Usually one trip to Camden is enough for most people, but not the Project! I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum. Where others see a ghetto, I see an opportunity. This week, that opportunity is named St. Joseph.
I once noted that Hunting Park’s St. Veronica was a “true treasure lost in a minefield.” You can say the same thing about St. Joseph. Tucked away in the middle of a Camden war zone, it just happens to be one of the greatest churches the Project has seen.
Surprised? So am I. But there’s no denying this church’s excellence. It’s an opulent cruciform Baroque design, complete with richly detailed paint and mural work, especially in the apse, and the finest set of stained glass windows we have encountered. Seriously. I dare you to take a look at the large transept ones and not be amazed. My hackneyed photographs scarcely do them justice, but believe me: they’re the real deal.
When evaluating churches, the first impression usually tells the story. And walking into St. Joseph, I got the same sense of amazement and wonder that I got when I first entered St. John the Baptist. Sure, there are things to nitpick. Aside from a couple of nice oxidized-copper spires, the outside isn’t much to write home about. The interior décor is derailed by ugly red carpet. The stations of the cross are underwhelming. And it could be a little bigger.
But you know what? It doesn’t matter. St. Joseph is so beautiful, and so well-done, that it’s heads and shoulders above most everything else in this area. We’ve seen some great Baroque churches; St. Peter the Apostle, Nativity BVM and St. Thomas Aquinas, among others. St. Joseph puts them all to shame, and makes it look easy.
This place is a prime example of why the Project exists in the first place.
Size Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 10 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 9.5 out of 10 crosses
