Extra Credit

Week Fifty-Eight - Saint Clare

10:30 Sunday morning mass, St. Clare.  It's a feat just to make it in to St. Clare Church.  The front doors can only be reached via a somewhat imposing trio of concrete steps; the side doors are the same, although not quite as daunting.  The handicapped entrance is a rather utilitarian-looking ramp leading to an elevator straight out of a Hitchcock movie.  Of course, none of the above are really a hindrance to attending mass at St. Clare's, but you have to wonder why the church was built so significantly above street level.  It's not a huge church, but it's still not like you're going to miss it coming down the road.

St. Clare's is a church that probably hasn't changed in decades.  The interior offers very little to look at.  A rather creepy crucifix featuring a golden Jesus is flanked by depictions of Mary and Joseph. It all felt rather . . . Greek Orthodox to me.  Other than a few random banners of non-descript shapes and color, the crucifix behind the altar was, in fact, the only bit of decor in the church.  At least from my vantage point, I could find no statues.  Stained glass windows were notably present but dated in an awkward way.  The stations of the cross were definitely keeping a low profile.

The mass itself was a slow one.  The music group, while quite good, played each song at a coma-inducing tempo, but here's the interesting part:  everyone was singing.  Everywhere I looked, young, old, men, women, the priest, the servers, everyone was singing.  It was so . . . so . . . cool to see everyone with an open hymnal in their hands.  What a nice change.  A warm welcome from a woman greeting everyone as they entered the church as well as a personal welcome from the pastor to each individual in the pews before mass made we think that, of all the churches I've been to, if nothing else, St. Clare's is the most sincere.  Who knew?

Now to the extra credit - which was much more interesting.  After mass, My Husband the Heathen and I headed off to Mount Adams to the original Holy Cross Church. 

Holy Cross Church was built in the 1850's but was deconsecrated in the 1970's.  The abandoned church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, appears sound on the outside, but the interior looks anything but.  Still, the exposed rafters, the peeling paint, and the vast shell of emptiness create a certain aura which I can only assume is what attracted artist,  Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, to choose this architectural space for his latest work.  Yamamoto's installation at Holy Cross, "Hanging Garden," is part of the Global Tree Project, an international art initiative that includes completed projects in India, Ireland, Japan, Washington, D. C., Mongolia, Finland, and now, Cincinnati.  The installation is both pretty and pretty cool - the roots of an upended dead tree, suspended vertically above the ground, meet the roots of an upright live tree suspended directly above it.  During our visit, a Japanese Buddhist monk had set up shop and was chanting.  Needless to say, the people there were as cool as the exhibit itself. 

The exhibit is open on weekends until October 17th.  Worth the trip?  Yes.  This was definitely something you don't see everyday.        
 
ATTENDANCE:  About half full

DURATION:  65 minutes