The beautiful church thread: please post photos / links to beautiful Catholic churches!

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This actually gave me chills when I saw these photos!!! Of all the BEAUTIFUL and STUNNING Churches, this one really blew me away.
Cistercian architecture rejected stained glass and statues also. Hm. Great cloisters:

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo P.../Images/R750/Cloisters-Jun04-DC4189sAR750.jpg
And this is truly beauty in simplicity. NOT the concert hall catastrophes. :rolleyes:

~Liza
 
There are SO many beautiful Churches in Detroit - I’m surprised I didn’t see any posted yet!!

One of my favorites (don’t have time to post much) is Sweetest Heart of Mary:

picasaweb.google.com/shmchurch/Candlemas2007#

sweetestheartofmary.org/photos.htm

sweetestheartofmary.org/

I had an opportunity to have a personal tour of this amazing Church last summer. There were only four of us. I stood with my friend in front of the sanctuary and we both sang Salve Regina in the most amazing acoustics - a moment I will never forget.

~Liza
 
View attachment 5146
Saint Wendelin, Fostoria, OH

Notice the cupolas from the former Church structure. We have a different climate, with both extremes, so, the church is designed for that. The sun’s rays have travelled directly to a pew. It has often happened to me, and then one is bathed in light! My Father is seen walking to his car, which isn’t viewable. (Parking after a parade.) People often remark on this Church’ beauty!

I do have memories of the side door and choir loft of the old church building. The side door was used to exit early. The choir loft became filled so there was standing in the stairwells leading to it, standing around the back below the loft and up the side aisles, and sitting on the choir stand beneath the rose window in the loft. For baptizing adults, there was a makeshift pool under the Blessed Virgin’s altar. Individual confessions were only face to face at the Parish Penance Service, when chairs were set up in the four corners.

🤷 There are some problems with linking, despite my advice to preview the post! Now I see it, now I don’t!🤷
 
There are SO many beautiful Churches in Detroit - I’m surprised I didn’t see any posted yet!!

One of my favorites (don’t have time to post much) is Sweetest Heart of Mary:

picasaweb.google.com/shmchurch/Candlemas2007#

sweetestheartofmary.org/photos.htm

sweetestheartofmary.org/

I had an opportunity to have a personal tour of this amazing Church last summer. There were only four of us. I stood with my friend in front of the sanctuary and we both sang Salve Regina in the most amazing acoustics - a moment I will never forget.

~Liza
Right. Assumption Grotto:

assumptiongrotto.com/JPG/grottofull2.jpg
Sorry, couldn’t find interior shots. The blue glass is breathtaking.
 
Where is St, Peters? It’s beautiful!!!
It’s in Philly. Unfortunately, it’s not in the greatest part of town (sort of on the edge), although I’ve never had problems there. That is the plight of a lot of beautiful Catholic churches in Philadelphia. Many are in sketchy neighborhoods (although South Philly still has a number of wonderful churches there) and are holding on by skin of their teeth due to the fact that the demographics are changing and many Catholics have moved out to the suburbs. A few of the priests I’ve met at these various parishes while being hired as a musician have lamented how they would love to pick up these churches and move them out to the suburbs rather than have many of the structures that are being made today.

But anyway, St. Peter’s is an important church because the St. John Neumann Shrine is there. The pictures really do not do it any justice. There is also a beautiful little chapel connected to it.
 
It’s in Philly. Unfortunately, it’s not in the greatest part of town (sort of on the edge), although I’ve never had problems there. That is the plight of a lot of beautiful Catholic churches in Philadelphia. Many are in sketchy neighborhoods (although South Philly still has a number of wonderful churches there) and are holding on by skin of their teeth due to the fact that the demographics are changing and many Catholics have moved out to the suburbs. A few of the priests I’ve met at these various parishes while being hired as a musician have lamented how they would love to pick up these churches and move them out to the suburbs rather than have many of the structures that are being made today.

But anyway, St. Peter’s is an important church because the St. John Neumann Shrine is there. The pictures really do not do it any justice. There is also a beautiful little chapel connected to it.
This is very much the same plight in Detroit as well. The parish we belong to is known as a “commuter parish” - I would imagine that less than one half of one percent of the people who belong to our parish actually live near by. It is in one of the worst areas of Detroit - but those of us who go there will drive the distance to experience probably THE MOST traditional and conservative parish in the Archdiocese. Our priests are solid and good holy men, Mass is surely what it would be like in heaven, and it is worth the drive and the adventure into the 'hood.

