In Search of Faith
Here’s a fascinating project: visit 52 churches in one year and report on the findings. That is some church crawl! And it is exactly what novelist Suzanne Strempek Shea did. Her findings were published in April this year as a book Sundays in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith. When Pope John Paul II died in 2005 Suzanne, who had turned away from the Catholic Church of her childhood, saw in his mourners a faith filled passion that she wanted to find for herself. For one year she attended different non-Catholic services across America. She wanted to learn what makes the denominations differ and different from the Catholicism she was raised in, and to understand more about faith and why people go to church.
Near the end of the book she writes, ” the past year has distilled for me the qualities I’d need in a new church home: a community that welcomed me warmly, didn’t give a whit about my politics or lifestyle, gave tons of whits about the social justice needs locally and beyond, contained little-to-no hierarchy, allowed congregants a say in decisions large and small offered a spiritual message inspired by love rather than fear, and did all this in an art-filled space that rang with awesome music.”
A reviewer of this book on the Amazon.com site says this: “By the end of this book I felt I had not only traveled roads to outlandish and inspiring places, but I also felt I had reached a personal revelation of what spirituality could be, whether or not it was tied to a religion, a creed, or a parcel of dogma. As I read I was amused, astonished, and sometimes shocked by the types of worship she observed, and ultimately I had to admit I was profoundly moved by what she showed me about faith and belief. For when we witness others’ faith, we allow our own to grow. “
The book can be purchased from Amazon. com I dont think it is available in Australia yet.
Posted by Louise
