Hamilton!

Week Ninety-Eight - Saint Julie Billiart, Hamilton

4:30 Saturday afternoon mass, St. Julie!  Road trip!  To Hamilton!  Puncutation frenzy! Actually, I think the infamous "Hamilton!" is back to plain old "Hamilton" sans exclamation point these days.  Not sure what happened to the exclamation point, but it was fun while it lasted.  Anyhoo . . .

After spending far too many consecutive weeks "in the Heights," I happily pointed the Mighty Honda Odyssey north, way north.  We passed "Historic Lindenwald."  Have you ever heard of Lindenwald, much less Historic Lindenwald?  I haven't.  We passed German Village, and no, we were not in Columbus.  We passed a section of town that my daughter begged me not to drive through again on the way home.  And then, ah, Hamilton.  Home to a thousand small businesses.  After passing said thousand small businesses, including, of all things, a drive-thru with our same last name, a brief moment of panic ensued when my daughter and I thought we were "Lost in Hamilton."  Finally, FINALLY, however, perseverence prevailed, and we arrived at our destination:  St. Julie Billiart.  Seems kind of casual, don't you think?  Julie.  A quick google of St. Julie made only occasional references to Julia, so there you go.  "Julie" it is.  Founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.  Who knew?

Judging by the exterior, St. Julie's is clearly an older church.  Therefore, when I saw the interior, I was confused.  A classic style prevailed, but renovations were evident.  Everything looked so . . . new.  Beautiful dark wooden pews and the hardwood floors beneath them were framed by just-as-beautiful carpeting in the aisles, possibly the prettiest carpeting I've ever seen in a church.  Flawless dark wood continued to dominate the decor in panels on the walls and in columns supporting impressive sculptured stations of the cross.  The main altar displayed a few spires, while the side altars were framed by two-dimensional spires . . . and that was where things started to get fuzzy.  Why just a "frame" of spires?  Why not the real thing?  And above me, a beautiful arched ceiling with coordinating dark wooden ribs and canned lights.  Huh?  Why is there so much obvious drywall in a church with so much time invested in the past?  Google . . .

St. Julie is the result of a 1989 merger of three Butler county parishes:  St. Stephen, St. Veronica, and St. Mary.  I'm not sure which of the three churches supplied St. Julie with the physical building - St. Julie's online history never makes it clear, but each of the three goes back well over 100 years.  St. Mary was dedicated in 1848, St. Veronica, 1894, and St. Stephen, the oldest Catholic parish in Butler County and the fifth oldest in the archdiocese, 1836.  Whichever building was ultimately chosen was slated for renovation amid the inevitable storm of controversy over the proposals.  Nonetheless, all fears were laid to rest when the community viewed the completed work.  It was beautiful.   

                                                             
On May 12, 1990, all joy turned to sorrow when fire consumed the church. Everything that had been accomplished was destroyed.  The above photo was taken from the parish website, a photo I find incredibly sad.

Rebuilding wasn't even a question, and work began immediately.  In the process, the outside was kept the same, but the interior was changed.  They did an outstanding job.  Given the style of the other churches of the time, things could have gone terribly wrong, but the interior is really lovely.  I was impressed, and we all know that doesn't happen very often.  In August of 1992, the new church was dedicated, and ironically, one of the first priests to take up residence at St. Julie was one of the priests currently in residence at St. Ignatius.  Small world.  

St. Julie has a large Hispanic demographic.  Half of their website is in Spanish, half of their bulletin is in Spanish, and in their missalettes, the left side is in English while the right side is in Spanish.  A one o'clock Sunday afternoon mass is offered in Spanish.  I don't speak Spanish, but I always find the concept of a foreign language intriguing, so much so that, at this mass, I spent far too much time during the readings matching up the English I was hearing with the Spanish in the book.  And did I mention the children's missalettes in the hymnal racks of each pew?  Donated by the Rosary Altar Society of St. Julie's several years ago, they had definitely seen better days, but I found it charming to see them there.  What a nice idea someone had.

All in all, St. Julie Billiart Church is a good one although a little too far for me to make a regular habit of attending mass there.  As their bulletin and website boast, just "2 blocks north of (the) Butler County Courthouse."  I suppose that could be interpreted as an invitation to salvation - pre-conviction or post-exoneration, but for now, I'll just assume the courthouse is the biggest, if not only, landmark in town and not just the most well-known one. 

ATTENDANCE:  Almost half full

DURATION:  55 minutes