Church 12

Pew, St Andrew's Cathedral.

Church 11

Organ, St Andrew's Cathedral.

St Andrew's was open this afternoon, so I wandered in out of the cold, along with a good crop of World Youth Day pilgrims (And I still don't understand why it's a 'Day', when the event takes a whole week). It''s lovely inside, and a strange mix of good British Victorian-era stone, and modern tech - especially the flat screen monitors everywhere. It's still lovely, though - especially the organ.

Church 10

St Philips, Wynyard.

Eek, Thursday already? I'm sorry, people - I've spent the week being dragged to doctors, or taking new pain meds from said doctors, or suffering through nasty side effects from said pain meds. Plus, I seem to have caught the flu. Hence, m not realising that we were already halfway through the week.

I'm finding so many churches in the centre of the city. There are some I'd dearly like to show you, like the tiny Martin Luther Lutheran Church over on Goulbourn St, and it's Indonesian cousin over in Chinatown, or St Mary's Cathedral lit up at night. I don't know if I'll manage it; but I'll do my best.

In the meantime, here it St Philip's Anglican church, right next to the major bus interchange at Wynyard, making the best of its central location with commuter services. I thought it was a clever idea, me!

Church 9

Scots Presbyterian Church, with cafe and apartments.

There've been shops, and this little cafe, under and around the church for as long as I can remember, but a few years ago, they added some units as well. I remember being outraged about it, but while I was wandering around taking this photo, I reconsidered.

The church still exists, and they've done a great job in preserving the building, from what I can see. There's more housing, and a better use of space, and more local community for the churches to draw from. Mind you, they also threw out at least one naturopathic clinic for being too 'pagan', so it isn't all smiles and roses.

It amused me; possibly unworthily, how much use the cafe gets, when I seldom see anyone entering the church. Is coffee a Sydneysider's deity of choice?

Church 8

St Phillips Anglican Church, Wynyard.

Church 7

Ruins of St Barnabas, Broadway.

A second shot of St Barnabas today, since I liked it. Plenty more inner city churches for the rest of the Church theme. How are you all finding the extended theme?

Church 6

St Barnabas Anglican church, Broadway.

St Barnabas burned down on May 10th, 2006. It's been gradually shrinking since then, as the rubble is removed and the remaining walls slowly dismantled. It stood there for 150 years, and was well known for the long-running battle of signboards with the pub over the road. The pub fell vacant years ago; it's a cafe now, and of the church, only the signboard and a few crumbling arches remain.

The parish definitely continues, though - Sydney University offered their Great Hall for the first few weeks, and they're now holding services in the church on King St, in Newtown, and planning a new church from the ruins of the old. They announced the winning entry in a design competition at the end of last year, and are currently fundraising to start rebuilding.

I wish them joy. You can find them here if you want to know more or help out!

Church 5

St George's Presbyterian church.

St George's again - it was a little too big and pointy to fit into a single shot; and too packed in next to its neighbours for me to back up very far. It's a lovely church, though, and deserves a closer look.

Church 4

St George's Presbyterian church, Castlereagh St, Sydney.

Church 3

Christ Church St Laurence, Haymarket.

I knew there were a fair few little churches scattered around the centre of Sydney, but I'd no idea just how many there were. I could easily spend the entire month photographing inner-city churches, and I may well do that. So many tiny, working churches.

That's the clock tower at Central Station in the background, in case you were wondering. Just around the corner from this building is a tiny, drab Lutheran church hidden in a side alley. Sadly, cars kept on parking in front of it while I was trying to make pictures, so I'll have to go back. It's a good thing I love Chinatown!

Church 2

St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney Square, at dusk.

Unmistakably urban, this picture. It was actually taken out a bus window while we were stopped at the traffic lights at town hall. This is St Andrews Cathedral, right next to the Sydney Town Hall. Interesting enough, the church graveyard used to be where the Town Hall is now. All the corpses were dug up and relocated so it could be built - which is how Camperdown Cemetery, one of my favourite places around, came to be.

Hooray for Sydney Town Hall!

Church 1

Pitt St Parish, Uniting Church, Sydney.

There are so many little churches scattered through the inner city; and all of them still working, it seems. This one has many faces, I think. It's open at intervals during the day for people come in for quiet prayer. On Sundays it's an active parish. In the evenings, it hosts community groups - I've been to a few meetings with the Amnesty International group that operates in its kitchen. And at night, as you can see, its doorway is a handy alcove for bums to sleep in. Sometimes the people coming in have to step over them, or use the side door.

New theme!

Now if I'd thought ahead, I'd have made sure the new theme started with the beginning of the month. Still, I suppose there's only one month that has only four weeks in it, so we would have been back out of synch very quickly. Maybe sometime I'll match the themes in time with the lunar calendar.

All that aside, the theme for the next four weeks...

... is CHURCH.

Light 7

All Saints, Petersham.

Another visual pun today, for our seventh day of Light. I hope you enjoy.

Stone 7

Headstone, St Stephens Cemetery.

There's nothing quite as peaceful as a graveyard in the rain. And just to prove that it isn't just me who thinks that, or the odd goth who isn't afraid of melting their makeup, we had plenty of company in the cemetery today. From the odd churchgoer, through people walking dogs and/or children (with and without leashes in both cases), to the two girls with the videocamera, the cemetery was well attended. It was nice to see.

And I think a headstone is a very fitting end to Stone week, don't you?

Stone 4

St Joseph's church, Newtown.

Stone 2

Worn stone steps, St Joseph's Church, Newtown.

Night 3

St Joseph's Church, Newtown

Urban 3

St George Presbyterian Church, Sydney.

There are a lot of old, narrow churches in Sydney - usually sandwiched in tightly between other things, or huddling on their own brief stretch of land. This is one of my favourites. The building to the right, amusingly enough, is a Scientology center.