Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Teresa of Ávila

St Teresa of Ávila was my parish for a while around 2001–2 when I was involved with the music ministry for a while there. Add in that the feast of Saint Teresa is on my birthday and even though today was the first time I’d been to the church in almost a quarter century, I still hold a bit of a sentimental attachment to it.

The exterior of this 1962 church is not particularly notable (and I forgot to take a picture of it), and the interior is almost unremarkable being the typical 1960s semi-circle arrangement of pews.

A view of the inside of the church showing the sanctuary and the pews arranged in a semicircle 6 pews deep, which is small for a church of this style

What I don’t remember, or at least I think I don’t remember, is that the church features transparent windows onto the street at sidewalk level.

The view of the street side of the church showing a wall of clear glass windows only partly obscured with stained glass images of the four evangelists

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this at any church with the possible exception of storefront protestant churches, and I’m thinking that even those tend towards obscuring the worship area from street view. I really like this architectural choice—it’s a brilliant way of inviting the world into the church that rarely happens otherwise.


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