Holy Cross Lithuanian (Dayton, OH) #25/100

I'm choosing to write about Holy Cross Lithuanian Church first for a few reasons. It's the church I most recently attended for a Sunday Mass, it's one of my pet favorite churches in this project to visit 100, and they have a Lithuanian Independence Day Sausage Dinner coming up in a week that I want people to know about.

Exterior Picture from Wikipedia. (The rest of the pictures will be ones Sarah or I took ourselves)

I've been to Mass here twice. They only have 10:30 AM Sunday Mass now, unfortunately, but my first time attending was a Thursday night last summer. Sarah and I chose to come here solely because it was an easy place for both of use to meet on a week night. It's a very unassuming building from the road, but as you walk up to it from the parking lot across the street the quirks are obvious. There's unique geometric shapes to the steeple that almost feel retro futuristic, like something out of an old Science Fiction comic. There's fun colors to the tiling on the outside. Then, you see the outdoor carpeting on the steps, and I remember that felt like a weird choice when I first saw it.

Then you step inside and are greeted by geometric wood art above the door to the church that almost look like snowflakes. I meant to get a picture of this on my way out, but completely forgot.

Entering the church, you see the all white walls, and ceiling, and pillars, intentionally painted so. Normally, this design choice would bother me. I'm a big fan of stenciling and painting the walls. We'll get into this in later blog posts. There are many churches on my list that are gorgeously painted. But Holy Cross goes the opposite way, and it works extremely well, because the visual main event of the church is the gorgeous Stained Glass Windows. They're all done in a traditional Lithuanian folk art style. They are very unique and they are very pretty. The white walls and ceiling serve as a contrast.

That's me

Even behind the altar, the stained glass is beautiful. I've said a few times to people, this is "my favorite low ceiling Church" and I don't know if that's an actual term, but I stand by that; though Holy Resurrection Melkite Church in Columbus, OH is extremely nice as well (They may have moved out of that location, though). I do think low ceilings typically hurt the feel of a Church, but it works so well here. I love the cross beams in the ceiling and I like that it forces your eyes to the things around you, mainly the stained glass, that are so beautiful.

Beyond the stained glass, the next thing you notice is how well done much of the wood working around the beautiful wood work.

How cool are these shrines? The wood working is super intricate. Still painted white to go with the look of the Church.

And here's the confessional. The wood working is again super unique. I'm not sure if that's also a Lithuanian folk style like windows, but it's not similar to any other confessional I've seen.

The last Mass I attended here was a recent Sunday Mass. The first reading was read in Lithuanian and English and then Intentions were read in both Lithuanian and English. Hearing "The response is" followed by a word I couldn't guess how to spell was kind of fun. I do like hearing foreign languages in the Mass. Sunday German Mass at Old Saint Mary's in Cincinnati is favorite of Sarah's. But after one round of Intentions in Lithuanian, we did another in English, so I understood what we were praying for.

If you're interested in visiting Holy Cross, it hosts Mass at 10:30 AM on Sundays. On February 16th after Mass, they're having a Sausage Dinner to celebrate Lithuanian Independence. I think I'll be going back for that. If you have young children, they have an excellent looking cry room in the back as well. Holy Cross is on Leo Street in the neighborhood of Old North Dayton. Found Here: 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Holy+Cross+Lithuanian+RC+Church/@39.7816692,-84.1700103,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x884083c64d8772bb:0xd953ed51788a97c4!8m2!3d39.7816692!4d-84.1674354!16s%2Fm%2F0h_bxl2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

If midweek or Saturday Mass ever returns to the Parish, I recommend checking out Amber Rose Restaurant a few blocks away for after Mass. It's a European eatery with a lot of Central and Eastern European foods, that feel like a good pairing with Holy Cross Church. There are interior pictures of Catholic Churches along the back wall, so I assume it's a Catholic owned establishment as well. I had this delicious marinated beef dish when I last went.