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In the Fall of 2004, St. John's University completed construction of its first free-standing church.  The St. Thomas More Church is an inspirational building.  You first enter into its foyer (narthex) and find yourself surrounded by a mosaic centered on St. Vincent de Paul (see picture at right).  The mosaic contains many Vincentian figures, both known and unknown.  No one picture can capture the enormity of the mosaic.  You must see it to experience it.  You may very well wonder where you fit into St. Vincent's mission.  It's worth a trip just to experience this mosaic.

"The church, itself, has a circular worship space to keep the congregation and the celebrant close to each other as well as a separate reflection space for quiet thought and prayer. A massive pipe organ and soaring glass windows, depicting the four Gospels and their authors, were added to give the modern church its traditional feel." (from SJU website)

Among other artifacts of the church, the ceiling is thought provoking.  It contains eight dark blue stripes which emanate from the copula.  From any of the side walls, the second nearest pair of stripes appear to have one straight edge in common.  As one moves toward the center of the Church, all angles between the stripes tend to equalize.  This is an interesting lesson in reality to appear in a Church: two people in different locations may look at the same object (religion) and have different perceptions of it.