They Don't Make Them Like That Anymore

Today is Good Friday. There is a tradition in New Orleans to observe the day by walking to nine churches to pray. That wasn't too hard in the old days in certain areas as there was practically a church on every block. There was one block that had three--one for those who spoke French, one for the Germans and one for the Irish. After Katrina a bunch of underused churches were either not repaired or shut down despite the fact that they were not damaged. Anyway, like a lot of New Orleans residents today, we visited some old churches to pray and to see the beauty that is usually behind locked doors except on Sundays, when we are at our own parish church. You just have to marvel at the beauty of those old churches and wonder why we can't do the same today. It is too bad they can't pick up those old buildings and move them to the suburbs where we are worshiping in a building that was originally designed to be the school cafeteria. I love the stained glass, the painted ceilings, the woodwork, the statues, the candles...

We didn't see nine churches--I had my kids, including my four year old with me and decided that three was enough. I planned to link to photos of the churches but the site is down. Let's just say they were awesome!