There are plans afoot to develop an App to assist individuals, families and groups make a self-guided pilgrimage of Te Tai Tokerau. The App will provide for GPS coordinates, accommodation options, prayers, historical information and recorded talks by people of Te Tai Tokerau. This development has been inspired by a pilgrimage led by Wiga Autet Read more
Australian nurse Nelley Youssef is immersed in a sea of millions of white-robed pilgrims doing the tawaf of the Kaaba, the black cuboid structure at the heart of Masjid Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, Saudia Arabia. She takes tiny, shuffling steps as she completes seven anti-clockwise laps that form one of many rituals she completes as Read more
In November and December eight seminarians and a priest from Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland will be cycling the length of New Zealand to promote and pray for vocations to the priesthood. The pilgrimage will begin at Cape Reinga, which is the northern most point on the mainland of New Zealand. It will take about Read more
A truck has ploughed into a crowd of Catholic pilgrims in Mexico, killing at least 16 people and injuring 30 others. Some 200 people were taking part in a procession on the main street of Mazapil in Zacatecas state when the truck ran into them. The dump truck “was apparently left without brakes and struck Read more
On Good Friday a group of people made a pilgrimage walk from the Okarito Domain next to the beach, to the trig. It is a distance of about 1.8km each way and a height gain of 250 metres. Okarito is a small settlement the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. It is famous for its scenic Read more
Not long ago, only a few people would make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Now, over 200,000 people a year spend several gruelling weeks along the route. Traditionalists turn up their noses at the crowds, but the rewards are still vast. In the Middle Ages, pilgrimages were neither a quest for meaning, Read more
Israel is where you can encounter the physical reality of religion. In one short trip, I prayed at the spot where Jesus was born, stood at the foot of the mountain where he fed the 5,000 and touched the rock into which his cross was planted. To all those atheists who say “Jesus wasn’t even Read more
What is Hajj? The annual Hajj pilgrimage is one of the world’s largest gatherings, as hundreds of thousands of people flock to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to participate in one of Islam’s five pillars of faith. Muslims from all over the world will gather together for five days to pray as one community, celebrating their history Read more
This photograph, taken by a Mexican Marist priest, shows that New Zealand is literally showing the flag at the World Youth Day. There are close to 50 kiwi pilgrims, representing all the dioceses in New Zealand, making the 19 day World Youth Day pilgrimage. It began with 5 days in Santiago, Chile, where the pilgrims were Read more
The trouble with the godstuff is that you can spend an awful lot of time wrestling with things that make no apparent sense. Like this prayer exploration I’ve been tangling with after my friend Marcia asked me to pray for her before merrily tripping off on pilgrimage. Prayer has always been a mystery to me, which you Read more