Brunch Bunch & Church & More 2

Hey Gang,
Before I proceed lets back track to St. Ignatius. Right before  Father Troha left the organist walked in. Father Troha said take you time if you want to stay longer but I need to leave. Well that was the perfect opportunity to introduce myself to the organist and ask if he could play a song for us. He said certainly.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzt8W1UbTaI

Thank you!

OK - hot dogs now St. Colman Catholic Church on West 65th Street. As I wrote in part one I was invited to stop in before Mass and look around. I wasn't too keen on that suggestion as it is a place of worship and I wouldn't feel right walking around snapping photos but since we were right there I decided to stop.

Church was in service so we entered as quietly as possible. I sat in the second to last pew and waited for the rest to follow but they didn't. I got up to see what they were doing. They were in the foyer taking pictures. It didn't matter as Mass was just ending. An older gentleman was the first to leave but before he did I tapped him on the shoulder. His name was John Carey. I said C-a-r-e-y? Yes. Well that's my first name.

John owns the funeral home on Lorain. He has been a member of St. Colman for 49 years. Did I ever get an earful from him when I asked I bet you have seen a lot of changes in this neighborhood. John had a list of grievances blaming most of it on politicians. Both parties according to him are whores. How true. He even mentioned how people seem to think they are entitled to things. And slavery, well his family came here in the early 1900's from Ireland, fought in both world wars, the Irish had it tough, so why complain to me about slavery when we weren't even here yet? John even mentioned the decline in his funeral service and the lack of reverence being afforded to burials. People don't care, if a loved one dies in a nursing home many times the family member tells them just mail the ashed to us, no respect given. 

I won't share to much more of what he told me because I am not sure if it was said in confidence so enough of that, besides this is about St. Colman. I asked John if he would do me a favor and walk with me through the church. He gladly said yes and I got a very informal quick tour of St. Colman. Wonderful.

Unlike St. Ignatius, St. Colman is airy and bright, so hard to even compare the two, both are gorgeous in their own way. You enter both and immediately feel you are in a place of worship. 

Both churches in the beginning had so many members attending they would have multiple Masses and both had churches in the basement holding service at the same time. Both are now sadly declining in numbers. In fact St. Ignatius was close to closing until word got out and they were able to raise close to a million dollars to keep it open. The following day the decision was made to keep it open a Muslim knocked on the door wanting to buy it to make it into a mosque.

We ended the day with supper at Minh-Anh Vietnamese Restaurant on Detroit Ave.

We went from a Polish church, (I think) to a Russian Church, to an American Diner, to an Irish Church to a Vietnamese Restaurant - almost a world tour in just a short drive.

  Gotta Go-Go!
   Carey