Bucket List of Faith: Dallas, TX (The Prequel)

This week is spring break here in sunny rainy mildly cloudy Central Texas, and between sleeping until 8 A.M. and getting to wear leggings all day, my friends and I are headed to Dallas, TX, for a mini-vacation! As a student teacher, I could not be any more excited about this adventure.

Two of my dear friends plan to head to Six Flags Over Texas for a day; Brian and I are BLOF-ing instead! We will post more in a couple of days about our adventures, but here's where we plan to visit... for now:

-Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin (an Ordinariate!)
-St. Philopateer Coptic Orthodox Church
-Debre Meheret St. Michael (Ethiopian) Cathedral
-St. George Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Church
-Cathedral of St. Seraphim of Sarov (Orthodox Church in America)
-Gurdwawa Nishkam Seva (Sikhism)

For a visual of where these beautiful and unique churches are located, I've embedded a map below. If you've got suggestions of more unique BLOF-worthy places to visit while we roadtrip, let us know!



Right now, these are the churches we have left (not including the five above); we would love buddies or suggestions of places to go, in Central Texas or Dallas! Blue represents a place we have visited, yellow is on our Dallas MegaBLOF, and green means we have not been... yet.

African Methodist Episcopal

American Catholic Church

Baptist (non-SBC)

Baptist (SBC)

Christian Scientists

Church of Christ

Disciples of Christ

Eastern Catholic (Maronite)

Eastern Catholic (Ruthenian/Byzantine)

Episcopalian (Anglican)

Episcopalian (Anglican)

Latter-day Saints (Mormon)

Lutheran (ECLA)

Lutheran (LCMS)

Lutheran (WELS)

Methodist (UMC)

Nazarene

Non-denominational

Ordinariate (Catholic)

Orthodox (Antiochian)

Orthodox (Coptic)

Orthodox (Ethiopian)

Orthodox (Greek)

Orthodox (Indian)

Orthodox (Romanian)

Orthodox (Russian)

Pentecostal (Assemblies of God)

Presbyterian (PCUSA)

Quakers

Salvation Army

Seventh-day Adventist

Unitarian Universalists

Orthodox Church in America

Judaism (Reform) Judaism (Conservative) Islam Hinduism Buddhism Sikhism Baha’i

Much love,
Maria (and Fiance)

Bucket List of Faith: Twelve Down {{Mister's Perspective}}

Greetings from the mister and soon-to-be-mrs., as we recount some of our favorite experiences on the Bucket List of Faith thus far. (For more information on what the BLoF is, see this blog post.) 

Today I've asked the mister to step in with me as we talk about some of the things we've seen and experienced so far. Basically, I emailed this to him and he filled in his parts, picking his favorite photo for each visit. He has a love for history and an astonishing gift for finding and remembering facts, which you will see in his reflections as opposed to my more emotional views. (For more information on my perspective, see this post.) The rest of this was written by him. Enjoy!

[Mister's thoughts begin here]

Background on the MisterI was baptized as an infant (only about a month old) into the Roman Catholic Church, but my family left the Church when I was a child. From that point on we would go to different Protestant and Non-denominational churches, and some periods of time just not go to church at all but still hold Christian beliefs. It was mid-way through my sophomore year of college (around the time I started dating the Miss) that I wanted to become more active and deep in my faith, and to do that I needed to actually go to church. I told myself I was going to visit a variety of churches to feel which one is best for me, and planned to do so. But after a Christmas Eve Vigil (with a very unenthusiastic family) and a daily mass by myself at my university’s Catholic Center I fell in-love with the Catholic Church. When the Miss wanted to do this bucket list I was more than happy and willing, because I felt like this would be the exploration I wanted to do, and through doing this I have really solidified my beliefs and have come to realize I have made the right personal choice for me in my faith.

Bucket List of Faith: Twelve Down {{Miss' Perspective}}

Greetings from the mister and soon-to-be-mrs., as we recount some of our favorite experiences on the Bucket List of Faith thus far. (For more information on what the BLoF is, see this blog post.) 

