Past pilgrimages

Explore the highlights from our past pilgrimages, capturing moments of reflection, adventure, and connection. Let these images inspire your own journey.

Israel/Palestine

Our pilgrimages to Israel/Palestine have been supported by St George’s College https://www.saintgeorgescollegejerusalem.com/ which is at the heart of the Diocese of Jerusalem, and a short walk from the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City. These pilgrimages were filled with visits to key sites in the life of Jesus and other sacred places for Christians, Jews and Muslims. We had opportunities to confront the realities of life for those in Palestine and the occupied West Bank, to reflect deeply on calls for justice and compassion to prevail across this land, and to pray for a lasting peace.

Italy

Italy Pilgrims to Italy visit sites of significance for St Francis and St Clare in Assisi and other parts of Tuscany and Umbria, as well as many other important places in the life of the church over the centuries. We enjoy the beauty of creation in isolated Franciscan sanctuaries and experience the crowds who turn out to see and hear Pope Francis at the weekly Papal Audience in St Peter’s Square. We marvel at imposing sculptures and paintings and imposing architecture, and we learn about the work of contemporary Christian organisations. Wherever we travel there is a photo opportunity around every corner.

Celtic Christianity in the United Kingdom and Ireland

The Celtic pilgrimage is a rich reminder of the different threads of Christian theology and practice that contribute to our contemporary understandings of what it means to follow Christ. As we travel from Canterbury and the origins of the early Church of England, through Wales with its own locally-rooted expressions of the Gospel, in Ireland with its interwoven Catholic and Protestant life, and into the holy places of Scotland and north England, we move between collective experience of new things and times of deep personal reflection.

Greece and Turkey

This pilgrimage is an opportunity to experience something of the Apostle Paul’s extraordinary missionary journeys and his contribution to the spread of the Gospel through the outer regions of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and into Europe. We develop an understanding of the early Greek and cultural context which Paul and his companions encountered, visit key biblical sites related to the early church, and enjoy the multi-sensory experiences that Turkey and Greece have to offer today.

Local Pilgrimages in Aotearoa New Zealand

Our own more extended pilgrimage journey had its origins in exploring sites in Aotearoa New Zealand with pilgrim eyes. These visits varied from single-site visits with friends and church family to more extensive excursions with focus on a people, landscape or events, and sometimes a combination of all three. In the process, we discovered how much more there is to learn about the intersection of tangata whenua, missionaries with the Christian message, and successive government forces in our country’s ongoing faith journey.