1st Annual Birdtown Church Walk

[Michael Deneen]

I attended the Birdtown Church Walk today with Alex Belisle.
The walk was a joint venture between Grace Lutheran Church, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church, and the Transfiguration Catholic Parish.

Transfiguration is the only one of the four that I had ever seen before.
Like most people, I've spent many years driving by these beautiful churches without seeing their insides or knowing their whole story.

The walk was a fantastic event....we learned the history of these churches, saw their beautiful art and statues, and met wonderful folks.

Highlights included:
*A visit to Grace Lutheran's Preschool, where we saw the kids' "mini-zoo" (14 snails, 2 guinea pigs and a tank of fish).
*A lesson in Orthodox history and tradition at St. Peter and Paul
*Homemade pierogies at St. Nicholas
*A history lesson and demonstration of the magnificent organ at Transfiguration



Here is a link to Alex's fantastic photos:
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/photobl ... hurch-walk

I hope more Lakewood congregations borrow this idea. I'm sure there are fantastic sights to see at churches all around town.

[Alex Belisle]

Mike and I are turning into a great reporter team - and thank goodness because I tend to forget stuff (lots of stuff, LOL). And I got to exchange some heavy theology with some of the religious leaders during our walk.

Mike's idea is a good one. In each one of theses churches, they spoke about dwindling congregations and I suggested that 1) more churches should open their doors 2) some should partition off their churches if they have enough room for youth focused activities.