Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart Church
12/25/15
chalk

the steeple in better days
10/26/14

It's the Christmas season: I always wonder about Sacred Heart Church as I walk past it on my way to the river. In advance of selling it, the owners had the crosses removed from the main steeple and a smaller side steeple. It looks strange without the gold crosses and the general lack of care is starting to show as bits fall off, steps crumble and woody weeds sprout out of cracks in the foundation.

For a long time after the cross removal, I never saw birds perching on the bare steeple and I figured that they were as disturbed as I was about the change (I'm not very religious but the circumstances surrounding the status of this church are sad and aggravating). But now I see that the birds (starlings mostly) have returned to perching on the tiny real estate up there. They've also even begun using the copper wire that grounded the cross during lightning storms. You can't see it in this drawing but the wire sticks out, like a tree branch from the side of the steeple near the top. The birds don't mind but I think as time goes on and the birds continue to sit on it, that it will gradually bend down, lower and lower until it's impossible to perch on.

Different uses are proposed for the building but there are logistical and financial problems. I imagine the birds would have a few things to say about it too.

Happy New Year to you. Thanks for reading.