This is a good Catholic Church to go to. They have several Mass times to choose from. They also…read morehave plenty of parking space in their lot and on the street.

I've been weaving my way through some Indianapolis faith communities, partly out of curiosity and…read morepartly out of a genuine search for the next stop on what has been a long and diverse faith journey. I have intentionally chosen to visit communities that challenge my own personal theology in big and small ways. While I was baptized Catholic as an infant, my mother moved away from Catholicism and all I was largely left with was an authentic curiosity and an openness to learning while also recognizing that it seems like an awful lot of my true mentors in life have been of the Catholic faith. I've visited four Catholic parishes in Indy - St. Joan of Arc, St. Matthew, St. Thomas Aquinas and this church, Immaculate Heart of Mary. My first visit to Immaculate Heart occurred on a Sunday when the speaker was a guest and the parish's actual priest was not present. While I left quite impressed with the parish's atmosphere and friendliness, I had a desire to return for "Father Bob." Immaculate Heart is what could definitely be considered a "neighborhood" parish. Located at 56th & Central, the area is a predominately white area, mostly middle to slightly upper class and seemingly dominated by families and aging couples. This parish is within probably a couple miles of both St. Joan of Arc and St. Thomas Aquinas, yet the differences within the personalities of each parish are pronounced and remarkable. They all have their strengths and challenges. To be fair, I do not live in this neighborhood. In fact, regardless of how I travel I go through at least one parish to visit Immaculate Heart. Upon my first visit, I unexpectedly ran into a friend at the Mass. I knew she attended Immaculate Heart, but also knew she typically went to an earlier service. Her hospitality on my first visit made that first visit warmer and quite welcoming and got me introduced to others. I was impressed with the accessibility of the church - from a magnificent concrete ramp to automated doors to roomy aisles and even a ramp to the side allowing access to the altar area. They've clearly made an effort to be welcoming. I was also impressed with their audio system, which made hearing each speaker crystal clear despite the massive structure of the church. I'm not aware if the church offers any sort of audio adaptive aids for those in need. I returned this past week and was able to hear Father Bob, who began at Immaculate Heart in 2007 and is clearly adored by his parish. I'd heard from one friend that it was Immaculate Heart that ultimately was so welcoming that he converted to Catholicism, while multiple friends had praised Father Bob as a speaker. They were right. He's friendly, relaxed, engaging and yet quite intelligent. He speaks without notes, yet it feels fresh and vibrant and witty. I was able to meet him briefly after the service and found him similarly engaging in person. The church was just as welcoming without my previous friend present, as I'd intentionally gone to a different service (though, ironically, ran into another acquaintance). The church longs for diversity, such as is present at Thomas Aquinas, yet acknowledges the difficulty of having that in their current setting. They are humble, perhaps even a little self-deprecating, yet obviously seeking to live into their faith. I really love looking at their website that describes their wide ministry outreach and includes a page for those in some sort of crisis. It even includes the local crisis hotline phone number. Bravo. I don't know that I consider Immaculate Heart an option for a "home," especially as I do have some challenges with Catholic theology, but I am aware I loved this visit and everything about Immaculate Heart from the church to the people to the pastor and the steeple (c'mon, I had to rhyme). As a fun note, it was actually in 1981 that the church's steeple crashed to the ground in front of the church during high winds. Fortunately, no one was hurt. While I've appreciated things about each of the four parishes I've visited, I must confess that Immaculate Heart of Mary has kind of won my heart.

My visit to Spirit of Joy Church, a Lutheran congregation, was inspired by the church's involvement…read morewith Connection Ministries and outward acceptance of persons with intellectual disabilities. While I don't have an intellectual disability, I do have physical and developmental disabilities and as I'm getting older I'm finding myself wanting to align more concretely with a faith community that I know to have an embrace of and appreciation for disability. Pastored by Mark Wilhelm, Spirit of Joy is a modestly sized and fairly traditional congregation that offers a weekday worship/bible study experience for persons with intellectual disabilities on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. They seemed quite excited that disability was part of what had brought me to their fellowship and they were quite helpful as I sought to understand their worship experience on the Sunday morning that I attended. "Spirit of Joy is dedicated to providing a safe space for all children and vulnerable adults" is a statement directly from their website and you can definitely tell they mean business. As a result, their disability ministry is growing rapidly as area group homes begin attending their service. Spirit of Joy is housed in a one-story church. There's been obvious efforts to improve accessibility, from accessible parking to a modest indoor ramp into the sanctuary area that works quite nicely. The worship service is traditional - hymns are used. On the Sunday I attended, it seemed like some folks were out preparing for a meeting related to disability but the congregation itself seems to skew older. I've kept meaning to return for another visit, but simply haven't made my way back. My sense was that even though their emphasis is on intellectual disability that they seem fairly comfortable with the physical aspects of disability, as well. I will confess that I found the worship experience to be somewhat dry, though that's coming from an old punk rocker who returned to the church long about the time I discovered some Christian punk rock bands. If you appreciate the Lutheran background or simply are looking for a good place to attend with a loved one who has an intellectual disability, Spirit of Joy is a solid option and would definitely welcome you open arms. While my gut tells me it's not quite a click for me, I appreciated the people and their sincere hearts.

