Birmingham, Alabama

The spiritual site foremost on the minds of visitors to Birmingham, Ala., tends to be the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. This is where, in 1963, the Ku Klux Klan detonated a bomb. The blast killed four black girls. It also shocked the nation into facing its civil-rights problems head-on.

Although Birmingham’s black residents were the main target of organized hatred, the local Catholic community didn’t escape completely unscathed. In 1921, with racial tensions building, the pastor of Birmingham’s Cathedral of St. Paul was gunned down on the front porch of the rectory. The white minister who killed the pastor, Father James Coyle, was enraged because Father Coyle had just presided over the marriage of the minister’s daughter to a dark-skinned Puerto Rican.

“That night the KKK — which was against African-Americans, Jews and Catholics — held its largest rally in Birmingham to date to say, ‘We’re in charge and you’re not,’” says the current rector, Father Richard Donohoe. “There was great fear in the city after that.”

Despite this lethal attack, the church prospered. During World War II, Masses were held every hour on the hour from 2 a.m. until 11 p.m. because the city’s Catholic immigrants worked around the clock making steel for the war. And despite the fact that only about three percent of Birmingham residents were Catholic, says Father Donohoe, the city always embraced St. Paul’s.

In the 1960s, when racial tensions reached the boiling point, the cathedral was almost the site of another tragedy when an attempt was made to bomb the church school because it was integrated. Providentially, the plan was foiled.

Today the cathedral is home to a vibrant community of 845 families, up from 300-some when Father Donohoe arrived six years ago. More people are moving back downtown, the priest explains, and a large group of 25-to-40-year-olds are attracted to the parish because of its emphasis on organ music, traditional songs and Latin responses.

These families helped support the cathedral’s recent $5.4 million construction project, which transformed the 1935 school (which closed in 2001) into a Cathedral Life Center for retreats, religious-education classes and wedding receptions. Change bells were installed as part of the project, as was a lower court and loggia. There’s also a columbarium, a structure with niches for storing urns, where the church plans to re-inter Father Coyle.

Spirit of St. Paul

The red-brick cathedral is little changed from its original appearance in 1890. A prime example of American neo-Gothic variant architecture, it features twin octagonal spires rising 183 feet, while the main entrance features a statue of Christ flanked by St. Paul. The Church celebrates the feast of his world-changing conversion on Jan. 25.

Inside, the cathedral is striking in its simplicity. Granite columns rise to support the vaults and arches, while red, yellow and blue splashes echo the impressive stained-glass windows.

The apse houses a simple white Italian marble altar, once part of the cathedral’s original main altar, which had also sported columns of Mexican onyx and a central tower 25 feet high. Various renovations over the years reduced and simplified the original.

While the interior is certainly memorable, I felt the cathedral’s soul more outside, where the property’s various buildings and courtyards are bordered by five gardens, forming several pockets of peacefulness and beauty.

The side garden and small court between the rectory and cathedral, for example, is a favorite with kids because of its koi pond; children know every Sunday Father Donohoe places some fish food on a metal stand, and they can feed the koi until the food is gone.

Adults also love the fact the area is wired for WiFi; people stop in throughout the day to relax and work in a peaceful, prayerful setting. In contrast, the rector’s garden, which Father Donohoe designed, has a more intimate, neighborly feel, while the columbarium garden exudes a contemplative air.

After my tour, I sat on a bench in the side garden and closed my eyes. I was in the middle of a busy city, with cars and buses roaring by just a few yards away, yet all I could hear were the soothing sounds of burbling water and wind chimes. And although I was a stone’s throw from the spot where Father Coyle was brutally slain 86 years ago, I didn’t feel sad or scared. Instead, I felt his spirit — and that of Birmingham’s Catholics past and present — urging all to recall 1 John 4:18: “Perfect love drives out fear.”

Melanie Radzicki McManus

writes from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

In Concert

St. Paul Cathedral’s recent construction project included installing a change-bell tower with eight bells. Unlike a carillon, which consists of bells that play tunes, change bells are played in mathematical sequences by hand, resulting in what Father Donohoe calls “melodic math.”

“It’s what Bach did with melodies,” he says, noting a full concert — where all of the change bells’ 15,000 possible sequences are played — takes 3½ hours. When concerts are scheduled (usually a weekend), guests are welcome to picnic on the church grounds. If a concert isn’t scheduled, you’re not totally out of luck; the change bells ring a few sequences in between all Masses.

Information

Cathedral of St. Paul

2120 Third Avenue North

Birmingham, AL 35203

(205) 251-1279

stpaulsbhm.org

Planning Your Visit

Daily Mass is celebrated at 6:30 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. Sunday Mass is celebrated at 5 p.m. Saturday, and 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday. The choir sings at the 11 a.m. Mass. There’s lots more info at the cathedral website, stpaulsbhm.org.