The cross picture isn't color against black and white, I tried that and didn't like the results–*felt quite passe to me. I use aperture for post-processing but the image is very similar to what one would get with a '70s color' CS4 effect. I simply bumped down the saturation considerably. Here it is in black and white with color:
The hours of the mission prevent me from getting shots in proper sunlight during the summer unfortunately. The bell-tower area is off limits, but the cross photo was taken inside the structure in the second image in very low light wide open at 1.4. Around the side near the bell-tower and around back there are clay pots and gravestones and the like but it is off-limits currently for restoration. I peaked around the corner and shot this:
With regard to the cropping–*I 100% agree and was thinking the same thing when I uploaded it... but I've been forcing myself to compose and straighten as I shoot as opposed to after the fact and I find fighting the urge to crop helps me slow down and take better images–*but yes, 100% looks better.