Let me clarify here. I don't attend church here. But they have a stellar "Mother's Day Out" type of…read moreprogram. Moms, let's be honest for a moment. WE ALL NEED SOME TIME OUT! Their program is completely play based, which is perfect for the 2-4 year olds. And yet they still work on handwriting, letters, numbers, reading, and of course, RECESS. My 3 year old daughter started here for their summer program, just 2 days a week. She has never been in daycare and actually comes to work with me. Yet we have had no tears, or fits when dropping her off. She LOVES to go. She has FUN. They paint, they color, they read, they do music and play, and she loves every moment. Not a daycare, and not a pre-school. It's a merging of the two that works to create a fun, lighthearted learning and exploring environment. You should check it out.

the second my husband and I walked into this church for the first time, we could tell there was a…read morevast and strong community. this parish truly feels like home.

My partner and I used to live nearby and my partner attended regularly during that time. I attended…read moreonce while his parents were in town. There was a visiting priest who did the homily and mass. Honestly after that service I will never return to St Joan of Arc for Worship.  As the priest began his sermon he talked about how Bruce Jenner was a famous athlete of his time. But he then went to speak about transgender individuals in such an offensive way that I could no longer sit and listen to his message. I left the church feeling outraged, offended, and deeply hurt. I consider myself active religiously and spiritually and I am also a strong supporter of the LGBTQ community. This pastor spoke very callously about Bruce Jenner saying "him or herself or whatever". He went on to talk about how it is important for us to live in and with our sin and not try to change ourselves. This was all I heard before I left. I know that the Catholic church does not support many of the things that would make an LGBTQ individual's life more fulfilling but I was especially surprised by the vitriol on that morning. His message was about shame, sin, and not being good enough. His message implied that transgender individuals were less valuable or important than cis folk. It was judgmental, unkind, inconsiderate, and full of shame towards those in the LGBTQ community. It made me ashamed to come to this church and it is why I will never come back. I left the church crying because I believe God put love in our hearts for a reason. And God made us in His image. I believe God is for everyone and supports the lifestyle of the LGBTQ. I was also approached by another member of St Joan of Arc who could not stay in that place of worship and listen to that hate. He said he had been a member of the church since he was 16 but that this experience was too hurtful for him to stay in the church. As a gay man, he did not feel comfortable in a place that he wanted to be his spiritual home.  My partner's stepmom later told me that he also criticized women wearing pants and acting in modern ways. I also noticed how many families attend St Joan of Arc and it makes me so disheartened that the children should hear and learn such a strong message of hate. As a parent I would never send my child to the school or attend mass there. I emailed the staff at the church about it and their response was very apathetic. They basically just said "Sorry you felt bad. We encourage you to return when the regular priest does." Thanks but no thanks!

I love this church! I've been coming for a long time, and I've met so many amazing people here…read more It's a very welcoming, laid back atmosphere, and there are plenty of options to get connected. If you're looking for a new church, definitely give it a try.

I few weeks ago my friend and I went in search of bibles for our Bible study group of young women…read more Many of them are in the first stages of their journey with surrendering their lives to God. Our home church has switch over to mainly digital resources and did offer to purchase our bibles for our group but we decided to ask other churches in hopes they would have a few and we could reserve those resources for someone else who might need it more. This was the first church we stopped by, and it was almost the last one we stopped at. I had a great experience here when I was a part of the great banquet so that is why I thought of this church first. It broke our hearts to be treated like we were dangerous people who simple came to the door, politely waited, and explained our group and the intentions to give our girls their first Bible. The woman who answered didn't know her inner-com was still in and profiled us thinking we could not hear her. She stated she didn't think she should let "people who looked like that" inside the building. It was an off day at work we had on t shirts and shorts. She then questioned on whether she should just ignore us or not. We still decided to wait and politely thanked her for the resources as she talked to us through the glass and when she eventually opened the door, shutting it and keeping her hand on it in what I could only assume was fear, we still thanked her and left. When I reached out to the email she had written down for us, it was sent that it was not a valid email. We love our home church and our community that we have built within it so we don't have intentions to change. But I would take this as a consideration when joining churches. Listen to our Father God, not to those who wish to be church figures or leaders. Have good devotion and in a world where so many are hurting have GRACE. It's disappointing this is the interaction we had and we hope it isn't for everyone.

