March 13, 20187 yr Although in a much more rural area of western Ohio, I've always found the stock of Catholic churches that were built in this scenic byway known as the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches to be very impressive. The Relic Shrine of Maria Stein is the 2nd largest collection of relics in the entire US even! Just the Wikipedia link, but check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Cross-Tipped_Churches
March 13, 20187 yr Although in a much more rural area of western Ohio, I've always found the stock of Catholic churches that were built in this scenic byway known as the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches to be very impressive. The Relic Shrine of Maria Stein is the 2nd largest collection of relics in the entire US even! Just the Wikipedia link, but check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Cross-Tipped_Churches who knew there were such grand churches in such small towns? I looked up the population of Burkettsville: it's 244. Obviously it must have been bigger a hundred years ago, but I would imagine not by that much. Some of the others are barely 2K. Even back then these churches must have been costly to build. I don't know how they did it. http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
March 13, 20187 yr ^The architecture of those churches is really amazing. And that Seminary complex (just south of Lima) is something you have to see in person to really appreciate... I think what made it happen was the quality of the farmland. The soil is good and fertile, so it's easy to grow crops that do well there. The farmers grew more, were able to sell more, and became wealthier because of it. These were not poor appalachian tobacco farmers, far from it.
March 14, 20187 yr Although in a much more rural area of western Ohio, I've always found the stock of Catholic churches that were built in this scenic byway known as the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches to be very impressive. The Relic Shrine of Maria Stein is the 2nd largest collection of relics in the entire US even! Just the Wikipedia link, but check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Cross-Tipped_Churches who knew there were such grand churches in such small towns? I looked up the population of Burkettsville: it's 244. Obviously it must have been bigger a hundred years ago, but I would imagine not by that much. Some of the others are barely 2K. Even back then these churches must have been costly to build. I don't know how they did it. I grew up in the area (Celina) and can tell you the area was and still is an extremely religious region, specifically devout German Catholic heritage. The part about this many churches in such a rural area I find amazing is that they are all still active and running. Some have had to "cluster" together and share priests as there is a shortage however each is beautiful in their own way. As for the population, as small as these towns still are, they've always been relatively small, I don't know if Burkettsville has been all that much bigger overall. If you ever a looking for a nice getaway out of the city, check out this region, outside of the churches, there are breweries popping up, many restaurants and parks near Grand Lake (yes they are continuing work on the water quality and actually making good strides with the treatment trains etc....) and plenty of cute towns to check out with boutiques and landmarks......I live in Columbus now but I always enjoy getting away back home and out of the city.....
March 14, 20187 yr It seems to me that Catholics tend to build or at least tended to build much more ornate churches than most mainline Protestant sects. That's not to say that there aren't some beautiful protestant churches.
March 14, 20187 yr It has to do with a difference in religious beliefs. Catholics use(d) their churches as a glorification of God, so complex buildings and artistry was seen as a good thing. See: the Renaissance (and pretty much any other significant Western architectural work between the fall of Rome and ~1300). Protestants, with representing a clean break with the church, promoted austerity and simplicity as the way to being in touch with God, as opposed to ostentation and elaborate pageantry. The Anglicans are the big exception with respect to being Protestants that build fancy churches, since they’re still very similar to Catholicism and mostly only exist so Henry VIII could get a divorce. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 14, 20187 yr In addition, liturgical music has been a major part of Catholic worship tradition for many centuries, since long before the Reformation. Even a thousand years ago, Catholic churches were often built with acoustics in mind--and not modern Protestant-style concert-hall acoustics but acoustics for the old-style Gregorian chant and the pipe organ. I think the actual Catholic Catechism, the official doctrine of the Church, mentions those forms of music in places. Catholic churches are literally built to resonate.
March 14, 20187 yr Few churches top St. Colman's as far as I'm concerned. Built by Irish immigrants at a time when they were viewed as less capable than others, they set out to prove everyone wrong when they built this gem for their community.
