Taking Photos in Churches.
It is always nice when material lands in my lap.
Some fly-by tourist recently asked me if it is okay to take photos in New Orleans’ churches. I can only speak for Catholic churches. I am rarely in another kind, and, when I am, I cannot think of the last time I saw something I wanted to photograph. Protestant churches tend to be plain. That is all I am saying.
I took a photo of the dome inside Our Lady of the Rosary this morning. Each illuminated window depicts a saint. From where I usual sit, I can see St. Theresa of Avilla, St. Therese of Liseaux, St. Tomas Aquinas, St. Patrick, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome. I cannot remember who is on the other side of the dome.
I take photos in Catholic churches all the time. I have done it so often that I do not normally bother to do it, anymore. I have enough pictures, plus, I visit them all regularly enough that I know what they look like on the inside. I do not think there is any official protocol, beyond good manners.
I am a card-carrying goodwill ambassador for both the City of New Orleans and Vatican City State, but, I do not have the authority to issue official guidelines on photo etiquette in churches. Use your judgement. Here are some rules-of-thumb that I employ:
1.) I turn the sound off on my phone. Nobody wants to hear click-click-click as an interloper snaps pics like a fluttering shutterbug.
2.) I turn off the flash. A visit to a church is not a Hollywood premier.
3.) Unless I am on official assignment as a journalist, I do not take pictures during Mass. I suggest likewise in your case.
4.) When in a church, I take pictures of the building, not of the parishioners. I am not at the zoo.
5.) I like to arrive early, before a church is crowded. That way I can stroll about and soak up the ambience. If a church is usually closed unless a mass is being held, I like to show up about an hour beforehand. If a church is open all day, I tend to go when Mass is not being offered, unless I want to attend a mass.
I have been very careful, above, with my capitalization of Mass/mass. A priest would know better than any layperson about liturgical spelling. Do not use my usage as a guide. Consult your local parish priest.
Every time I have been to Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos Church has been when it was empty. I think the front door is unlocked more often than not. I was there two or three months ago. This church is beautiful inside.
I have been inside Bl. Seelos Church more than once, every time in the middle of the day when I was the only one there. I love churches like that. I do not spend all my time in churches but I like to know that they are open should I have a yen for a visit.
Fr. Seelos is a good friend of mine. I wear his portrait on my lapel every day.
There is a beautiful Pieta in the Bl. Seelos church. You should see it and you should feel it. Few other statues in New Orleans are as so full of heartfelt dolor. The one at St. Joseph’s, on Tulane Avenue, is not bad either, but I go there for the St. Joseph Altar on March 19 and to see the statue of St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton.
This has nothing to do with the Seelos Shrine in the Lower Garden District. That is a story for another day.
My takeaway advice is to take photos in a church when nothing important seems to be going on, i.e. when it is empty. Important things are going on all the time in a church, visibly and and invisibly, but those without the eyes to see are unaware of them. Snap away when indivisible things are going on. It happens all the time in New Orleans.
There are things visible and invisible. Of such things successful ghost tour guides make their living in the French Quarter.
Let your conscience be your guide.
Now, I am going to put the paywall up. I am going to tell you how things get smuggled out of the Port of New Orleans.