The Project goes star watching this week, as we liven things up with a little bit of Hollywood. No, they’re not making a movie about us. At least not yet. (Damn studios.) You see, St. Bridget is not only a cool old parish wholly deserving of our attention. Once upon a time, it was also the childhood parish of one Grace Kelly, arguably the biggest star to ever come out of Philadelphia. (Unless you count Bill Cosby and Will Smith, which…err, I don’t.) She was also princess of Monaco. Pretty heady stuff.
Don’t worry, that’s where the celebrity fascination ends. I’m much less concerned with who attends a parish than I am with the parish itself. If God Himself attended an ugly parish, I wouldn’t give a damn.
Thus, we judge St. Bridget on its own merits. And those merits rank it as one of the nicer churches the Project has seen so far. Its most prominent feature is an enormous, spiky dome that acts as the centerpiece of the construction. A while back I commented that Fishtown’s Holy Name seemed to be essentially a dome with a church constructed around it. Bridget’s dome is so largely prominent that you could offer a similar critique here, especially since on the surface they look very much alike. In this case, though, the designers didn’t consider the rest of the church an afterthought. Its Gothic cruciform interior is much larger and higher, the way a church should be, and it’s graced with large windows, and pink- and blue-accented plaster.
For all its assets, though, the paint tends to be a little on the plainer side, especially near the altar area, which is not particularly impressive. Still, the Project can’t help but like this church. It’s sort of like our experience at St. Michael. Despite some elements that are usually dealbreakers, this church just feels right somehow. It’s got the “X” factor.
I should also point out that its status is accentuated by its position on an elevated plain off of a steep East Falls hill. It gives it an almost regal bearing, not unlike its former royal parishioner, and that boosts it image considerably. It wouldn’t have the same effect crammed onto a filthy street corner.
LOOK FOR IT: Grace Kelly was kind enough to send an autographed picture of herself and the royal family, dedicated to the sisters of the parish. It’s prominently displayed, along with a couple of other artifacts, in one of the side alcoves.
Size Rating: 9 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 8 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 9 out of 10 crosses
