Chicago Catholic Church Voted Most Beautiful in America

While the Blackhawks are unlikely to recover from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the St. Louis Blues, Chicago can still celebrate a championship this season.

A Chicago Catholic Church has been voted as the “Most Beautiful Church in America” in a national online contest.

St. John Cantius, a 118-year-old church at 825 N. Carpenter St. in Goose Island, prevailed in a March Madness style “Church Madness” bracket featuring 64 of the most beautiful Catholic Churches in the country. The church blog Artandliturgy.com held the voting over a month-long period, taking voters and church lovers through the Sacred 64, Theological 32, Stunning 16, Ecclesiastical 8, Ferial 4 and National Championship (no Bible-related name for the title game).

St. John, a recognizable structure near Chicago Avenue and the Cabrini-Green neighborhood that nearly folded 30 years ago due to lack of membership, prevailed in that National Championship in an April 14 vote against the Cathedral of the Madelein in Salt Lake City.

Obviously it wasn’t the first time Chicago beat out Utah in a championship.

St. John earned more than 80 percent of the vote in its Ferial 4 match-up against The National Shrine and topped the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans in the Ecclesiastical 8 round. More than 16,000 total votes were cast in the contest.

The blog creator mentioned he got a few negative comments about the contest from “some scrooges out there who said this competition was all about vanity and pride, and that Jesus is truly and wholly present in every Catholic church.”

Later pointing out “that being a faithful Catholic does not need to be synonymous with being a party pooper all the time.”

Faced with extinction and only a 40-member congregation in the 1980’s, St. John now has about 1,500 registered families.