St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church

Feb 22nd, 2024

Sadly, St. John's has ignored it's neighbors for many years and I know this, because I have been across the street for 20 years now. It has set up industrial lighting in a residential neighborhood. They claim that it is for pubilc safety, but the lights point up at the church with no shading. They are vanity lights, not pointed down at the sidewalks, you know, where the parishioners are walking. And they are outrageously bright. Thousands of watts bright. I made a complaint when they first went up. I was ignored. I offered suggestions about shaping the lights so they are not so glaring. I was ignored. They added safety lights to the Rectory that point straight out to their neighboring households' backyards and have now added to them. Attached is a photo of how bright their lights are. The church is a rude and law breaking neighbor. Vehicles are allowed to idle and break parking, noise and air pollution laws for weddings and funerals and the school that is the lessor of the church. I have tried to have conversations with the humans at the rectory and have been met with absolute stoicism. Sorry, a smiling stoicism, which is infuriating. Recently the church was involved in non- emergency construction on their property (the school and possibly adjacent property) up until 11pm. When I went to the rectory at 9pm and waited ringing the bell for 15 minutes one of the priests came down finally with no sense of urgency. Btw, they have cameras at all the entrances so he knew i was there and chose to ignore me until I didn't go away. I told him that there was construction going on at the church/ school beyond designated hours. He said, "oh, at the school or the church? ", I said the school which is property that this church owns. He laughed and said, "well yeah". These men are not interested in maintaining a neighborly relationship. They don't care. The picture that I have attached is a now an upgraded industrial lighting disaster in our tiny residential neighborhood. I had taken it upon myself to build barn doors for the "safety lights" that were there before. I recieved approval from the head priest and then my light shaping doors were taken down and they have now added 3 more security lights that DO NOT SECURE THE RECTORY HUMANS AT ALL. Look at the picture. Those 4 lights are pointed away from the rectory. This is a picture from our backyards. The vanity lights at the front of our homes are another issue. Deaf ears at st. John's.
Jan 8th, 2024

First visit...what a beautiful cathedral with a lot of history. Was attending a wedding ceremony.
Dec 24th, 2023

A magnificent Pocket Cathedral beautiful building, welcoming arise in the heart of Manayunk, one of Philadelphias most interesting, unique neighborhoods . The Alps of Philadelphia.
Dec 13th, 2023

magnificent!!!
Oct 11th, 2023