St Isidore Cuba, OH

The sweeps have indeed fallen for little St Isidore in Cuba, OH.  The parish is not only closed but the building is no more... hence the custom of pictures will be sorely constrained.   The manner in which I learned of the demise of the little parish is, however, of note and provides at least anecdotal evidence that the parish once existed.   On a swing through lower portion of northwestern Ohio, we effectively finished heavy photographing at St Micheal's in Kalida.... The church seems titanic in light of the size of the town, and it shall have its own post...but we digress.  When a parish closes a tie is lost.  Yes the universal Church endure until as Francois Mauriac says " ....the last of the priests (who) will celebrate the last Mass in a shattered universe..." and of which our Lord promised the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Still many underestimate the importance of place of grounding.  True we worship in Spirit (for such worshipers the Father seeks) but we are made of flesh and blood as well as soul.  When Our Lord came he did not come only in spirit but in the flesh and dwell among us.   Hallowed indeed is the Lord, but also the places where he dwelt. We too easily dismiss the physical elements of worship and indirectly  fail to fully take heed of  the Incarnation.  Walker Percy summed up the danger of disembodied worship in Love in the Ruins. "What she didn't understand, she being spiritual and seeing religion as spirit, was that it took religion to save me from the spirit world, from orbiting the earth like Lucifer and the angels, that it took nothing less than touching the thread off the misty interstates and eating Christ himself to make me mortal man again and let me inhabit my own flesh and love her in the morning." ~ (thanks for finestquotes.com for saving me from spending an hour finding this quote in my beat up paperback)..  Graffiti on the boarded up windows of the old church said "sometimes Satan wins."  I do not know who added this postscript nor do I implicate the bishop who closed it as acting in league with the aformentioned  apparent victor.  However, the closing of a church gives at least the passing impression that Church has indeed retreated in an area.... and as such leads one to wonder if the enemy will let the vacuum remain unoccupied.   A church is more than a pile of bricks in a similar sense as  the bodies of the faithful departed are more than a pile of bones. Now it of course terrible for people to leave the Church over a parish closing as is sometimes threatened, but we take , I think, insufficient note of the fact that a parish closing, even if deemed necessary by episcopal authority, is in fact a scandal, a stumbling block to the holy faithful, particularly of that parish. To militate against the scandal given, the Kalida parishioners gave the refugees, if you will, from St Isidore a small side area as a memorial to St Isadore, with original statue of the saint, and with two custom made stained glass windows with medallions that depict farming implements and  the church building itself respectively.  It is these I have pictures of....   I will attach a link on the closing of the church as well.

https://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/4211StIsadoreTribute#



http://www.limaohio.com/articles/torn-45137-church-cuba.html 

http://images.onset.freedom.com/limanews/medium/kt4pvu-kt4pvccuba4.jpg

St Mary of the Fields

Quite possibly one of the smallest churches I have been to but one of the most charming.  St Mary's is due northwest of Hooppole, IL ( no booming metropolis in its own right), and one would almost certainly miss it, if one were not looking for it.   The Church dates to 1883.  A victim, as many rural parishes in the area were,  to demographics,attendance (never particularly large by urban standards) diminished after the 40s.  In spite of this Masses were held regularly up to 2004.   The last Paschal Candle  in the Church is dated 2009, so masses were held with some frequency up until that date.  The foundation was, I believe originally German farmers, but the place has a decidedly Belgian flair.   The large rolle bolle rosary is a notable feature of the site.   The game of rolle bolle being a mystery to me, here is a link or two to explain it

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vangampleare/rollebolle.htm

http://www.belgiancookieiron.com/rolle.htm

Although this church, now a shrine instead of a parish, has been previewed in some media sources,   we received a tip about it while visiting the Church of St John in Bradford, IL.   This church will be featured in a subsequent post.  Given is small size and perseverance, based in no small part on the loyalty of its pastors and populace, the site is a site indeed beloved of the spirits of the past and some of the community of the present. Though its formal closure as a parish bespeaks that onslaught of time and "progress" against rural American culture  and adds a melancholic twinge to our visit, the fact that the site is still a well maintained shrine bespeaks the fact that, referring back to our Belloc poem (from which this blog derives its name) there is someone to answer to the spirits that loved her.   As is custom here are pictures from the inside. The church has been remodeled but it appears that much of the original statuary is preserved in a little museum of sort appended directly to the church proper.




https://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/91810StMaryOfTheFields#

Mystery Church

Moving to sadder things at the end of Guadete Sunday, here is a church that represents the sens of pathos that is in an undercurrent on this blog. Traveling along Rt 50 on a rainy and cold Thanksgiving morning, I saw the remains of an old town or neighborhood, peaking out of the valley between two hills. Amongst the old buildings my attention became riveted by a large steeple.   The church, a tall building towered over the rest  of the valley as it rested partway up a hillside.   As I drew closer the extent of its dereliction became clearer, but I could find no trace of its name

http://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/UnknownChurch#


Once again however the  Catholic Telegraph agency comes through ( near the bottom).
http://tctphotos.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

The Church is the old Our Lady of Perpetual Help (I am rather fond of that image) it sits in the old Sedamsville neighborhood of Cincy.

From there I found more, but disturbing information
http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,17276.0.html

Apparently the stain glass windows are still in the building, with some pieces of them lying on the floor.

