Photo of the Day: ‘Christ the Lord’ Statue, Pittsfield, MA

I took the picture accompanying this post at the end of August, when I was on vacation in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. This statue of Christ the Lord greets visitors to St. Joseph Church on North Street in downtown Pittsfield. (The original space on Melville Street could no longer hold its growing congregation by the 1860s.)

On Christmas last year, this “Mother Church of the Berkshires,” the first Roman Catholic church in the county, celebrated its 150^th anniversary. Patrick Charles Keely, a prolific Irish-born ecclesiastic architect, designed this striking house of worship in the Light Gothic style. In a county seat undergoing considerable change, this remains a lovely, tangible link to the past.