Almost a year after my first trip to Bridesburg, the Project returns to finish the job by seeing the neighborhood’s OTHER major church, St. John Cantius. Like many churches in the Northern regions of the city, Cantius is clearly visible from I-95; its pointy, red-brick rear-end is easily seen off the eastern side of the highway, right near the aforementioned All Saints and just north of the famous, super-prominent Church Alley.
St. John Cantius, as you may have guessed from the name, is a Polish church. (And yes, there's no It's All Greek to Me! here. They do actually still offer masses in Polish.) If our experience with Polish churches is any indication—namely, St. Adalbert and St. Laurentius—we’re in for a treat! Right?
Well, yes and no.
Yes, in that it’s better than your average church. It’s non-cruciform gothic in design, with a white and blue plaster interior. There are some interesting paint flourishes and some decent windows. Oh, and the red-brick exterior is pretty cool.
No, in that it just doesn’t come together the way its Polish cousins do. The windows lack the same three-dimensional glory, the paint job is a little plainer and the wooden altar, while respectable, is way too two-dimensional to really work well. It seems too much like wood paneling and not a stand-alone piece, which hurts it when compared to the great beasts that dominate Adalbert and Laurentius.
Oh, and there is an organ, but the pipes are…hidden. Come on, guys.
LOOK FOR IT: The nice, fully 3-D stations of the cross.
Compared to most other churches, Cantius comes out ok. Polish church architecture is notoriously over the top, however, and when compared to that, it falls short. It’s nice, but if you want to see better examples of Polish love, you know where you have to go.
Size Rating: 8 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 7.5 out of 10 crosses
