I recently heard something discussed on a Christian radio station that I find very bizarre: "church shopping." I wouldn't have found it bizarre seventeen years ago, but after throwing myself into Catholicism for the last fourteen years, I now find it very bizarre.
Seventeen years ago I left the Campbellite Church and actually did some church shopping. However, I didn't like what I found. I soon stopped shopping for a church, and started searching for the Church. This search led me to the Catholic Church.
Catholics don't church shop. They simply go to Mass at their local parish. If they live in, or near, a large metropolitan area, they may have a choice of parishes, but choosing one isn't really church shopping because they are all part of the same Church.
Unlike church shopping among Protestant churches, all Catholic parishes teach the same thing. If you believe in what the Catholic Church teaches, then it really doesn't matter which parish you go to. Some people even go to several parishes; although, it's best to designate one as your home parish.
If you're Catholic, and you live in or near a large metropolitan area, you don't really have an excuse for missing Mass unless you're really sick. If you can't make it to Mass at your home parish, there's usually a number of other parishes close by with a Mass that you can make it to. The website for my dioceses even allows you to search for parishes based on Mass times.
The ultimate result of not finding something you like after church shopping is you start your own church. I actually thought of doing this before I became a Campbellite. This is the basis of Protestantism. If you don't find a church that fits your interpretation of the Bible, start your own church.
Shopping for a church that feels right to you is bizarre. How you feel doesn't really matter. You shouldn't look of a church that conforms to you, but conform yourself to Christ's Church. There's only one holy and apostolic Church: the Catholic Church.
