return visits to two closed churches

I visited two closed churches to-day. First Methodist had its second open house this morning. It's third open house is Thursday, 15 February, between 10am and noon. It is worth seeing.

To-day was the 2nd of three open houses at 1st Methodist, good opportunity to foto. The pipe organ doesn't play, but the artwork and the big pipes are still beautiful.

 This coffee cup was there last week too.

A little surprise after opening a door in the basement. The rest of the building had been used by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District until the new year. This dummy was left behind. 

The second church i visited was Nativity of Mary (Slovak) Cleveland. I wanted to see the basement, not possible, roof fell into stairwell. The vandals were excessive. The pews are largely gone (they were there in December), more stuff trashed, one spot had poop. This is what can happen to an abandoned Catholic church in Cleveland (after it changes hands a couple of times). This parish was closed in late December 1992. The bishop would no longer assign a priest there. The church was in excellent physical and financial health. For a few years, it was a Catholic outreach center. Then it was sold to a religious minister of some sort. The man died. A woman started a ministry, and she called herself a bishop. She had her wedding in the church, and never did get around to getting rid of the Catholic stuff on the walls and ceilings, which bothered her. I heard her on you tube. She had some interesting terminology. "The pulpit" was the entire sanctuary (which in Catholic terminology, would be everything under the apse, and behind where the communion rail had been). 

 

This is new to the choir loft. There was one in the nave already.