Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Daniel Markham via phone call on April 9th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
What inspired you to embark on this journey to attend Mass in all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico?
In 2016, I just dropped off my son to high school soccer practice and I was reminded of a parish and this idea came over me about visiting various parishes across the country. I realized this idea wasn’t from me but it was something I was called to do.
In 2018-2019 I sent letters to all the bishops and archbishops and got permission from my parish. During a span of six months I emailed all the parishes that I had email addresses from.
I started receiving invitations from various churches and I was getting phone calls from various churches and this was when the idea for the book really came into focus. I aimed to start this in January 2021 but due to the Covid Pandemic I wasn’t able to really begin until June 2021. I travelled where I was able to attend. For example, I was in Nebraska writing about a Native American Mission and attended Mass at a school because it made sense in terms of the story I was telling. For most of the Masses it was on a Sunday.
Of all the parishes you visited, which one surprised you the most or left the deepest impression on you?
Great question! It was actually three:
Cottonwood, Idaho (Assumption, Ferdinand; Saint Mary’s, Cottonwood; Saint Anthony, Greencreek)- this state is predominantly Mormon but Idaho County is the one exception where it’s mainly Catholic. The only monastery in the state is just outside of Cottonwood: Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of Gertrude. The thing that stood out to me was that I wasn’t expecting this beauty and wonderful Catholic community. I fell in love with the people there! They actually added parishioners coming out of Covid.
How did witnessing so many different expressions of the same faith change your own relationship with Catholicism?
My faith grew without question. If I could go to multiple Masses on a Sunday I tried. Normally, I would hear one homily a week. One particular week, I heard three homilies. Each priest took a different, but equally valid, approach to the reading. These experiences highlighted how rich our Catholic faith is and how we can find so much richness in the Scriptures.
I had experiences that I could see as being negative. There was a weekend I had to stay in a bad motel room, but it reminded me (through a homily that weekend) that in every experience we are blessed. Even in the suffering. The closer one comes to God the greater the understanding that there is blessing in everything we experience here on Earth. An incredible sense of peace occurred and I feel different sharing the Eucharist multiple times a week and in different parishes.
I could drive 15 to 16 hours at a time, and I realized it was the power of the Eucharist that sustained me. When I got tired it was when I allowed my worries and the human desires to creep in. But when I had that faith and trust in God I was truly fueled during my travels.
What common thread did you notice among the most vibrant Catholic communities you encountered?
Wow! That’s a good question. I guess those places where the greater understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist existed was the most unifying aspect. It made for the most authentically Catholic communities. Mass is the foundation of our life and the Eucharist is the foundation of the Mass.
After visiting such diverse Catholic communities, what do you think most American Catholics misunderstand about the broader Church in our country?
I think for most Catholics they don’t think much beyond their own parish. For people more engaged there might be a sense of disagreement; maybe some people are more conservative or liberal. I think what we miss in this is that there’s so much more that unites us than divides us. We say the same Creed each week. What we say we believe in the Creed unites us and are more important than what happens in the various differences at the Mass. Some Masses are said in Latin and some in the vernacular. The Eucharist is the same. There’s vastly more that unites us than that divides us.
If readers take just one message from “52 Masses,” what would you hope that message would be?
All of these people I visited had something in common. They answered the call from Christ. Don’t say no to God!
Where can my readers find your work?
About Daniel:
Daniel Markham is the author of 52 Masses, which chronicles his 2021-22 trip to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to experience Catholicism in America. At each parish he visited, Daniel wrote about someone or something taking place there – a ministry, an effort at evangelization, an individual’s story, etc. He attended Mass in parishes of all sizes, in rural, urban and suburban settings and a few places that weren’t parishes at all. The idea was to explore the many ways Catholics are living the faith in the United States. His book was published at the end of 2022. Daniel and his wife Kemberly, a Catholic school principal, reside in West Chester, Ohio, where they are members of St. John the Evangelist Church. They have three adult children, Ian, Kiera and Cormac.