~Liza
 
This is very much the same plight in Detroit as well. The parish we belong to is known as a “commuter parish” - I would imagine that less than one half of one percent of the people who belong to our parish actually live near by. It is in one of the worst areas of Detroit - but those of us who go there will drive the distance to experience probably THE MOST traditional and conservative parish in the Archdiocese. Our priests are solid and good holy men, Mass is surely what it would be like in heaven, and it is worth the drive and the adventure into the 'hood.

~Liza
Too bad, but actually things may turn around in Philly and Detroit eventually, and people will move back into those neighborhoods. In Portland, Oregon many of the questionable neighborhoods have been gentrified and are quite chic now. In the meantime, I wouldn’t let the neighborhood stop me from attending one of those fantastically beautiful churches.
 
Too bad, but actually things may turn around in Philly and Detroit eventually, and people will move back into those neighborhoods. In Portland, Oregon many of the questionable neighborhoods have been gentrified and are quite chic now. In the meantime, I wouldn’t let the neighborhood stop me from attending one of those fantastically beautiful churches.
I agree. There are areas in the city which have been gentrified and the city has also offered incentives to keep young professionals like myself to stay in the city. Unfortunately, my husband can’t stand the city after having a few problems with people trying to break into his apartment and busting windows in his car when he was in grad school, so he doesn’t want to ever move back there. But our parish is in the city which used to be a 45 min to hour drive, but now that we’ve moved, it’s about a half hour to 40 minutes so that’s good. Totally worth it. A lot of the parshioners are also “commuters”. People come from all over the diocese. There is even one family who drives in from Wilmington, DE. But where the cathedral is, it’s not a bad neighborhood. There are many homeless, though, so it does give one a different view - a good reminder about good works and charity. You don’t really get that in the suburban parishes.
 
I agree. There are areas in the city which have been gentrified and the city has also offered incentives to keep young professionals like myself to stay in the city. Unfortunately, my husband can’t stand the city after having a few problems with people trying to break into his apartment and busting windows in his car when he was in grad school, so he doesn’t want to ever move back there. But our parish is in the city which used to be a 45 min to hour drive, but now that we’ve moved, it’s about a half hour to 40 minutes so that’s good. Totally worth it. A lot of the parshioners are also “commuters”. People come from all over the diocese. There is even one family who drives in from Wilmington, DE. But where the cathedral is, it’s not a bad neighborhood. There are many homeless, though, so it does give one a different view - a good reminder about good works and charity. You don’t really get that in the suburban parishes.
My cousin has bullet holes in her kitchen window frame. When I visited Assumption Grotto, I asked a few people how far they drive. 45 minutes. An hour. One guy comes all the way from TOLEDO!
 
My cousin has bullet holes in her kitchen window frame. When I visited Assumption Grotto, I asked a few people how far they drive. 45 minutes. An hour. One guy comes all the way from TOLEDO!
Where does your cousin live?

~Liza
 
There are some breath taking pics on here. I think my fav so far was St. Vincent de Paul in Los Angeles.
I’m glad you liked St. Vincent de Paul! It was the church by my university so I have a special fondness for it. 😃
I am in awe. My sensory overload is maxed out!
This actually gave me chills when I saw these photos!!! Of all the BEAUTIFUL and STUNNING Churches, this one really blew me away.
Yes that Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in New York is a sight to behold. There are a ton of beautiful churches in the New York area!
 
St. Mary’s, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, KY; as great as it looks now, it looked even better before it was recently “renovated” to conform with apparent Vatican II directives that mandated a free-standing altar on a platform that juts out into the nave.
http://www.haskelltech.com/images/cathpan500.jpg
http://www.covcathedral.com/images/altar_nwin_sm.jpg

It also boasts the largest stained-glass window in a church, in the whole world. If you don’t believe me, look it up in the Guinness Book of World Records. When it was built, it was THE largest stained-glass window, period, but since then a mausoleum has been built near Chicago which has a larger window. Still, it is the largest stained-glass window in a church in the world:
http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/images3/stained.JPG
23 feet wide, and 300 feet long.

Who would have thought it could be right here in Kentucky, U.S.A., and not in England or Paris? 😛
This is my favorite church ever. When I get to visit, I’m there for quite some time to pray and just soak in the beauty of this basilica/cathedral. When sunlight comes in the windows…Ahhhh!
 
This is my favorite church ever. When I get to visit, I’m there for quite some time to pray and just soak in the beauty of this basilica/cathedral. When sunlight comes in the windows…Ahhhh!
Yes it is totally amazing!!

This thread is the best thread I have ever seen on CAF. It’s so great to see all these beautiful churches, especially the one in the United States. It makes me want to start traveling just to attend mass in different churches around the country.
 
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