By Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune
April 19, 2016
“Threatened with the wrecking ball in 1988, St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church, with its opulent baroque interior, stands as one of Chicago’s many symbols of resurrection.
This past weekend, the Goose Island neighborhood parish built by Polish immigrants in the 19th century, marshaled more than 16,000 of its fans and faithful to be voted “The Most Beautiful Church in America,” edging out Cathedral of the Madeleine, the seat of the Salt Lake City Archdiocese.
The contest, dubbed Church Madness, began as a whim of Patrick Murray, a self-proclaimed liturgy geek and consultant for Granda Liturgical Artsa church design company in Omaha, Neb. Inspired by the NCAA basketball tournament nickname, March Madness, Murray designed a bracket of 64 architecturally alluring churches throughout the U.S. and posted them on his personal blog, which usually had about 10 views a day — “I think nine of them were from my mom.”
But the introduction of the “Sacred 64″ bracket quickly changed that. By April 7, four days after the contest debuted, the blog was up to 70,000 views from 3,500 visitors. It had about 7,000 visitors Saturday, the day St. John Cantius took the title.”
Patrick Murray (the blogger):
“It had an extraordinary impact on my faith,” he said. “That was my first time ever understanding that we have this great Catholic heritage of art and tradition and liturgy that’s all so important, and through baptism it’s mine.”
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE.
America’s most beautiful church? Well – I don’t know about that. There are quite a few other candidates – think of Manhattan’s St. Vincent Ferrer. But having visited this Chicago shrine, I can testify that St. John Cantius is a magnificent church and parish. Now what the article doesn’t mention, of course, is that St. John Cantius is devoted to the Traditional liturgy. This website has had for years a link to this parish. Moreover, a separate religious community has grown up around this parish which has extended its apostolate, featuring prominently the Traditional liturgy, to other parishes. Indeed, St. John Cantius resembles several other parishes – like Holy Innocents in New York City, or the Shrine of Christ the King, also in Chicago – in having “returned from the dead” on the strength of their commitment to the immemorial liturgy.
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I’m happy for the Canons there at St. John Cantius who do a lot of really good work. But an honest person has to realize that though the church is full of pious things, it’s not really great architecture. It’s kind of second rate stuff from the late 19th century by a so-so architect. It’s nice, sure, and would a miracle to build something like that today. But the stained glass is clearly of lesser quality. The statues are largely catalog ordered plaster. The brown and green color scheme is not so hot. The building turns from stone to brick on the sides.
By no means can it compete with the Cathedral in Toledo, Ohio, with its mural program by Felix Lieftuchter, high-quality stone construction, one of a kind statues and superb stained glass. And certainly it cannot compete with the Basilica in Saint Louis, which has the largest collection of mosaics in North America and unbelievable marble work in its high altar. Nor can it compete with the liturgically appropriate mural at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. I think SJC had groupies who voted rather than people who understand architecture.
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