March 14, 20187 yr ^People can argue the merits of poor immigrants giving tithe to build such big churches, but I think it really speaks to the pride in their parish and community these people had in their new homelands. There is almost no way you’d be able to build such an expensive building today through donations from the poorest among us. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 14, 20187 yr When the immigrants built those churches, they were also the focal point for much of their lives - schools, language assistance, cultural activities, welfare, in addition to religion. That promoted even stronger identification. Most of those other functions are now provided by someone else, or aren't as needed.
March 14, 20187 yr It's in Cleveland. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 14, 20187 yr ^^^what city is this in?? It's where my grandparents and parents got married. I will be getting married there next year. I will also be there Saturday morning for the St. Patrick's Day Mass. One of the coolest traditions in Cleveland, in my opinion. Fun story/folklore about St. Colman's that you may enjoy eastvillagedon[/member] ... In the late 1800s, the Irish were being more or less forced from their neighborhood strongholds, formerly Irishtown Bend (what is now the Franklin Rd. Hill behind W. 25th) and the Angle (near present-day W. 25th and Bridge). They petitioned the bishop at the time about the problem, worried that they would all be forced too far from their parishes at the time - St. Malachi (25th and Detroit) and St. Patrick's (Bridge Ave). The Bishop allegedly provided an answer that was less than satisfactory and in fact disparaging to the local Irish community and their habits. So, as a response, Father O'Callaghan took his congregation to look for greener pastures elsewhere, with a chip on their shoulder. Determined to break free of Irish stereotypes and to stick one to the Bishop, O'Callaghan deliberately broke Church doctrine at the time - which was that no church was allowed to be built that is larger than the Diocese's Cathedral. St. Colman's today sits on W. 65th, filled with impeccable marble, ornate gold, and (as legend has it), 20 sq ft larger than the Cathedral downtown.
March 14, 20187 yr I've long thought that Cleveland has so much wonderful religious architecture that we should make a religious architecture tour a part of our pitch for tourists. Churches across Europe support themselves in part through donations and entrance fees (for tourists, not worshippers).
March 15, 20187 yr This risks taking the thread off topic, but... It's reall interesting how this massive investment in church buildings 100+ years ago resulted in the great dames of churches we see in this thread, while today's wealthy churches end up being monstrosities like this:
March 15, 20187 yr It's in Cleveland. never heard of it 25 miles west of Painesville, along the shores of the Lake Painesville.
March 15, 20187 yr It's in Cleveland. never heard of it 25 miles west of Painesville, along the shores of the Lake Painesville. thanks. I found it on Google maps. http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
March 15, 20187 yr This risks taking the thread off topic, but... It's reall interesting how this massive investment in church buildings 100+ years ago resulted in the great dames of churches we see in this thread, while today's wealthy churches end up being monstrosities like this: I think this article does a pretty good job of summing up how we get Solid Rocks nowadays: This produces a system with no theology of place. Protestants feel a sense of duty to the place and community where they personally live. But if the majority of church members move, say, from the city to the suburbs, then a new church building can be constructed, the old building sold, and the duty transferred to the new place where the members now reside. The original building only served a pragmatic purpose as meetinghouse for the members. The rest of this blog post gets into a bit more detail. http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/erasing_distinctions/ “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
March 15, 20187 yr I'm sure most remember this story (at least down in southwest Ohio), but Solid Rock's "touchdown Jesus" is no more, after a fatal lighting strike years ago: https://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0615/Gigantic-62-foot-Jesus-statue-struck-by-lightning-destroyed-VIDEO That said, another mega-church in Cincinnati that happens to be headquartered in a renovated former big box store (though all things considered it's a pretty decent (and expensive) arena compared to most mega churches) as a secondary location in a historic church that also suffered a fire (this one due to some dirty old curtains and a construction lamp): St. George just over 10 years ago: ... and today:
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