St Paul's Pilgrimage

It feels like the pilgrimage to St Paul's Cathedral has been a long time coming, but the substantial preparation put into it by John Lockyer and Janet and Derek Hand in particular helped to make it such a success. John as many of you will know was a virger at S. Paul's for many years and his enthusiasm for the Cathedral and his contacts there were invaluable.

The pilgrimage was organised under the umbrella of Churches Together in Hangelton and West Blatchington, and it is a tribute to the close relationships we have built up over many years that it was possible to make a pilgrimage to a very Anglican Cathedral in this way. I was particularly glad that Fr David Weston, who has been a good friend to me and to St Peter's, was able to come with a good number of our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters from S. George's. 

It was particularly good to be met by Fr Martin Warner, who gave us a warm welcome and a spiritual introduction to St Paul's as we gathered around the font. Fr Martin was previously the Administrator of the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and has always reminded me of John Mason Neale. It's partly that ascetic look, but also because he comes across as a very holy and prayerful priest, though I'm sure he'd be amused by such a comment. 

I hadn't been to the Cathedral since I had been a pastoral assistant at St. James the Less, Sussex Gardens, in Paddington. I have always found medieval and gothic churches more appealing than neo-classical ones, but I must admit to warming to St Paul's. Although distance had made my memory of the Cathedral rather cloudy I suspect that the £40,000,000 cleaning project had transformed the aesthetic appeal of the building.

We are already talking about arranging a similar day pilgrimage for next year, perhaps to a pilgrimage site associated with one of the other Christian traditions such as Aylesford Priory, in Kent.