In 2023, the Rev. Vicki Garlock read a news story about an Indian man who received a Guinness World Record for visiting 76 places of worship in one month.
“Not knowing at all what I was doing, I very cavalierly said to my husband, ‘Oh, I could beat that,’” Garlock said.
Two years later, Garlock is now the current holder of that Guinness record after a monthlong quest in Chicago.
“I had appointments at about 85 places,” Garlock said. “And I started to feel like 85 might be cutting it close, so I was like, once I get to Chicago, I should get about 10 more.”
Then, after starting her quest, she learned someone had set a new record: 111. Garlock’s final total: visiting 185 places of worship — churches, synagogues, mosques and temples — as well as galleries, auditoriums and rented spaces where Chicagoans congregate. All in September.
She said her personal single-day record was visiting 14 places in Evanston and Wilmette.
Her record-setting feat came several months after another event that put religion in the spotlight in Chicago: the election of Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago and grew up in Dolton, which brought joy to Chicagoans of all faiths.
After growing up in Kankakee, Garlock, who now lives in North Carolina, studied neuroscience and cognitive development for a doctorate in psychology. She taught college for 11 years before moving to a part-time job in a church.
While working at the church, Garlock, who was raised Lutheran, began developing a curriculum for teaching children about religions. That curriculum led her to write several children’s books and create education resources on religions and faith at World Religions 4 Kids, which she first started in 2014.
Garlock chose Chicago for the challenge because of its religious diversity and her familiarity with the city, she said. For the challenge, Guinness required that she use public transit or walk, and she needed to meet someone at each location to certify her visit. Along the way, she also took part in more than 20 services to learn about the different religions.
“It’s really incredible that I could literally go to the Chicago Loop Synagogue, and on the same day, I could walk a few blocks and go to the Downtown Islamic Center, and I could visit them and I could be welcomed by them,” Garlock said.
Sister Mary Friedland of the Brahma Kumaris Center in Lake View, which Garlock visited, said she and Garlock had a long conversation about their interfaith work and “the joy of having friendship with people of other religions.”
“What really impresses me about her is her courage and her respect for the dignity and value of every religion,” Friedland said. “I think it’s such an important quality to bring out to the public.”
Pastor Juan Pablo Herrera of Urban Village Church in Wicker Park said he showed Garlock his church, which meets at a comedy club, and several churches in the neighborhood to speak with church leaders about their community work.
Herrera said he was happy to see the record being set in Chicago and for the opportunity to show Garlock the different ways people in his community go about their worship, as well as how different faith communities have come together to support vulnerable community members as the federal Operation Midway Blitz immigration campaign was sweeping through the city.
“I think it’s amazing,” said Herrera of Garlock’s record. “I think that shows a very different view of how Chicago is usually portrayed in the media.”
It wasn’t lost on Garlock that her mission was occurring at the same time as the Trump administration’s enhanced immigration enforcement effort.
Citing her visits to Catholic churches once built by and for Polish immigrants and now serving Latino immigrants, Garlock said her quest for a record runs counter to the notion that shifting demographics harm a community.
Religions differ on traditions, but they teach similar values of kindness, empathy and community, Garlock said.
She said she hopes her record will inspire people to visit places of worship that they otherwise wouldn’t pay attention to and to reach out to others who follow different religions.
“We can share spaces. We can revamp spaces,” Garlock said. “This is an old, old story in America, and people can figure it out in a way that is in harmony if we let that happen and encourage that, rather than creating all this division.”