The Church Wanderer

The Church Wanderer 🇻🇦 Seminarian of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Seeking to encounter and share the Beauty of Catholic Churches with fellow wanderers.

Iglesia de San Salvador de Vilar de Donas in Spain.From the Propaedeutic Year Camino de Santiago in 2024.One of the most...
03/08/2026

Iglesia de San Salvador de Vilar de Donas in Spain.
From the Propaedeutic Year Camino de Santiago in 2024.

One of the most memorable Mass sites our group of Propaedudes stopped at, a little ways off of the Camino path.

Thanks to our ragtag crew's daily method of making the pilgrimage, our front-runners made the ask in their best broken Spanish, and the rest of us slower stragglers of the middle and rear of the pack eventually meandered into the church, all while our speedsters kept the church watchman placated with the promise of our priest's arrival.

It took a fairly lengthy amount of time, but when Father arrived and we were able to celebrate Mass, the tension and memory of the prior wait fell away, and we shared some laughter across the language barrier as the man spoke to one of our more accomplished translators afterward.

Living stones in the midst of ancient ones, still made welcome into a unique communion all these centuries later.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo

⛪Saint Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, Ohio.From the wandering through Pennsylvania that opened this month.I've found that...
03/07/2026

⛪Saint Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, Ohio.
From the wandering through Pennsylvania that opened this month.

I've found that God likes to sprinkle a lot of perfectly timed moments in my wanderings, in my discernment, and really just generally in my life.

I set my initial navigation to this church to start my long drive to and past St. Michael's Basilica, and finding the doors locked upon my arrival, I sat in my car trying to decide whether to move on to St. Vincent Archabbey or simply further on for the rest of the 9 hours.

Thanks to Steve, who works for the church and happened to be there that day, I ended up being able to set foot inside for the first time in nearly 10 years as he invited me in.

The last time I was at this church was on the way to a Steubenville Conference back in high school with St. Gertrude Youth Ministry - something that feels a lifetime away.

Indeed, the church has greatly changed in appearance compared to the one dark and somewhat blurry photo I took on my cellphone all those years ago, but it's strange just how much it has remained in my memory.

-

Something I was reflecting on as I made this trip and pseudo-pilgrimage was how often God injects such lifegiving moments into the periods when I need them most.

If I'm allowed to be a bit vulnerable here, I've been a bit in my head recently, feeling like a "lone wolf" and cut-off in some aspect of my relationality to the Church and Her members. Perhaps there's some adjustment going in and out of the seminary environment at play as well, but it felt heavier than normal.

In contrast to my perceptions, each day of my wanderings on this trip had one or multiple moments where I was welcomed in and felt a great kinship to the local church, and this particular instance from the first day was no exception.

It's always a marvel to reflect on how often I can sincerely say, "this was what I needed right here and now." and to have an opportunity to give thanks to God.

And there's the challenge to myself yet again to truly imbibe a eucharistic posture toward what's been given. Maybe that challenge is also for you in this Lenten season.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo

Igreja de Sao Pedro in Óbidos, Portugal.From the Te Deum Pilgrimage of 2025.In honor of the Chair of Saint Peter, the un...
02/23/2026

Igreja de Sao Pedro in Óbidos, Portugal.
From the Te Deum Pilgrimage of 2025.

In honor of the Chair of Saint Peter, the unbroken succession and symbol of unity.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo










📍⛪Igreja de Santa Maria de Loures in Portugal.From World Youth Day in 2023.Navigating solo in a foreign country can be a...
02/21/2026

📍⛪Igreja de Santa Maria de Loures in Portugal.
From World Youth Day in 2023.

Navigating solo in a foreign country can be a quite stressful thing, as I discovered upon arriving in the Lisbon airport.
In time I would find my way to my little group's check-in point, but that initial discomfiture at potentially lacking any means of funding transport, of communication, and overall navigation through and to a place I knew not colored my initial hours in Portugal.

I recall that now, sharing this church, accompanied by two minor reflections:

- The first is that need for guidance in this life, through the various avenues that God chooses to work: family, peers, mentors, etc.
In conversation with a parent from the Archdiocese recently, I had a chance to reflect on just how influential the support of my family - and especially my parents - has been as I've discerned the will of God, with all the twists that my own steps have led to.
Without such gifts, I imagine I'd be running amok, and that's putting it mildly.

- The second is on safe havens such as these churches. Inevitably I return to these thoughts, as it was the first intention of starting this page.
I can't really count the number of times I step into all manner of churches and feel like the weight of the world just fell from my shoulders.
Many are the burdens, and great is our need for the Lord.
If spending more intentional time with Him isn't part of our Lenten resolutions - because it shouldn't be a penance to encounter the Beloved! - then I deeply encourage it.

In a particular way, bringing both thoughts together, I imagine the loving embrace and protection of the mantle of Mary. The gentle reminders of her Motherly care are spread about, and for myself I know that I need to lean further into it.

