Holy Island Pilgrimage (11 Jul 2008)

The annual CAFOD/livesimply Hexham & Newcastle Pilgrimage to Holy Island took place on Saturday 14 June, and over 100 people got involved. The day was a great success, pilgrims coming from Hexham and Newcastle and Middlesbrough dioceses.

We caught up with Olivia Morgan (aged 13) and Charlotte Spain (14) who said, "we really enjoyed the beautiful scenery and fresh air as we walked on Holy Island." They were lucky too, because it only rained towards the end of the day - and the sun even shone for a while!

The theme of the pilgrimage was living sustainably, and the Island was a perfect location to think about creation. This year, because of the tides, the pilgrims walked around the island rather than across the Causeway, providing a chance to take in fully the beautiful scenery and atmosphere of this nature reserve and holy place.

Olivia and Charlotte said "it was good being among nature and seeing animals as we thought about sustainability. Having the Mass outside was great!"

Pilgrims arrived on the island by 11am - before the island causeway became impassable with the rising tide. An opening liturgy took place beside St Aidan's statue outside the Priory then the Pilgrims set off on a three mile walk around the island. The opening liturgy connected St Aidan and living simply with a reflection written by Fr Jim O'Keefe, in which he said:

"When St Aidan arrived here on Lindisfarne in the year 635 from Iona off the West coast of Scotland, the odds are that he walked here. He probably wore a habit made of pretty coarse cloth, made in the workshops of the Abbey on Iona. He would have carried his Bible and not much else.

"…It is difficult to imagine anyone better than Aidan, Cuthbert, Bede, Hilda, Coleman, Aelred and others living life more simply. They relied totally on local help and local produce, on local energy and local support. They copied books with the quills of local gulls flying around the island day and night. They were close to nature, they respected the Earth."

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.

>>more photos here: