Author: Daniel

While my first and last stops will draw the most oohs and ahhs, the vast majority of Costa Rica’s Catholics don’t worship in these incredible locations. Rather, they’re experiencing the Mass in the small parish churches in their neighborhoods.

I wandered around the area near our hotel, located near Parque La Sabana, visiting a few of those smaller parishes. They included Iglesia de Maria Auxiladora, where children were flooding into the school building, Iglesia de San Juan Bosco, and Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The neighborhood also featured the Nunciatura Apostolico, home to the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in the country.

As with all Central American countries, Costa Rica is overwhelmingly Catholic, with as many as 70 percent of the population born into the faith. But Costa Rica goes one step further, as it’s the only country in the region where Catholicism is adopted as the state religion.

In the park across from our hotel.

San Juan Bosco

Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

School kids entering Iglesia de Maria Auxiladora.

Nunciatura Apostolico.

My wife and I spent the past few days in Costa Rica. We were there to visit our oldest son, Ian. For those who don’t know, Ian is working as a refugee resettlement officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, traveling to various parts of the world to speak with those men and women seeking refuge in the United States due to persecution, violence or other threats in their home countries. It’s incredibly important, Christ-like work, and I couldn’t be prouder of his commitment to this effort.

While we naturally took time to experience Costa Rica’s natural beauty (more on that later in the week), we also used the time to explore the country’s rich Catholic heritage. We’ll start that visit at the head of the Church in the country itself, at the Catedral Metropolitana San Jose. It’s the home of the Archdiocese of San Jose, the ecclesial province over the six other diocese in the country.

As you can see, it’s a beautiful building, fitting for a church in this heavily Catholic country. And yet, it’s not nearly as impressive as the country’s most spectacular place of worship (more also on that later this week).

An update to a previous post.

I just got the CDs in the mail from my talk for the Augustine Institute. Perhaps not quite the same thrill as holding my book for the first time, but pretty exciting nonetheless.

For the unaware, this CD is a 45-minute talk about my experiences on the road and the effect it had on me and my faith life.

You can get a copy (as well as other great Catholic content) for the low price of $3.50 from the Catholic Market here: https://catholic.market/audio/?sort=newest

And, as a reminder for those who are interested in getting a copy of the book, you can purchase copies at https://52masses.square.site.

Thanks for your interest.

I spent last week with the family exploring, for the first time, the beguiling Mackinac Island between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas. But where others were there for the shopping, the bicycling, the fudge, or the horse-drawn carriages, my first inclination was to explore the island’s Catholic roots.

I was not disappointed.

Mackinac, like so many other outposts west of the east, was initially explored by the Jesuits and their Native friends. Specifically, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet and the Huron Tribe. In fact, Father Marquette’s outsized role in the island’s history is preserved in bronze, just below Fort Mackinac.

A few feet away sits a replica of the Missionary Bark Chapel, where Father Claude Dablon and a member of the Huron tribe met as part of an expedition to determine whether it was suitable for inhabiting and raising crops (the answer was “yes” to the former, “not so much” to the latter).

Finally, my wife and I ambled down the main thoroughfare to the beautiful St. Anne, which preserves the faith’s 300-year-old connection to the island. Sadly, though, we just missed Mass.

When it was over, we boated back to our launching point at St. Ignace, the town’s name serving as first sign of the area’s strong connections to the Society of Jesus.

Father Marquette.

The Missionary Baptist Chapel. Inside is a replica of a meeting between Father Marquette and a member of the Huron Tribe.

St. Anne, which has a 300-year-old connection to the area.

Like most everything else on Mackinac Island, St. Anne is quite captivating.

Outdoor Stations of the Cross.

Yesterday marked a first. I took in Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity in Middletown, Ohio, the same place I visited about 13 months ago as part of my yearlong trip. It was my first, “trip back.”

Wonderfully, the reason I was there was back in action. The subject of my story from Middletown was Kara Jackson, a parishioner at Holy Trinity who answered her call to serve Mass in all 50 states several years earlier. She was, I like to say, the me before me.

Kara was again serving, mom Tina and father Rick in attendance as usual. I was there not for any book-related activities, but because the district meeting for St. Vincent de Paul was being held after Mass. Coincidentally, last year my wife and I relocated to Butler County, Ohio, so Holy Trinity and St. John (the other church in the Holy Family Parish and where the final two photos were shot), are just a short drive north.

It was great catching up again with the Jackson family.

Kara Jackson at work.

Holy Trinity in Middletown, Ohio

Holy Trinity before Mass. That’s Kara’s mom in red in the veil.

The other church in the Holy Family is St. John, located just a few blocks away.

St. John is a traditional Catholic worship space.