The new Sello for Peterborough Pilgrims

This is the new sello for the

Peterbros. If you would like

see what the changes are

look a bit further down this

blog and you will see the

old one. We have added

the Diocesian arms of

Peterborough Diocese

as we are now a diocesian

organisation. The first

since the reformation.

It is our hope that we

can be a force for

renewal in the church

in the UK and Europe.

Come and join us. Contact

is via my email

ianholdworth@aol.com.

Great news

A few days ago, the new Bishop of Peterborough came to see me. This was in response to a paper I had produced about a change in the status of Peterborough Pilgrims to Santiago. Previously we had been one of those outfits that the diocese smiles upon but is not part of the diocesan structure. We are sort of answerable to the Bishop and semi detached at the same time. This was an interim measure until we got a bit bigger. Well that day has come. As a result of the paper and the meeting we are to receive a formal Charter and license. We will be fully integrated. The Bishop will be the President. And as the Archconfraternity has agreed to our existence as a associate member knowing that we Anglicans, we are now the first fully accredited ecclesiastical confraternity in the UK since the reformation. So on the 24 July 2010 we are to be formally started at the celebration of St James's day in the parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Northampton. This is open to all. If you can come you are most welcome! It is followed by a pilgrim feast. One of the objectives of our confraternity is to open, mark and walk the way~the Camino~ in the UK from the site of the former monestry of St James in Northampton to Portsmouth/ Southampton. After the pilgrim gathering on the 24 July some of us are going on that pilgrimage. It is open to all who wish to join. It is hoped that everyone who comes to the Mass and feast will walk with us to Blisworth our first stop. There is a bus that we take everyone home to St Mary's So join us for all or part of that gig.

This must stop.

In recent weeks I have been working to

establish a small Confraternity of St James.

I say in recent weeks, the truth is that I

have been working for 5 years on this project.

It has not been easy. I have not taken the

easy route and tagged along with the

other fraternities, because of a vision of

something rather different at the end of

the road from what is on offer at the moment.

I have seen the posts about 'what is a true

pilgrim.' Dressed in all its finery of pride

of walking to Santiago rather than going on the bus... or train....or even plane. I have walked to Santiago many, many times from all different directions.

I have met some wonderful people on the way and made lasting friendship

with some of them. And now as the fraternity is to emerge into the full

light of day I have been challenged from every direction, by those

who want to preserve the existing scheme of things. We are not a proper

fraternity. We shouldn't be doing what we are doing and the implied correction

that whatever it is that we are up to it should be through the existing

organisation. By this I am not talking about the Archdiocese or the

Archconfraternity. Things are fine with them. We are accepted for

what we are . But I am speaking of others who are worried that we

might spoil their game by being different. The fraternity called

Peterborough Pilgrims to Santiago is unashamedly Christian and more than

that we are Anglican. This is an Episcopally backed outfit. Our Bishop is our

President! I am an Anglican priest. I am exercising my Anglican

ministry. Within that Anglican heritage is a history of nearly 1500 years

when we were organically joined at the hip to the western patriarch called

the Pope and the church which he leads, the Roman Catholics. But I am

also a catholic,not Roman Catholic, it becomes a little difficult to see what

lies in the future in Church unity. For many of us there is a deep

feeling that one day we will go home and the family spat will be over.

Be that as it may. Within the common heritage of 1500 years there

is the whole emergence of the cult of St James and Santiago pilgrimage.

It is part of my Spiritual DNA. It maybe that the Roman catholic Church

holds Santiago in trust, but they hold it for all Christians.

On my first pilgrimage the one thing that hit me in the face was that

for those who had little faith and even those who had much faith

there was little done to interpret the experience as it was happening

to those who had only a little basic Spanish. This was the need that

drew me into becoming a pilgrim Anam Cara. As time has gone on there

have been other needs that I have discovered. Not least of all that

every country in Europe has a direct link with the Camino, but the

UK still has not reopened the historic route from the midlands via

Reading to the south coast ports. Even though we still have the Saints

forearm in a Church in Marlow we have not reopened the way.

And so I went to work. Now there are many who will want ask and

even demand that 'there be room for those who want to walk a

celtic/pagen pilgrimage. They should included. How dare I propose

that I should be so narrow as to insist that our fraternity

should be christian. I should respect them for what they believe

and not deny them'.

Well ! it seems to me that it is a question of respect. I respect them

enough to not wish to make any comment of what they do. If

they wish to hug trees and dance in the nude, wandering wherever

they wish and calling it a pilgrimage, that is up to them. They are

responsible for their own souls. But I expect the same respect. I

am not inventing Christian Santiago Pilgrimage, I only wish

to link with this heritage of prayer and contemplation that

leads to the icon experience that we call hugging the saint.

I am taking responsibility for my own soul and the souls of

those who come with me.

This is all a question of respect and acceptance. These virtues

are part of the great Christian virtue of loving the neighbour.

But even so they are recognised as worthy of merit by all.

It is a two way street give and take. Don't judge my pilgrimage and

fraternity by the values that you impose on yours. And don't

call it a christian pilgrimage when it is not!

The Rhythm of Pilgrimage Part3.

So after a few days the body has caught up with the aspirations of the mind. This does not mean that all will be easy it will not. Although you will have become much fitter than you have been for a long time, you are still working at a high level of energy expenditure. You will get more and more tired as time goes on. If you are not blessed by the need to be back at work on a certain date and you have an open fight ticket, then it is possible to rest more often. But this is not available to many. It is not easy to stay fresh for the whole of the Camino's 55o miles. Pacing yourself helps, bit that Ryan air flight is not negotiable and you will have to push yourself to keep to a timetable. All that being said it does not mean that you have to rush the whole time. Unless that is that you have planned the trip to the hour. And you have overestimated you abilities. This is the province of the young. The restless need to get on and get there is an enemy of a satisfying pilgrimage. So allow space in your pilgrimage for a days rest now and again. So let's return to day four onwards. By now the pains are less and you are walking with ease. If you started from St Jean the country is getting a little less hilly and the walking is good through the Rioja. pleasant vineyards and little villages are a joy, at first, but so is human nature one does get used to them. There are sights that enthrall. I remember one morning coming up to Ganon. The Church was visible on the hill ahead. The moon was full and setting. It was broad daylight. there was a moment when the moon sat on top of the church tower as though it was impaled on the weather vane. And the moon looked so close that it appeared that it tower of the Church and the moon were exactly the same distance away. Unforgettable. Now you begin to think about everyone you have left behind, the joys and the problems. This drifts into the the dark corners of memory to those places where the unresolved lurks. You begin to work them. After a few days one gets to a place of peace. The work now is to be on the deepest level. One enters a space where time losses its relevance. I only have this distance to walk and I have four hours to lunch. I am deep with myself and experiencing a certain detachment from the immediate reality. This is an important place to be. Jesus said seek and you will find. Use the space for this most spiritual of all quests. You can switch off and become a walking zombie, many do. The unspiritual most certainly do, but you Child of God are able to experience an Emmaus experience. He is walking right next to you. Those senses that have have been switched off for years back at home are coming to life. It is although you developed a whole new set of senses. You are not able to see him, but you know he is there. Let God now work in you.