God is good even in trouble and he will rescur and give victory by his miracles and will and joy will enter in us after storm in life, so be bless and joy for grace in Jesus name,thanks and bless,keijo sweden

I am writting as many others about their beloved parish that they grew up in, The parish that I want to tell you about was and still is in our HEARTS IS THE CHURCH OF THE TRANFIGURATION OF OUR LORD. This magnificent church was located at 56th Cedar Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not only did I grow up and attended the parish school but so did my father, as I am very sure this was an ongoing thing in this parish. I am not going to go on and tell you how great the school was and rave about the sisters who taught us, I want to tell you about this beautiful church. Built in the year 1905, closed and stripped in 2000 and demolished in 2009.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia took this church and destroyed it without a blink of an eye. Did it ever occur to anyone they could of looked into having it named an HISTORIC LAND MARK AND MAYBE COULD OF SAVED this beautiful church/building ? Of course not, because it's always been about the money with the church and this will never change, SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU.
Did they ever think to run an add in the paper and give the former parishioners who loved this church a chance to purchase a little part of their beloved church and their wonderful memories? OF COURSE NOT
Last but not least, lets not forget who put the catholic church in this position and made them so desperate for money that they had to sell off all of our beautiful history.

Unforgiving,
Pat Buckley

I grew up in Holy Child Parish (I could see the dome from our windows). I can smell the candles, feel the cool stony drafts of the underground shrine, and remember how I planned to be married there one day. Kneeling next to my Grandmother who attended all morning Masses, we would sing "Holy God We Praise Thy Name" at Benediction. My Mother worked as secretary to Monsignor McGinley (pictured in the only group photo posted here) for many years before she married and had me. Monsignor was a regular guest at our home on 15th Street. Our priests were priests, sterling and holy in all ways. I attended St. Mary's Academy on Old York Rd. and Somerville Ave. This was an estate that was turned into our all girls private school. In the late '60's it was purchased by Einstein Hosp who made it into a mental health clinic. (In our opinion, it was always a mental health clinic). In 1973 one of the patients burned it to the ground. In addition to destroying the estate campus with its vast variety of rare trees and flowering shrubs, grotto and servants house (the kindergarten building), marble and mahogany architecture, Einstein Hosp. laid asphalt over the entire historical site for a parking lot. I wonder always if they found the intricate cobblestone underground tunnels and if they still exist under that eyesore now. The point I am making is that the churches shown and described herein are not only architectural masterpieces, but also historical sites of indigenous Philadelphian history. In addition, they are sacred places infused with electromagnetic fields of Light. To abandon them & worse, to destroy them is unconscionable. I live in an historic landmark town, have restored 4 houses in my lifetime as have many of my associates. I have grown up on the principles of conservation and preservation for history and beauty's sake. Can you imagine if Venice decided to rip down their cathedrals or Paris or Milan? Masterpieces therein destroyed? Just because the Catholic political hierarchy has to pay millions to the survivors of clergy abuse, their lack of money does not warrant such ruination. I am not in Phila. & therefore am unable to form a city-wide committee to buy & preserve these structures via funding and grants via professional appraisal for restoration work. But someone must do so. Please try to post some recent color inside photos of Holy Child (Lady of Hope). And, BTW, if anyone has photos of St. Mary's Academy, or knows the real origin of its original builder/owner (may have been the Girard Estate), please send it all to me. When the nuns were put away, all traces of the place were hidden away. Thank you.

My post has nothing to do with The Project. I must give a thank you to Bernadette, a volunteer in records. Now retired I am making a geneology record for my family. I sent an e-mail to St. Vincent de Paul Parish and was directed to Bernadette. Many years I have thought my family records were in Immaculate Conception, as most know now closed. It was Bernadette who today left me a voice mail that the records I am seeking are in St. Vincent's ! I have always had a loving feeling for my Irish Great Grand Parents, even not knowing them. Must be the Irish thing. I just think of the struggles they must have endured coming to America in 1879. Thank you Bernadette. All have a blessed Easter.

PLEASE:

Holy Friday is the most holy day of the Year, It represents Jesus in the Cross... What do you mean "Happy Good Friday"??? What are you thinking? What are you selling?

Went to St.Boniface school 1955 to 1962,it was sad to see it go.Anyone else out there from then.I made my communion and my confirmation there,the church was beautiful.

