Local pilgrimage: An aid to spiritual growth. A case study on weekend parish pilgrimage

This project researches ways that a local parish pilgrimage can aid the spiritual renewal and growth of participants. The programme included three preparatory sessions covering historical, practical and spiritual issues, the pilgrimage weekend, and a social event for sharing pilgrims' tales.;Pilgrimages to local shrines are popular in parts of the world where such shrines exist; so there are well-established routes, rituals and patterns of behaviour for people to follow. That is not the case in the study area, where this is a foreign idea to many people who rarely walk very far. This was the first such pilgrimage in the area, offering a unique opportunity to take an inventory of the local spiritual resources, adapt practices from elsewhere to a different environment, then learn if a local pilgrimage is an effective spiritual exercise to help urban-dwellers encounter the Holy in their neighbourhood.;Questionnaries and reflection exercises in a specially-prepared journal were designed to help pilgrims in their spiritual work. These tools also helped evaluate how well the overall programme and its key components assisted people identify then move towards their spiritual goals. The results, which were explored further during interviews, are compared to information from a literature review and variety of other sources to uncover any common patterns, or unique features to the experience. These are documented along with a description of the programme and lessons learned from this pilot project.;For centuries, spiritual growth has been described as a journey. It is an enduring metaphor that has helped many. Those who have embraced the journey literally, making physical pilgrimages to places of spiritual significance, have left testimonies to their benefits as catalysts for spiritual awakening and development. For Christians, pilgrimage destinations are usually associated with biblical events, the lives of Jesus and the saints, or divine manifestations; so from a Canadian context, this typically involves a trip overseas. Recognizing that many people cannot, or will never travel to distant shrines or sacred sites, the project investigates whether a local pilgrimage that is deliberately designed to incorporate many important elements of a pilgrimage to traditional shrines can serve a similar purpose.