A car packed with teenagers was speeding down the street at the exact moment we were approaching the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on foot.  It was an unseasonably warm October day in 2011, and the car window was rolled down.  Or maybe the rebellious, rowdy passengers rolled it down when they saw...

Back in April the Burnside Writers Collective had a bit of a reunion in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when we met up for the Festival of Faith & Writing.  Most of the time, we work independently, ping-ponging emails from locations with skyscrapers, cacti, cornfields, and rivers, Skyping with background...

Just when New York City was beginning to feel a little small, even a bit predictable, a friend invited me to hear a talk at Kehila Kedosha Janina—the only Romaniote synagogue in the entire Western hemisphere. Greek American Dimitra DeFotis gave a riveting account of her travels and research to discover...

Image via http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1123970 As the debate rages on over whether the Muslim community center Park51, better known by the misnomer the “Ground Zero Mosque,” should be allowed to be constructed near the former cite of the World Trade Center, little media...

Pretty much anything that could go wrong with the live Church Hopping event to the Church of St. Anselm in the Bronx went wrong—and then God proved He’s in control of everything.  I figured God only gives you one miracle per day, and I wondered what would happen once we left St. Anselm’s for...

Late afternoon on the day before the second live Church Hopping event, I got an email.  The tour guide who was supposed to lead the architecture talk had suffered a heart attack.  He was alright, but he wouldn’t be able to lead the tour.  The person emailing me asked if I could lead it without...

photo (c) Stephanie Nikolopoulos I imagine that all New Yorkers have at least one story involving St. Patrick’s Cathedral, regardless of whether or not they’re Catholic.  I grew up just over the George Washington Bridge, in New Jersey, and the cathedral looms large in my relationship with, and understanding...

photo (c) Stephanie Nikolopoulos Have you ever stopped to really look around your own city?  Have you ever considered the history behind the buildings you pass every day?  Has a church’s beauty ever stopped you in your tracks? This past Saturday, with the support of our very own Burnside Writers...

Image via Wikipedia   Most of the time, I try to actually visit the churches featured in this column, but occasionally I hear about churches that sound so awesome I just can’t wait to tell you about them.  That’s the case with Chene-Chapelle, a church I heard about while reviewing Pete Nelson’s...

I’m super excited to announce that the Church Hopping column is going live in New York City this summer! The column began running on Burnside in 2008, and on our journeys we’ve visited the Nottingham church Robin Hood attended, the New Orleans cathedral where Tennessee Williams’ memorial...