Not quite sure what the motivation is here. Are these churches just pieces of "art" to be critiqued? Is visiting a parish just about what it can do for you?

Or are there souls to be cared for? Perhaps if one wishes to critique a community, one should also put effort into its betterment.

A site about churches that appears to be devoid of Christianity--I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything in the internet age.

I remember St. Columba school and church during the 1940's.The nuns were of the Sisters of St. Joseph, I remember Father Montague who was a priest I looked up to. Thank you St. Columba for laying the groundwork for a successful life. God bless you all.

Thank you for the information on this most beloved church ever. I went there in 1941, first and second grade. I have never forgotten it and the older I get the more I think and pray and thank God for the blessed opportunity I had to go there and be taught by these holy priests and nuns.
Fr. Herchorn was the pastor, and Franciscan Nuns taught us.
I made my Confirmation there by His Excellency Bishop Hugh Lamb. I remember it to this day and will never forget it.
The most loving things a child can remember is interaction with the rest of the children in that school. From first grade to eight grade, when we played our doors,we were always looked after by the older children, they joined in the games with us. These older children were taught by the sisters, before us and therfore could teach us how to play. We were so happy.
They taught us how to play school yard games, I remember "Go in an out the windows", "Look who comes here", "Tag""Skipping and singing games", "Jumping Rope'. Such fun for boys and girls alike. They older ones taught us street games, like sledding, bottle caps, marbles, jacks, and a lot of others games that you will all remember better than I ,when you read this.
We were happy children. We had excellent teaching by the sisters. I remember it so well that I could teach first and second grade just like they did if I had to now.
We had active lives, full of fun and games that gave us exercise, Running, jumping, skating, you name it. We didn't try to hurt one another, but looked after one another, we were kind to one another.
. My parents then moved to Kensington and Allegheny Ave. area and life went on similar to what we had, but never the same as St. Bonaventure Church and School.
We need to go back to the strong faith we had then, Love God, Love and care for one another. Resist evil, fight it. We are His children and because of Him we love one another. So now, those of us still living and preparing to meet our loving Father in heaven, although we certainly are not old by a long shot, can remember the wonderful life in the parish of St. Bonaventure's.
God bless you all.

Wow! I found this website today while searching for some other information. I lived in St. Veronica's Parish and attended the grade school, graduating in June 1971 and going on to Little Flower High School. This always was a beautiful church and I still can remember the 50-50 tickets sold weekly to raise money for high school tutition, as well as, my grandmother and her friends cleaning the church weekly, which included scrubbing the outside step(s) of the church, rectory, school and convent! Thanks for some great memories!

thank u so much for the info on our lady of the holy souls church. I was baptized there in 1947 and loved reading your info and viewing the photo gallery. Janetann

Love your website very much! I have learned so much about all of the different churches you've visited. I especially love when you give the information about the current state of the churches, such as mass attendence and even the interesting notes. Anyway, I'm not sure if you take any church visit requests, but I think I one that you might approve of, and that's my home parish of Saint Francis of Assisi in Norristown. I know not many suburban churches are that fantastic architectural-wise, but I think SFA is a must see. It's a large and grand Tweener Church as you call them, since it has a 1954 cornerstone. It has a prominate bell tower (like St. Cyprian) and some pretty nice marble work with a huge mable altar with a baldacchino to boot. But Saint Francis really does excel at stained glass, and I believe that in stained glass windows were made in Germany, I could be wrong. It's not an Italian parish, but it's a hall of statues. According to my knowledge, it's the only other church in the world that has a replica of Michelangelo's Moses. According to the parish website, the architecture of SFA church supposively relpicates some of the finest churches in Europe. I would love for you to review Saint Francis, becuase the church is a must see! I hope you come up with more church visits in 2013 and beyond!!!

Thanks for the pictures of St. Bonaventure's. I moved from the parish on the day Fr. Klaussen was buried in 1966 while in sixth grade. My family was in the parish from 1936 to 1966. Recently St. Bonaventure's was in the news. Slate felll from the roof and a person was hurt. I have been looking in the news to see what will happen next. Thanks again for the pictures and memories. God bless St. Bonaventure.

