Saturday, November 12, 2016

The End of a Church

I was following up on another story while I was up in Bay City.  A few years ago, I took pictures of this church and it was in sort of happier days (but not by much). 
 In the summer of 2014, it was announced that the church would be closed down and Visitation Parish would merge with St. Mary's Church.  The new church would be named Our Lady of Peace but would be located at St. Mary's.  Visitation was later closed down.
 Earlier this year, it was announced that the church was going to be put up for sale.  I really hope that they find someone to buy this because it would be a shame if they had to tear this church down.
 I guess it is kind of fitting that I caught this church in the sunset light as I feel that they will probably have no choice but to tear it down.
 The beautiful stained glass windows that were here were taken down.  Some of them may be integrated into St. Mary's Church (but not likely).  Currently, they are being stored at the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.
 They also removed the statues that adorned the church.  Again, these are in storage somewhere.  It's kind of a shame to see what once a thriving church turned into something else.
 It's even sadder because this church was kind of an icon in the Bay City skyline.  As I said in the other post I wrote about this church, this was one of two buildings that you could see from the Zilwaukee Bridge.
 Looking up at the steeple.
 This was another beautiful piece of stained glass.

 It's kind of sad not seeing stained glass here.
Like I said, I hope they find someone that can buy this church and restore it.

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