The first thing that gets you is the window. Not the whole cathedral, not even the twin towers, but that huge rose window over the entrance, glowing above Ridge Street like Newark decided it deserved its own little piece of Chartres.
Then your eyes move up and out, and suddenly you’re standing in front of a French Gothic giant with 232-foot towers and a copper spire rising nearly 300 feet into the air.
This is the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and for a lot of people who only know Newark by airport signs, that first look feels like a plot twist…