Pilgrim Paths
A new Pilgrimage Paths walking series in the Bicester and Islip deanery was launched on Sunday 1 May seeking to connect local people with one another and with the history of their 35 parish churches.
The initiative was inspired by the Revd Dr Sally Welch, Author of Making a Pilgrimage, who gave a talk on pilgrimages at a meeting of the deanery’s synod in 2018. The Revd Gareth Miller, Area Dean of Bicester and Islip, brought together keen walkers from the local churches to map suitable pilgrimage walks within the deanery. Since then, a small group, chaired by the Revd Diana Glover, Assistant Area Dean, has been putting together more than 15 circular routes in and around the parishes taking in the countryside right up to the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire borders.
Each route plan and map highlights key points of interest about the history and significance of each church and offers a prompt for prayer and reflection at specific points along the route. Diana shares the aims of the pilgrimage walks:
Route maps are planned to be available from each church in the Bicester and Islip Deanery and from diana.glover@btinternet.com.
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