I'm here for Catholic Youth Organization sports. Tonight it's wrestling. Very nice gym facility in…read morethe school building. It accommodates the hundred or so participants and spectators this evening. I loved their reminder on the gym bulletin board to "be the nice kid."

I had a quiet evening on tap and decided it would be a good night to visit a new church in the…read moreIndianapolis area. While I've been on my journey for a while and have been visiting one church semi-regularly, I remain intrigued by Catholicism and decided to visit a new parish. St. Pius is located on Indy's Northeastside near 71st & Keystone in a mostly residential area. The parish includes an elementary school within its community and is set well enough off the road that you really kind of have to look for it a bit before you realize it's there. Part of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, St. Pius is pastored by Father James Farrell with Father David Bunyar as associate pastor. With over 1600 families belonging to the parish, St. Pius has grown quite a bit in its 60 years of existence. St. Pius can be accessed via two different entrances off of East 71st Street, though if you need the accessible parking in the center lot you're best pulling in off of what I believe is actually Sarto Drive. The parking lot is a tad confusing and gets quite busy after a Mass is held, plus the parking lot is one way where the accessible parking is and you can't really access it easily from what looked like the main entrance. As seems to be true of most Catholic parishes, attempts have been made to make the church accessible including accessible parking with curb cuts (at least 3), at least one automatic door closest to the accessible parking, and audio devices to help those with hearing impairments. I could not tell if the altar area was accessible - it wasn't from the front, but it may have been from the back. This is pretty common in Catholic churches, though I have seen some that haven't made this area accessible. The sanctuary reminded me of St. Matthew's - somewhat contemporary with wooden pews and the expected Catholic features. A multi-person worship band led mostly traditional hymns off to the side led a female singer who also played guitar. I realized a little too late that one entrance had the bulletins, while the entrance I used did not. As someone who is inexperienced with Catholicism, this meant I spent most of the Mass rather confused. About halfway through, however, they did start announcing the hymns. There was a guest speaker from a Grenada-based mission - I seem to have a knack for visiting Catholic churches when they have guest speakers. He was quite personable, though the message itself didn't give me a strong feel for the parish. As is usual for Catholic churches, Communion is done toward the end of the Mass and is not open to those outside the Catholic faith. I appreciated that one of the ushers asked if I wanted Communion brought to me, though I obviously respectfully declined. There's a "passing of the peace" type moment during the service, which practically guarantees that as a stranger your presence will at least be acknowledged. I have some friends who appreciate you can go into a Catholic church and just blend in and be left alone, while I've had others bothered by the fact that you could easily attend week after week without ever really encountering people. As a person in a wheelchair, I tend to at least get acknowledged. I would say that St. Pius was on the low end of actual hospitality, though. This was somewhat surprising as I saw multiple people with disabilities, mostly intellectual/developmental, and it would seem the congregation is comfortable with disability. I also noted that they have at least some ministry outreach to Indy's large Burmese population. Overall, this was a middle-of-the-road experience for me. I didn't really feel welcome, though I also didn't really feel ignored or rejected. The congregation is definitely mostly older and my sense was they probably skewed conservative. My sense was that if I appeared regularly that I would likely eventually be greeted. I did really like a sense of welcome for the kids - I'm always a bit bothered when fidgety kids are sent outside. I think it's important for kids to be in the service and I felt like a couple of fidgety toddlers were embraced. As evidenced by the fact that a 60-year-old congregation didn't even have a Yelp page, St. Pius's older population and more traditional service would likely not resonate as deeply with those seeking a more contemporary experience but I found it somewhat soothing. The auditorium had plenty of space in the back for wheelchairs, though I didn't see any other identified places and I would note that during the standing portions of the service it was difficult to see and fully participate. While I doubt I'll return for a second experience, for those seeking a more traditional Catholic experience with mostly, but not exclusively, older congregants St. Pius offers a wonderful option.

Nice congregation, intelligent kind people. They offer in person and really well done livestream…read moreservices and offer many other accessibility services upon request!