"Ha'nacker Hill is in desolation, ruin atop and a field unplowed,
spirits that call on a fallen nation , spirits that loved her calling aloud"
"the sweep have fallen from the Ha'nacker Mill"

St Rosa Kirche

 As far as I know, this church is still loved and attended.  I first encountered it after being lost in Cincinnati around midnight for several hours after having lost track of US 52 coming into town. Upon finding it and heading out of town I was struck by a spire and clock rising up out of the darkness.  I felt greatly comforted by its sight, it was like a huge guardian or sentinel pointing the way.  I went back to investigate it later..... not till the third visit did I actually arrive when it was open, (on a 1st Saturday in time for Mass.... the old priest then sat after Mass for a good 30 minutes hearing confessions). I now see it as a last vestige of some of the great German Churches that used to dot Cincinnati's skyline (a  few others remain, but the likes of St Philomena and St Mark's I believe are gone).

Not being a native Cincinnatian, I have to rely on outside source for info about it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Rose_Church_%28Cincinnati,_Ohio%29

I wish I could convey to you how I first saw it, but I have no picture....... and I am not sure one could really do it justice.  That being said, here are some pictures  of the exterior and interior

http://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/ForFB#

 The windows are simple for such a large church, but good, a reflection perhaps of a less affluent parish by comparison to other older Cincinnati churches. The interior is decidedly superior to most modern churches.  I saw it after having visited the cathedral in Covington and the Mutter Gottes Kirche, so it seemed much more humble.  Having seen it both towering and humble I am fond of this church either way and I am happy every time I see it passing along 52, and I think of it every time I see the Ohio River Bi-way signs which depict a church steeple overlooking the river.

St Philomena (on Stonelick Creek)

I admit I have been remiss at posting, but this is a labor of love so one should not attempt it halfheartedly.  I have recently returned form a trip through Covington, Kentucky and southwestern OH.  There were several churches of note, but today we will focus on St Philomena.  The church sits aside Stonelick Creek, not to far above OH 50. It sits  on Stonelick-Williams Corner Road, one of those wonderful hyphenated OH roads, which by their name very succinctly inform one which two hamlets the road connects, but which always accomplish the connection in a seemingly indirect and decidedly rural fashion.   The parish is an old German foundation, with the present structure dating form the 20s.   While some of the family lines have recently died out, others are still present at the parish and in fact sit in the same seats as their fore bearers.  ( Yes the pews do in fact have the names discretely appended.)  Unfortunately, the high altar has been removed. Strikingly though, after talking with one of the locals who showed us the church, we learned that more than a few are dissatisfied with the results of 60-70S "renovations".  There is a push to move thing back to the way they were, or failing this, to replace some of the more offensive features, with improved wooden furnishings, in some cases hand carved by a parishioner.  The present wood altars replaced an unsatisfactory Formica altar.   The windows are simple colored glass, with religious symbols in medallions, fitting for a small rural church.  The statuary, particularly St Philomena, is well done.   I will also include some photos of photos showing both the original interior, and the parishioners building the present day structure.

http://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/10210GStPhilomena# 
http://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/72310StPhilomenaStonelick#


It is actually the oldest parish in Clermont County. For more information, you can also check the website for St Philomena and its partner (cluster) parish of St Louis.

http://home.catholicweb.com/stlparish/index.cfm/about

Reccomended Blog.... and I think I cannot reccomend it enough

I was looking into Cincy area churches for a photo trip I may soon take,and stumbled upon a wonderful resource...

 The Catholic Telegraph photography Project has just sky rocketed up the list of my favorite websites.... With photos and details of things long past, it is a window onto an older Cincinnati of which I can only dream... I am probably going to link to this and other blogs for some photos and a post on the splendid German churches that used to dominate the old Cincinnati... Some of these demolished in the name of "urban renewal" or to build an interstate....What in the hell were people thinking?   Did they really make the neighborhood better by destroying such beauty?

Old St Bernard's

So I have been derelict in my web posting..I am trying to get back to speed.  Today's subject is a dear subject, perhaps one that ultimately inspired this site.  I have never been to Mass at St Bernard's and have only been in the building once, after it ceased to function as a Catholic Church.   As is apparently more common in rural Illinois, the church served a township, as opposed to being attached directly to a particular town.  The building still sits along Illinois 17. The Church was a home to the people of Sunbury Township. From anecdotal evidence, second and possibly third hand, I heard of stories of this church in its livelier days. Though the account was limited, it is quite striking.  Imagine this church rising out above snow covered fields on Christmas Eve, the bells peeling for the midnight Mass.  In the distance, bells on the sleighs of the approaching parishioners answer back to church bell....  wonderful thought isn't it.. On first considering the fate of St Bernard a poem started to take shape in my mind.  Here it is

She came to this by practical men
Swift with the paper and nimble with pen.
A dishonest scale has left her alone
Paper and coin outweigh spirit and stone.

Her altar, her very heart, sadly now lost
Few the living souls who tend to her repose
Green steeple red bricks, scoured by wind
Grey roof, a tombstone on which lichen now grows

Old St Bernards by the roadside is left
Of all affections, save memories and ghosts, bereft
She stands solemnly still among Sunbury fields
Forgotten by men, to times advances she yields

Oh that she might yet reply to wandering bells
on a holy and white winter's eve bloom  again.
Yea that we would favor the fiery folly of faith
Not the  pale providence of practical men

Now churches must be closed on occasion I suppose... but their loss or worth just cannot be measured by mere economics  Being "practical" is often confined to  precisely to economics.  Men who make decisions based on economics alone are often being honest to themselves by the narrow rules of coin, but the scales they use to judge things, which see only economics, are dishonest or at least blind... they simply do not  take into account all the factors.  As is the custom  here are additional pictures, there are few of the inside , which is barren, but being cleaned up.

http://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/82210StBernard#5512406639266313058

http://picasaweb.google.com/DocMeadows85/82909OldStBernardNearBudIL#
The image of the ship of the church crossing rough seas seemed particularly apt on this visit.