Is it safe to visit the Catholic Churches of Saint Louis? (St. Louis: best neighborhoods, sales)

[cath4ever]

Hello,

I am from a small town in northern Michigan and I would like to possibly sometime visit Saint Louis. I have a hobby of taking pictures of historic and beautiful Catholic churches and I would like to do this sometime in your city. However, big cities being what they are I would like to know if I would be safe doing this.

My exact itinerary involves ONLY visiting churches. I would stop at no place else in the city nor in the neighborhoods surrounding the churches. I will probably call some of the prettier churches in advance to be sure they are open when I visit them. I would go only be in the city during the day since it makes no sense to be there at night for taking pictures anyway. I literally go to a church, take a picture of the outside, go in and take pictures of the inside and then leave and drive to the next church. I know to keep my car locked, my windows rolled up, my GPS hidden, and my eyes alert. Would I be safe doing this in Saint Louis?

At the end of this post I am listing all of the churches I would like to visit. If any of you have any first-hand experience with these areas and feel they would be unsafe for me to go to, please let me know. In regards to “safe” or “unsafe”, I define “unsafe” as any area where there would be a good possibility of physical harm to myself, my property, or my car. It does not bother me to drive through rundown neighborhoods as long as I will not be in physical danger while simply driving through them.

I recently made 2 trips to Detroit by myself taking pictures of its many beautiful Catholic Churches, so I am familiar with the situation there. Detroit is considered by many to be one of the most dangerous cities in America, but I handled myself just fine and would have no problem going back again. I travelled down side streets and everything there and never felt in danger, but I always kept aware of my surroundings as any prudent person would and I would do the same in Saint Louis. So, if you believe your city to be less dangerous than Detroit then I don’t foresee any problems.

If you could take a look at this list and let me know of any locations that would fit my definition of “unsafe”, I would sincerely appreciate it if you would let me know. Also, if you know of any other Catholic Churches I missed, or any other sites I should see, you could tell me that too if you want. Thank you in advance for your kind attention!

Sincerely,

Cath4ever


Basilica of Saint Louis
209 Walnut Street

Saint John the Apostle & Evangelist
15 Plaza Square

Saint John Nepomuk
1625 S. Eleventh Street

Saint Vincent de Paul
1408 South Tenth Street

Saints Peter & Paul
1919 S. Seventh Street
Saint Alphonsus

1118 N. Grand Blvd.

Shrine of Saint Joseph
1220 N. 11th Street

Most Holy Trinity
3519 N. Fourteenth Street

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
4431 Lindell Boulevard

Saint Francis Xavier
3628 Lindell Boulevard

Our Lady of Sorrows
5020 Rhodes Ave.

Saint Ambrose
5130 Wilson Avenue

Saint Cronan
3854 Flad Avenue

Saint Cecilia
5418 Louisiana Avenue

Saint Augustine
1371 Hamilton Ave.

Saint Roch
6052 Waterman Avenue

Saint Matthew the Apostle
2715 N. Sarah Street

Saints Teresa & Bridget
3636 North Market

Visitation / Saint Anne Shrine
4515 Evans Avenue

Saint Elizabeth
4330 Shreve Ave.

Saint John the Baptist
4200 Delor Street

Saint Luke the Evangelist
7230 Dale Avenue

Saint Agatha
3239 S. Ninth Street

Saint Anthony of Padua
3140 Meramec Street

Saint Francis de Sales Oratory
2653 Ohio Avenue

Saint Pius V
3310 S. Grand Boulevard

Saint Wenceslaus
3014 Oregon Avenue

Saint James the Greater
6401 Wade Avenue

Our Lady of the Holy Cross
8115 Church Road

[CitySTLbroker]

Generally speaking, I would say you're safe. I looked through all the churches. Anything in North St Louis, out of a knee-jerk reaction, I'd say is less safe.

In all honesty though, most of the victims of crime aren't out visiting churches.

St Theresa & St Bridget, Visitation -St Anne Shrine, St Matthew the Apostle, St Augustine, & St Elizabeth are the ones I'd say are more sketchy. St Alponsus "Rock" church is borderline, but its very close to the Grand Center, where many theaters, the St Louis Symphony, etc. are located. Plus I got married there and its a very inspired community! Its worth a visit.

Have a nice trip.

