Christ Church was founded in 1695, and it has been in continual use as an Episcopal parish church ever since. The current building dates back to 1754. Its spire was once the defining feature of Philadelphia's skyline--a skyline that remained quite humble until about thirty years ago, when it hit a growth spurt that continues to this day.
I first visited the church in 1990, and of course it hasn't changed in the slightest. One of the jobs of a historic religious edifice is to remain the same, I suppose. Benjamin Franklin was a member here, and both Washington and Jefferson frequently attended services.
It's a beautiful example of an English urban parish church, right here in the US.
I was a little surprised to discover a member of the Penn Family interred beneath the floor. This is the only Penn who got buried on this side of the Pond.
The discovery was surprising because I supposed that the Penns had all been Quakers. Pennsylvania was a much kinder and more progressive place when it was run by Quakers--peace-loving people who treated the Indians with respect and tolerated immigrants from many religious and cultural backgrounds.
Apparently even the Penns ended up converting to the national Church of England eventually. Aesthetically, the Church of England runs circles around the Quakers. Just look at the beauty of this place. It evokes feelings of The Numinous. It's so much more inspiring than the plain meetinghouses used by William Penn's lot. But ethically, well, let's just say that the world could use a few Quakers in high places nowadays. Except Richard Nixon. That was one bastardly Quaker....
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