Brother Tim Sucher carefully unpacked his worldwide collection of nearly 100 Nativity sets, hoping they attract holiday visitors to St. Francis Seraph Church in Over-the-Rhine.
“We go all out here at Christmas,” Sucher said. “We have many trees, we have a Santa collection, we have a Dickens village. And we also have a live Nativity outside, so we have life-size figures and animals. We have sheep and goat and donkeys.”
Inside the church, which will celebrate its 165th birthday in December, this is a magical time of year.
Ray PfefferOutside the church, dozens of people sit on steps or milk crates in the tree-shaded plaza at Liberty and Vine Streets. White graffiti is etched on church stonework. People quietly sell and use drugs in the entryways of buildings surrounding the church, undeterred as pedestrians walk by.
WCPO has been following the progress of this neighborhood for months, as Cincinnati police and city leaders try new and repeated strategies to stabilize the area from violence, drugs, and blight.