- A rocky road to the enthronement of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
- Further turmoil and scandal in the Anglican Episcopates of the United Kingdom.
- No progress for those hoping for Equal Marriage in the Church of England.
- More talk about the Quiet Revival which will continue not to show up in denominational statistics.
- Success for BBC Farage TV as Reform make great gains in the May elections
- Despite its record in government, the SNP get about 60 seats in the new Scottish Parliament.
- Because of its record in government, the Labour party gets terrible results and there is an attempt to remove Keir Starmer as leader.
- Despite its record both in and out of government the Democratic Party does well in the November elections in the USA.
- Stock market has another volatile year but ends up on this year, but not by much. FTSE is 9,931 at the start of the year.
- 2026 is the hottest year ever recorded.
4 responses to “Politics of Pilgrimage”
-
Living in Ireland – at one time not too far from Knock – it always astonished me when driving through the village how those who had just visited the shrine seemed to think that it had made them invincible! They’d wander into the middle of the road and totally ignore the traffic streaming around them!
A bottle of Knock holy water in the shape of Our Lady sits behind me as I type – next to a similar one from Lourdes and a knitted Orangeman bedecked with a collarette proclaiming him a member of LOL 1, Portadown! The juxtaposition is deliberate! (I wonder if + David has one on his shelves from the "support Drumcree" shop?!)
Which leads to the question "How do holy water taps work?" – theologically, that is! What is blessed to make it holy? Is it the reservoir (but that is constantly replenished and so eventually, after being diluted for a long time, the water becomes "unholy". Is it the tap itself and the water is sanctified by passing through it?
Discuss!
-
Holy Water Taps
Perhaps the water becomes holy when it is applied by the believer to the cat. -
Holy water and questions about pilgrimage
Hmmm, yes I can see the dilemma…I guess the female ordaindees (not a word really, apologies for my attack on the English language) are excluded – though would it be possible to construct a small al fresco altar and hold a ceremony of your own? Pilgrimage places become so because people believe something, not just the ecclesiastical hierarchy, I think? If we don’t go then it is like saying ‘ok, you have that site of devotion then’. (Yikes I sound so serious, which I am, but I really do mean my statements to come out as questions…not commands.)
As to the cat, holy water, and the believer – maybe all the water is holy and we just think we play a role in making it so? Alternatively, maybe the cat is the believer and the water is transformed through a great mysterious purr.
-
The Cat in Question
As for the cat in question, she is not a believer as such. Rather, she thinks that she is the only proper object of veneration.
Previous Posts
-
Divine Dating – the Mysterious Art of Finding A New Cleric
How does God speak? Is it in the words of a CV or by judging the style in which it has been laid out? Would one font convince you to put someone on a shortlist and another make you put the application in the reject pile? Is it through the checking off of tick-boxes on…
-
Predictions 2025
Good results for Nigel Farage following the English local elections in May. Terrible results for Conservative Party. No progress towards the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church of England Turbulent year for WordPress, which powers about half of the internet. 2025 will be the hottest year on record. No trade deal for UK with…
-
Scottish Episcopal Kalendar 2026
For years now, I’ve produced a Kalendar for the Scottish Episcopal Church with all the bible readings set out for the year. This year’s Kalendar is available online so that anyone can download it and print it out for themselves. It is available right here: Scottish Kalendar 2026 Anyone who would like to make a…
Leave a Reply