After I spent 9 days in Italy, I came back home and was amazed at the attention those churches get in Italy, but there's much less mention of our beautiful churches here.

[BoomBoxing]

You will be fine. If anything you sound overprepared and I think you will be relieved when you see that most of the churches you list are in safe and beautiful neighborhoods. I hope you change your mind about only visiting churches and see some of the beautiful parks, museums, and architecture that make St. Louis one of the most interesting cities in the US.

For more information about Catholic churches in St. Louis check out this link:

Rome of the West

And the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis will blow you away.

[MUTGR]

I've visited many of those churches for the same reason.

Here is a website that would interest you that has a gallery of photos of most, if not all, of these churches:

Rome of the West


In general, the "north side" of St. Louis city is the more dangerous side. You can take a look at the archdiocese of St. Louis' website, which has a map of them, to ball park which ones are on the north side.

Parishes by Location | Archdiocese of St. Louis

I can tell first hand that the following are beautiful churches in the north side in which you need to be careful, but I think you would be just fine in the day:

Saints Teresa & Bridget
3636 North Market

Saint Elizabeth
4330 Shreve Ave.

St. Augustine.
1371 Hamilton Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63112

Most Holy Trinity
3519 N. Fourteenth Street
St. Louis, MO 63107

St. Matthew
2715 N. Sarah Street
St. Louis, MO 63113

St. Francis Xavier, the college church of St. Louis University is also beautiful. It is right on campus and you will have no problems there.

This is my personal favorite in St. Louis, which is actually on the south side:

Saint Francis de Sales Oratory
2653 Ohio Avenue

If you've done this in Detroit, you'll be fine in St. Louis. Just use the same caution and good sense you used in Detroit.

[cath4ever]

Originally Posted by stlcitygirl

Jesus, do you think you are going into some sort of war zone? Calm down, you will be fine.

No, but as I said I have lived in a small town my whole life and don't have much experience with big cities. If only you could have known how paranoid I was before I visited Detroit for the first time! But now that I've gone there and realized that wasn't so bad I am much better about big cities, since Detroit is considered one of the worst and I didn't think it was too bad. However, I still want to use caution (as I should), and that is why I posted my initial thread.

And to correct the first word of your post, Jesus Christ be praised!

[cyrano]

Country mouse who often goes into StL here. You'll be fine. I'm charmed by many of the older neighborhoods where these churches are- I married into a catholic family, that's how I've seen them. StL remains a city of many smaller communities.

Try for a Friday during Lent, and sample some fish frys. You can discussions of them in the online forums of the post-dispatch, and maybe here too.

[stlcitygirl]

^Good call, fish frys are a huge deal in STL.

[MUTGR]

I think it is Saint Cecilia, 5418 Louisiana Avenue, that I read about last year. It has become the go-to parish for a large part of south city's growing latin american population and they add their own cultural and cullinistic twist to the fish fry. It sounded fabulous.

I wanted to go last year and didn't make it. I'll try to hit one this year.

[aragx6]

Your list is about half and half -- some are in very safe neighborhoods, others are less so. If you've driven through Detroit you've seen some of the most sad and dilapidated neighborhoods in the country, so St. Louis should not be a shock in any way to you.

And after all the picture taking you're surely going to want to take a break and eat something! Safe residential neighborhoods in most cities are really a lot like small-town America anyway -- much more so than many suburbs. They have walkable strips of independent shops and restaurants and neighbors know each other. At our local watering hole, when the mail man comes in everyone welcomes him by name -- like Norm on Cheers.

You'd really be missing out if you don't check out some of the neighborhoods where you'll be. The Cathedral Basilica is just slightly east of one of the best neighborhoods in St. Louis, the Central West End, St. Pius V is on the south end of Tower Grove South which is a vibrant neighborhood with lovely old houses and some great ethnic restaurants, and Saint Roch is just north of Forest Park which is a huge urban park rivaling any in the country. The gorgeous Washington University campus is just southwest of Saint Roch and a very eclectic strip called the Loop is just northwest of there.

If you're going to be here, get out and really experience it!

[billiken]

Speaking of possible places to eat...You may want to check out McMurphys Grill. It's run by the St Patrick Center, which is a huge Catholic provider of homeless services in Missouri. The homeless work at McMurphy's to gain job skills and then the St Patrick Center helps them find work in the restaurant industry.

McMurphy’s Grill – St. Louis Charity – St. Patrick Center