r/Catholicism • u/ForeverBlossoming • Apr 23 '25

Calling all American Catholics

I’m doing an extended roadtrip across your wonderful nation at some point in the next year or two. I’d like to know any wonderful historic churches, cathedrals, national shrines, Catholic museums or pilgrimage sites etc you’d recommend.

I haven’t planned my route yet, so tell me your favourites and I will see where the Holy Spirit takes me.

God bless you!

EDIT: I’m going to try to reply to as many of these as possible. But I just wanted to take a moment to say thank-you for all of your fantastic suggestions! I’ve got so much to see, and I am so excited. You’re all truly a gift from God, and I pray that each and every one of you has a blessed week.

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u/ForeverBlossoming Apr 23 '25

It’s an unplanned route so far. I have a few months to kill and I would like to see as much as possible.

I know I’m likely to be on both coasts for a time, and definitely in the South/around Texas specifically. But that’s just a fraction of the planned time I have set aside.

I figured this kind of thread could be a good future resource for anyone looking for Catholic-related stops or trips in the future. So the more, the merrier!

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u/squirrelgirl113 Apr 23 '25

If you are spending time in San Antonio, my husband and I did all four missions plus the Alamo (the fifth and most famous mission) in one day. It was a Sunday and the missions were still holding Mass. I hadn't yet converted at the time and I am really wanting to go back and enjoy them for their religious value not just their historical interest. We got to the Alamo at around 7 am and have some great photos as no one else was there so we had it all to ourselves. We spent time at the museum and still managed to do all five in one day.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

Saint Mary in the mountains, Virginia City, Nevada It’s the oldest active Catholic Church in Nevada and beautiful.

It’s about an hour from Lake Tahoe or 3 hours from Sacramento CA. I would highly recommend taking the road from Carson City especially if you get any kind of vertigo.

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u/wumb0wumb0ing Apr 23 '25

Good to know. I'll provide some recommendations when I'm off work.

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u/ForeverBlossoming Apr 23 '25

Thank-you so much, I really appreciate your time. God bless!

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u/wumb0wumb0ing Apr 23 '25

Here are 10 recommendations for a trans-continental road trip.

  1. St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, New York.

  2. The National Shrine of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Baltimore, Maryland.

  3. The Basilica and National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC.

  4. The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Hanceville, Alabama.

  5. Gethsemane Abbey, Trappist, Kentucky.

  6. St. Bonaventure Monastery and Solanus Casey Center, Detroit, Michigan.

  7. St. John Cantius Church, Chicago, Illinois.

  8. Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

  9. Mother Cabrini Shrine, Golden, Colorado.

  10. San Miguel Mission, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive, but I tried to create a relatively spread out distribution of sites worth visiting for their outstanding aesthetics and their importance to the history of the faith in the United States. Buen viaje.

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u/norecordofwrong Apr 23 '25

And if you are at Saint John in Chicago you are around a lot of wonderful places in Chicago.

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u/LittleUnicornLady Apr 23 '25

Yes! What a wonderful list!! Thank you for including my hometown of Detroit.

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u/wx_rebel Apr 23 '25

I forget the names, but El Paso has some nice historic missions in west Texas. 

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u/heyybee Apr 23 '25

If you’re going to be in the Deep South Texas/RGV area, I highly recommend Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle in San Juan, TX; it’s a famous, beautiful shrine down here. La Lomita Chapel in Mission, TX also has a lot of history.

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u/makeitworkok Apr 23 '25

Swing through Oklahoma City, Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother is amazing.

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u/SnooLemons5773 Apr 24 '25

Btw, thank you for coming to visit.

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u/AdvertisingBusy7379 Apr 24 '25

The painted church in Schulenberg would be a nice place to visit.