Nice site. I grew up in the neighborhood and attended St Colunba school and church,
Upon reading the section re: St Martin de Porres, I noted a slight error. you said the Lehigh Avenue section of North Phila. was known as the Strawberry Mansion section.
Actually the area was known as "Swampoodle" Strawberry Mansion was west side of the Schukill river. Thank you for the memories. Joseph Burkel

Just finished reading your report on my old home parish, St. Anne's. My mother's family settled there from Ireland back in the 1880's. When the parish was founded in 1845 it was situated in what was, before the Consolidation Act of 1854, the village of Port Richmond. In the first half of the 20th century St. Anne's was one of the largest and wealthiest parishes in the AD. After the 1947 fire the parish requested then Cardinal Archbishop , Dennis Dougherty to release some of this wealth so as to allow a complete restoration. HE REFUSED! Ever sine St. Anne's has languished in utter plainness. The original brownstone Corinthian front was weakened by the fire so in 1959 the bell tower and columns were removed and the current front was erected over the original. The current windows, depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross were installed in the late 40's after the fire The ones that were destroyed were from Munich. St. Ann's population may have plummeted but it has something very valuable; a historic burial ground which contains the remains of several priests. The AD tends to be very sensitive about the remains of it's own.

I am not catholic, however I attended catholic school and have always been facinated when it came to catholic churches. Especially those in the urban areas.My brother and I used to think that Immaculate Conception(Germantown) was a castle when we were little.St.Helena's wasn't to far from my childhood home and if our family were catholic,I believe that would've been our parish. It's heartbreaking to hear of a church closing or merger.Especially if you've been apart of that parrish for years.My hope is that the catholic community continues to pray and fight to keep there churches open otherwise there will be more mergers and closed churches rather than open ones.

I was employed in the Phoenixville area for a couple of years. I had to move from Oklahoma for the job. I decided early on to visit a different Catholic church each week and photograph its interior before or after Mass. I stayed one weekend of the month at my daughters in Brick, NJ and repeated it there. I have 70+ Philadelphia churches or chapels photographed. 109 total between the two areas. I had an dSLR for a while, but the lens went on the fritz and so I used my miniSLR the remaining time. Oklahoma has 3 - 5% Catholics of the population. While here, I fell in love with Pennsylvania and the people. I wish I could have stayed.

Grew up in OMS Parrish. Beautiful church and good memories of school. Shame it has gone down like it has but it was just a matter of time in the area . Will always remember OMS as the reatest school & church. Thank you for current history.

Gentle greeting with blessing and let the lord use us to his glory in our meeting time with his will and purpose and let us make disciples to Christ with the Holy Spirits power and quard ,thanks and bless and pray,keijo sweden

What a great website! Anyway, just wanted to check in and share that St. Stephens (now the Universal Church) is the church where my grandparents, William Patrick Ryan and Beatrice Normand were married back in 1940. I know that my grandmother lived nearby on Percy Street just north of Erie prior to getting married. I even have a silent video of them after the ceremony on the steps of the church! We found an old reel in my grandmother's house after she died in 2007. If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to upload it. Very sorry to hear what has happened to the interior of this church, but at least it's still standing. Once again, great site!!

Just for clarifcation re: Church of the Assumption. I have been a volunteer with Siloam for many years and was inside the church in the first few weeks they owned the property. The church was striped, in poor repair and a big bird house. Siloam was interested in using the building however did not have the resources needed to stabilize the church, never mind make it usable. They don't receive government funds and provide services not duplicated by other agencies. This law suit almost resulted in the agency closing. The neighbors did not care about that church for years and should have worked with Siloam to buy it instaed of forcing the agency to use their limited funds on legal fees

Love the articles and the pictures of St. Bonaventures. Funny...I was thinking about what the church looks like today, after I left it in 1954....nice to see and also sad to see it in such a state of disrepair and abandonment. So many good times there and so many good friends. Long time ago......thank you so much.

Stumbled on this website while searching for info on Miraculous Medal Shrine. What a great idea. Will definitely purchase calendar as I've always loved the architecture of philly churches. Thanks so much for such a beautiful and informative website. Will be back to read more tomorrow. God bless.

Thank yu to the lord for he are with us today in peace and many inspire pleasure for his love and presence in the HOly Spirit and all thing willbe to his glory in joy to him for our life in grace,thanks and bless,keijo sweden

Any plans on documenting Holy Innocents Church at L St. & Hunting Park Ave.?