a complete pictorial of the entire Century House and it's current state.

If you have any questions, you may e-mail me (the webmaster (afries52@neo.rr.com) or call the Rectory @ 419-668-2005

Immaculate Conception, Old South End

Before you ask, yes, he does give rise to a lot of "dog in the manger" jokes.

All that's missing are the Magi, and they'll show up at Epiphany.