WINDSOR TERRACE — Two friends who made a pact to visit every Catholic Church in Brooklyn completed their mission two years and 109 churches later on Oct. 5, and said they came away from their journey with a stronger faith and a more profound love of humanity.

When Roseanne Seminara and Mary Whelehan walked into Holy Name of Jesus Church in Windsor Terrace for the 11 a.m. Mass, they were on the last leg of a journey that began on May 7, 2023, when they visited their first church, Good Shepherd in Sheepshead Bay.

The longtime friends plan to write a book about their travels, documenting the beauty of the churches and sharing their impressions of the people they met along the way.

“We hope to finish the book this winter and find a publisher. It’s just been such an adventure that we want to share,” said Seminara, founder of Park Slope Midwives, a practice specializing in obstetric care.

The women brought notebooks to each church and wrote their impressions so that the memories would remain fresh.

Whelehan, who recently retired from her position as the administrative assistant for Park Slope Midwives, said she and Seminara still have to work out the book’s structure.

“I think that’s going to be another journey, with each of us putting our thoughts down and then trying to make it one,” she explained. “Maybe some chapters will be written by both of us, and for some chapters, both of us might do it separately.”

In one sense, the Mass at Holy Name provided a bookend for the women because it is Seminara’s home parish. The church where they paid the first of their visits — Good Shepherd — is Whelehan’s parish.

In between their first and last stops, Seminara and Whelehan crisscrossed the borough, attending Masses, sharing coffee with parishioners, and marveling at the architecture and history of the churches.

“The buildings were gorgeous,” Seminara said. “I tell everyone, don’t bother going to Europe to see beautiful cathedrals. We have them right here in Brooklyn.”

Whelehan agreed. “Some of the churches are just stunning, and if I didn’t take this journey, I would never know,” she said.

RELATED: Local Catholic Reaffirms Faith, Love of the Eucharist Through Lenten Pilgrimage

But the beauty of the buildings wasn’t the most memorable part of the pilgrimage. “I think the people made the church more than the church,” Seminara explained. “They really opened their arms to us. And the people at some churches asked us to join their church.”

Whelehan recalled that the friendliness of the people strengthened her own faith.

“It’s wonderful to leave your environment and get to see how faith-filled people are in other places. It’s very inspiring,” she said.

When asked to pick their favorite churches, aside from their home churches, Seminara and Whelehan pointed to places where parishioners stirred their hearts.

For Seminara, it was St. Laurence Church in East New York. I really loved St. Laurence and the people there. We went back, actually, and visited them again,” she said.

Whelehan had fond memories of Holy Cross Church in Flatbush, where her mother served as the parish secretary for many years.

“It was so great to go there again all these years later,” she said.

Visiting all 109 churches in Brooklyn is not an easy feat, especially considering that for much of the project, both women had full-time jobs. “We had to coordinate our schedules,” Whelehan explained. “Sometimes, we would go to a church during the week. Sometimes, we went on Sundays.”

Seminara and Whelehan have known each other for 42 years. They met through their husbands, who were both members of the FDNY and served in the same firehouse, Ladder 111 in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The women both said the journey has brought them closer. “Roseanne and I were always close, but now we’re like sisters,” Whelehan explained.

Another FDNY friend, the late Msgr. John Delendick, an FDNY chaplain, inspired the church visiting project. Over dinner in a cafe a few blocks from Holy Name of Jesus Church, the spring of 2023, Msgr. Delendick informed Seminara about the Church of St. Edward-St. Michael in Fort Greene, which was about to be demolished.

“I wanted to visit the church before it got torn down, but we got there too late. There was nothing left,” Seminara recalled. “That’s when I got the idea to visit all of the churches. This is our history, and it’s important.”

Now that they have visited all of Brooklyn’s churches, do the two friends plan to go to all of the churches in the Queens part of the Diocese of Brooklyn?

“It’s certainly a thought,” Whelehan said.