‘Reverently awe-inspiring’: The story behind twin Catholic parishes in Virginia, Maryland

[ad_1] St. Benedict Church in Baltimore, Maryland (left) and St. Benedict Church in Richmond, Virginia. / Credit: St. Benedict Church; Daniel Payne/CNA Richmond, Va., Dec 15, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA). Catholics who have spent time in both Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, may be unaware that two near-identical parishes exist in both cities, both built by the same architect-priest and both offering an ideal of what their designer called a “quiet, recollected, prayerful, somber, sanctified” atmosphere of peace and worship. St.…