Today, I share with you my experiences thus far on the road. I have certainly grown in and cemented a majority of my personal beliefs, as well as gained a great appreciation for other beliefs and cultures. While I have attempted to speak fairly and justly on most churches,  I cannot discount what made me uncomfortable or just plain angry. But I am okay with sharing that; it was inside those experiences that I found my peace.

I've asked the mister to step in with me as we talk about some of the things we've seen and experienced so far. Basically, I emailed this to him and he filled in his parts. I've also included a photo of each location; I scrapbook the photos and all paraphernalia we receive as a marker of where we've been and a chart of how we've grown. His responses are featured here; enjoy!

Background on the Miss

I converted from a non-denomination Protestant church where I was active, a Sunday school teacher, and considered myself well-read; I was confirmed in the RCC this past Easter vigil. Since converting I've sought out as much information as possible on the RCC and thus consider myself fairly well-catechized. The BLoF was started when I decided that I wanted to learn more about other faiths for the sake of knowing and understanding. Through this journey I have grown leaps and bounds in strengthening my own personal beliefs. When I walk into a church I ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit that I may learn and be receptive to what He would like me to learn about others and myself, and attempt to clear my mind from any and all pre- and mis-conceptions.

Bucket List of Faith: The Journey Begins

Hello all!

Today I write to you from mostly-cloudy San Marcos, as always. However, the Mister and I have been spending quite some time in Austin working on...

the Bucket List of Faith!

*crickets*

Ah yes, I should explain. See, one day we discovered quite by accident that we enjoy day trips to see cool churches. And by that, I mean we somehow one evening ended up at the painted churches in Fredricksburg, caught the discovery bug, and never looked back.

After, before, and during the undergoing of the journey to confirmation in the Roman Catholic church, we've had many a discussion about religions, faiths, differences, and similarities between beliefs. We've both a background of mostly Protestant churches and only recently have seriously dove into the beauty of the Church. However, while we are firmly rooted in the traditions of the Roman Catholic church, being amateur sleuths and historians the idea of exploring--like, really exploring--other faiths appeals. So we made a Bucket List of Faith!

The Bucket List of Faith is simple:

1.  list off every denomination and belief we could think of
2.  find the address of a local center of worship
3. visit it
4. collect literature
5. take a picture
6. and scrapbook it!

 Today alone we knocked off three officially! I challenge everyone of every faith--including none at all--to give it a shot. At the very least, you'll have expanded your horizons and visited somewhere new. For inspiration, see our list below. I'll update periodically with dates upon visiting!

Have you ever done something like this? Tell me about it in the comments below!

-Maria

Bucket List of Faith

(current as of December 28, 2015)
**We do have addresses for all of these locations--no worries! :)**

• Roman Catholic* August 12, 2015
• Lutheran (ECLA)
• Lutheran (LCMS)
• Lutheran (WELS)
• Episcopalian/Anglican November 29, 2015
• Presbyterian (PCUSA)
• Methodist December 20, 2015
• Baptist(non-SBC)
• Baptist (SBC)
• Church of Christ
• Latter-day Saints (Mormon) December 12, 2015 (no service)
• Unitarian Universalists December 12, 2015 (no service)
• Orthodox (Greek) August 15, 2015
• Orthodox (Russian) December 12, 2015 (no service)
• Orthodox (Antiochian)
• Eastern Catholic (Maronite) October 11, 2015
• American Catholic Church
• African Methodist Episcopal
• Pentecostal (Assemblies of God)
• Disciples of Christ
• Non-denominational Protestant  December 24, 2015
• Nazarene
• Seventh-day Adventist
• Quakers
• Christian Scientists
• Salvation Army December 22, 2015
• Judaism (Reform)
• Judaism (Conservative)
• Islam
• Hinduism December 22, 2015
• Buddhism August 15, 2015
• Sikhism
• Baha’i

If you are a practicing member of a church here and wouldn't mind us tagging along one day, let us know!

*As we are both practicing Roman Catholics, I used the date we visited the cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.