Time for another collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Delaware County. Included in this collection are some pictures of Ss. Peter & Paul in Petersburg, Iowa was the first consecrated church in the state of Iowa. As you know, I’m not Catholic. I’m Methodist. I have no clue what a consecrated church is. My assumption is that vampires wouldn’t be allowed to cross into the church without dying. But since a vampire can’t enter a house without being invited, I assume they couldn’t enter a church without being invited either. Of course, few organizations have such a seedy history as the Catholic Church (the Boy Scouts come to mind) there probably are lots of priests over the years that have invited vampires into churches. However, since vampires are considered corrupted or evil, they cannot enter holy places any ways. In conclusion, since vampires can’t enter any church,if they be holy, although I’m pretty sure there are a ton of churches out there that aren’t holy (looking at you Joe Osteen), I don’t understand the point of a consecrated church.

Here are the pictures:

Manchester

Delhi

Greeley

Edgewood

Colesburg

Petersburg

I should clarify. I know lots of Catholics. They fit into 3 categories. Practicing. Lapsed. Recovering. Lapsed is by far the largest category. Whenever I come across something in Catholicism that it completely foreign to me I’ll ring one of them up. They also seem to never know what I’m talking about. An Oratorio is a good example.

So I did a little research on my own. And by research I don’t mean watched a YouTube video and was instantly convinced by conspiracy theory X. I went to a website called Spires of Faith. Which covers 5 Catholic parishes in the area. This is what is said about the consecrated church.

On October 24, 1906, SS Peter & Paul Church became the first consecrated church in the state of Iowa. In attendance were Archbishop John Keane, Bishop Schinner of Superior, Wisconsin and many other priests and faithful. Note: A consecrated church is a building solemnly set apart for the worship of God, and therefore making abandonment or alienation for secular purposes unlawful. Perfect solidarity in the construction of the church and free from all debt are demanded as prerequisites to the consecration ceremony.

I notice that there is no mention of vampires. Seems like a miss to me.

Either way, it is one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen and there are more pictures of it still coming.

For the record, none of my Catholic friends ever ask me about prevenient grace and that hurts my feelings.