I love grand old churches, and as grand old churches go, the mammoth Romanesque Trinity Episcopal Church in Back Bay in Boston certainly merits the term grand if not grandiose. Largely the brain child of the famous American pulpiteer (and hymnist) Philip Brooks who was rector here for the better part of his life in the mid to late 19th century, Trinity Church remains an active church, boasting 4,000 households in its parish (though one may wonder how many of those households show up regularly).
While the stained glass in this church is not quite up to Tiffany glass level like at the Arlington Street Church (see a post from last year), still there are some fine windows in this cathedral, some of them fairly contemporary in form.
Part of the vital life of this church is its continuance of the English choral tradition, for example the Trinity choristers and Scholia as well. My friend Sam Lloyd, formerly of the National Cathedral, and a fine pulpiteer and scholar, is now running the show at this church. It is more than well worth the visit. As the sign in the Undercroft says, there are many reasons to come to Trinity, including pew aerobics (by which is meant all the standing, sitting, and kneeling that goes on in an Anglican service).
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