Suzanne Strempek Shea grew up in a Polish Roman Catholic family and church in Western Massachusetts, married an Irish Catholic, and continued attending the Catholic Church until about age 40. At that time, her husband, a newspaper reporter, broke one of the first stories of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Her disgust at the hierarchy's continual cover-ups of the scandal led her to abandon the church and stay away even through a bout with breast cancer (which she's also written about). But, nearing 50, she began to feel a pull towards spirituality again and a desire for a faith. She decided to spend a year visiting a different church each week, all across America. This book is her report on that year.

Having been taught by nuns that the roof would fall in and she'd go to Hell if she entered a non-Catholic church, it is with some trepidation -- seemingly only partly ironic -- that she sets out. She's also a little shaky on what exactly "Protestant" means -- after saying she's going to visit Protestant churches, she attends a Greek Orthodox service, a couple of Catholic but non-Papal churches, a Mormon ward meeting and a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall. Over the course of the year, she covers all the mainline denominations, a couple of megachurches, at least one "emergent" church, Pentecostals, Quakers, Shakers, and Unitarians. What impressed me the most was that she truly attempted to take something positive from each worship service, even when some of the things said from the pulpit were highly disturbing to her (as they would be to me.) Although she doesn't succeed every time, she probably does so more often than I would, probably because she really does come with almost no preconceptions of what church should be like -- she expects these services to be different. She is touchingly pleased at the relatively few liturgical or "high church" services she attends, that are more like the Catholic Mass.
One thing I did find a bit annoying was that the author commented on the presence or absence of people of color in each church she attended. This made sense when she was visiting Riverside Church in New York City or a megachurch in a large urban area, but really -- in a small congregation in Enfield, Connecticut, what did she expect to find? The absence of minorities there said more about the census tract than the congregation.
At the end of the year, Suzanne Strempek Shea has been all over the map, both literally (even visiting Hawaii) and in denominational terms. She has found some spiritual solace and some churches -- far from where she lives -- that she could see being a member of. But the one unsatisfying part of this book is that it is still not clear at the end whether she is any closer to a church home. ( )

This book, detailing the author's visits during a yearlong journey, every weekend, to a different Christian church around the U.S., is easily one of my favorite books of the year. For me, truly an amazing book.

What a journey she made!! From one Easter to the next, she visited Christian churches of all kinds, from the strictest to the most liberal, all across the country though more are in the Northeast as she is from Massachusetts. From the smallest--a Las Vegas church had only 4 or 5 attendees one Sunday--to the largest 20,000 person mega-church. From famous pastors such as Joel Osteen and Rick Warren to complete unknowns. She met former President Jimmy Carter and also went to singer Al Green's church in Memphis, though he wasn't there that weekend.

Some church/services were quite unique, I thought. A cowboy church in Colorado, I think it was. A silent service at a Quaker church in Boston. She attended a foot-washing ceremony at a Jehovah's Witness service. Chapel at the U.S. Military Academy on Memorial Day weekend.

As she acknowledged, every single one has its good points. I learned so much from this book. It was truly eye-opening.

It's not perfect and, actually, I'd rate it at about 4.8 stars. I wish the author provided a bit more background about the larger religion of the church attended in a given week, beyond the basic number of members of that faith and numbers of churches. She is also quick to provide her opinions, with a preference for inclusive faiths and some criticisms of less inclusive faiths (ones that bar and/or make sinners of people of other colors or sexual preferences and of churches that focus on fear or hatred, rather than love). It didn't bother me but I realize that some could be offended.

It's not a book that can be read quickly. I found I'd read about several weekly church visits of no more than a month or so, per day. Highly recommended!! ( )

No matter how many times I go, I have never joined my church. Things bother me, just enough things to think I shouldn’t join, things like women not being allowed to be ministers or deacons, the literal meaning applied to so many passages in the Bible. The wonderful hugs keep me coming back each week, somehow.So it was nice to travel with Shea this week to fifty plus churches across the USA. Catholic, Pentecostal, Methodist, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Episcopal, churches with celebrity pastors, churches with celebrity members, enormous churches, and tiny churches…Shea tries them all. I loved this book. It made me want to go on a yearlong quest of my own. I might do it. I just might do it. ( )