Holy Cross Immaculata Church

I’ve seen this church from both sides of the river, and always thought it was so cool looking and I wanted to go see it up close. I finally was able to do that on my Birthday while taking a walk around Mount Adams. Took some cool photos, it looks pretty cool up close too. Now I just need to find out if I can visit the inside :)

I can’t review the services of this church, as I went only to take some pictures of the Mount Adams area, but I found the architecture and setting to be absolutely breathtaking. After walking up many steps, I found myself at the top, looking down on a beautiful scene of the Ohio River, downtown Cincinnati, and Northern Kentucky. The outside of the church is lovely, too, with great stonework and glass windows. I will say, I was a little disappointed with the inside. I guess I was expecting something a little more gothic, but it was still a really nice church.

You can tell that God is good with real estate; here Jesus has a prime vista overlooking Cincinnati. The church structure itself is quite gorgeous, too, and if you’re looking up from the valley of sin that is downtown, you’ll see it magnificently illuminated atop Mt Adams, judging you.
Actually, it isn’t anything like that. Though it’s known mostly for the long tradition of climbing the steps on Good Friday while praying through the rosary, the services within try to implement more modern music (though I wouldn’t call it especially contemporary), and the crowd tends to be families and other semi-​young folks. So while it certainly follows the motions of the Catholic mass, it’s hardly rigorous or imposing.
To me, this is a drawback. I like the bersacrosanct rituals and awed reverence and silence. I don’t like guitars and campfire songs. However, those who regularly attend this service seem to worship well in this setting, so there is some real energy among the faithful, as can be seen by the HCI Euro-​style stickers seen on many cars around Mt Adams, especially on Sunday mornings.