Day Thirtyone: Good Friday

At 6:00AM this morning it was 48 degrees in Chaumont, NY. High's will approach 80. WOW! You would have to live here to appreciate it.



This photo I took at a Russian Orthodox church. Commentary to follow later today.

THE COMMENTARY
The Catholic church has gotten a lot of bad press in recent times. That's unfortunate and my opinions about that are a subject for another day. But, Let me start today with the fact that I was raised a Catholic. You won't be surprised then when I tell you I grew up in a family of ten kids. My mother saw to it that we were raised as good Catholics. We went to a small church in Evans Mills, NY. I went through first communion, confirmation and the like. I attended a couple of weeks of church school in the Summer. As a young adult I drifted away from the church, mostly because I didn't fully understand Catholocism. The church wasn't a big part of my life. Now, as a photographer I have photographed many weddings for over twenty years in many churches of many denominations. Because most weddings take place on Saturdays, I have worked Sundays for the Post-Standard for about twentyfive years. Those Sundays have taken me into a great many, diverse churches. I have been in every kind of church you can imagine, for all kinds of reasons and holidays. These include Russian Orthodox from where I made the above photo, to lots of small mom & pop churches and mega churches headed by wealthy evangelistic type preachers. I found some of those churches and their leaders to be somewhat disconcerting. There were a great many Catholic churches I have attended all these years also. The bottom line for me is this: If it were not for the fact that I worked Sundays and were paid to be at all of these Sunday services, I would never have been in church period. (Other than for Saturday weddings). It is difficult to ignore God and Christianity and your own spiritual beliefs when you go to church almost every Sunday, even if you are being paid to be there. Attending and comparing all those different churches and religions has lead me back to the Catholic Church. I have learned the Catholic Church to be solid and unwavering, with a consistent message. The church, like any church, gets blemished by some of the people within it. I reiterate, the problem is not Catholocism, it is certain people within it that have faults and weaknesses.