Pax,
Miguel Angelo



📍⛪Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima in Lisbon, Portugal.From World Youth Day in 2023.In dealing with some of ...
02/21/2026

📍⛪Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima in Lisbon, Portugal.
From World Youth Day in 2023.

In dealing with some of those things that come up through living life and increasing in self-knowledge, I've found I often need to detach myself from the notion of a "perfect" work.

It's a thought I keep coming back to through the years - and in no small part due to reflecting on the past -but I've found it tends to manifest most readily in certain things - the photography being no exception.

Whether it be memories of ways I could have better acted, places I never grasped the full experience of, maybe a shot I missed in this or that church, there's a way that it sticks in the craw that sets it apart from a good examen.

Reflecting on one's faults (whether they be true or apparent) in a rightly ordered manner, in the light of God's grace, ought to propel one forward, not leave one in a strange paralysis.

I've found that a dwelling on - rather than a dwelling within Love - isn't very helpful.
My forward momentum is stymied by such thoughts.

But where better to make the right reflection than in this season of Lent, on the campaign trail?

Take it as both a self-correction and an encouragement to you, then.
We move forward seeking perfection, but not as sole producers of it - if indeed we could make any such partial claim at all.

"May God Who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment."

Have a blessed Lent,
Miguel Angelo



"I am the Immaculate Conception."📍Immaculate Conception Church in Douglassville, Pennsylvania.The Christmastime wanderin...
02/12/2026

"I am the Immaculate Conception."

📍Immaculate Conception Church in Douglassville, Pennsylvania.
The Christmastime wandering of 2025.

It seemed a timely sharing for this memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes: Another reminder that no matter what ails us, we can turn to our sinless Mother with confidence in her intercession.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo



Our Lady of Victory in Cincinnati, Ohio.From the Passiontide wandering of March 2024.I hope to return and give this chur...
01/27/2026

Our Lady of Victory in Cincinnati, Ohio.
From the Passiontide wandering of March 2024.

I hope to return and give this church its more proper due in the near future.

For the moment, stranded though my intrepid band of seminarian brothers and I are, and late though the hour be as I share this post from Ronald Reagan Airport, we find ourselves utterly weary and yet in good spirits.
May any good pains we and others endure be an aid and an offering for the suffering of those much less fortunate and in need of prayers, and may Our Lady aid us in triumphing over the intent of the Devil to thwart our efforts of fraternal charity.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo



"Then you shall be radiant at what you see,your heart shall throb and overflow,for the riches of the sea shall be emptie...
01/05/2026

"Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow,
for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,
the wealth of nations shall be brought to you."

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio.
From the wandering of September 2025.

Now back in the seminary walls, preparing to embark on another semester in the aftermath of my time at the SEEK Conference, it's another year and opportunity to ask the Lord's graces to continually be poured out particularly in this time of formation.

"Nothing held back."

The season of resolutions is as good a time as any to once again recommit to the call to holiness with heart and hands open, zealous in imitation of The One Who reveals Himself to all nations, opening His Most Sacred Heart to us.

Please pray for me and my brothers, and for all those who we connected with at SEEK and their intentions, and in turn be assured of my prayers for you all.

Happy Epiphany, Brethren!

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo



Saint Mary in Georgetown, Ohio.From the Propaedeutic wandering of April 2024.The second is to the Blessed Virgin on this...
12/29/2025

Saint Mary in Georgetown, Ohio.
From the Propaedeutic wandering of April 2024.

The second is to the Blessed Virgin on this Feast!

Given that I had already begun to make my way east of the seminary on an open Saturday to see churches, I decided to go still further in hopes of finding more open. This church was one of the two besides St. Louis that were unlocked, and I had a chance to meet the priest here briefly before heading back to seminary.

Once again, a blessed Feast of the Holy Family to all of you!

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo



Saint Joseph Chapel at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.From a seminary exploration in February 2025....
12/29/2025

Saint Joseph Chapel at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.
From a seminary exploration in February 2025.

Happy Feast of the Holy Family!
While it would be most fitting to share a church/chapel for each member of the Holy Family, I admit the Christmas traveling has taken a bit out of me, so perhaps a simpler two-parter will suffice.

The first to Saint Joseph, the Foster Father set in honor over the Christ Child.
In the windows of this beautiful seminary chapel are depicted those great scenes through which Mary and Joseph give faithful witness in following God's plan to raise the Savior.

And on another note, in one of the photos are "cameos" by my seminarian and ex-seminarian brethren, Sean and Keith, who were faithful companions even as I took my sweet time admiring just about every inch of the place.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo



Saint John in Wapakoneta, Ohio.From a post-First Mass wandering in May 2025.Happy Feast of Saint John the Evangelist!Her...
12/27/2025

Saint John in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
From a post-First Mass wandering in May 2025.

Happy Feast of Saint John the Evangelist!
Here's a nice little church in the northern part of the Archdiocese for the feast of the Beloved Disciple.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo



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