Some reflections on the contemporary motivations behind the resurgence of pilgrimage.

Path to Pilgrimage.

In a survey conducted at Canterbury Cathedral in 2023, under the question “How would you best describe your spiritual path, faith or belief?” a pilgrim walking the Via Francigena declared himself an “Atheist, in search of something meaningful”, and to the section asking, “What is the reason for your pilgrimage?” his response was “personal change”. He wrote, “The road is unknown, the goal is meaningless, and yet here I walk, one step and another”. It seemed that a higher calling was compelling this young man to walk out into the unknown on a big life adventure. It was a call to leave everything familial, familiar, and habitual behind to embark on a quest for something yet unknown, to a place yet to be seen. A journey both outward to strange new places and inwards to increased self-knowledge and spiritual improvement, inevitable to such an endeavour. Stating openly that he was an atheist, and viewing his goal as meaningless seemed to be an intentional disposition advising others, or maybe even himself, not to read too much into the fact that he was walking to Rome, as the destination to him was meaningless from a religious point of view. However, in seeking personal change, the goal of attaining some kind of inner transformation was probably not meaningless at all. Despite his open declaration of atheism, there he stood on a sacred cathedral site engaging in the religious ritual of pilgrimage, on an ancient religious path to another sacred site of the Holy city of Rome. In a confident modern world of individuality, science and technology, I wondered what the motivation could be behind utilising the process and backdrop of a religious ritual in his quest for personal change.

In an earlier survey conducted in 2022, the selection under ‘Reason for Pilgrimage’ proved very interesting in that the choice of ‘Spiritual’ far outweighed ‘Faith’ and all other more secular reasons.

Furthermore, in the previous year, the 2021 Office for National Statistics census not only saw a large decrease in people affiliating to Christianity, but an increase in those reporting ‘No Religion’. Out of those electing to express themselves as Atheist, Humanist or Agnostic, the largest group aligning to “Any other religion” was Agnostic. At a time when we appear to be bombarded with media and data evidence informing us that society is becoming ever more secular, it seemed startling to me that I would find the choice of ‘spiritual’ given as the main reason for embarking on a pilgrimage, so pronounced.

For this new increasing breed of secular pilgrims, writer Peter Stanford thinks these ancient trails still seem to “pack a spiritual punch” and he admits that the number of people walking pilgrimages these days is “striking and puzzling in our secular, sceptical age when organised religion in the west is in steep decline”. He says that even if modern pilgrimage is religion-lite, it is not without a spiritual dimension as “significant numbers of those who walk the Camino, even among the more than 50% who disavow the label of religious, arrive at journey’s end…talking of how the experience has changed them” [1].

Why, asks Stanford, “in our otherwise markedly secular and sceptical times, especially in the developed world where numbers of those who describe themselves as religious is in rapid decline, are people actively seeking out places whose history is soaked in the sort of faith that is anathema to them?” [2]. David Gergen wrote that “growing numbers of people are on a “pilgrimage for spirituality”. People have a sense of unease in their lives he said, and “the chase for material goods has left them with more toys and less satisfaction. The culture assaults their senses and politics seems stale. So, they are looking for something…they hope to find in a new inner life”. [3] This sentiment seems to persist, but whilst modern society may be abandoning religious practice within the Christian tradition, there remains an overlap in the ethical and moral values to live a good life, imbued in religion, which orient people toward meaning. It appears that the yearning for meaning and the desire to cultivate a sense of the transcendent or spiritual, which “may be the defining human characteristic” [4], is now enacted within a realm of a modern Western society that appears to be more and more largely devoid of the concept of God. Consequently, the potential for contact with what religious people deem to be transcendent realities is surrendered. This is a dimension for Stanford however, that is “bound up with pilgrimage” [5]. Pilgrimage to him, offers the possibility to bridge the gap between the profane and the sacred that continues to exert influence even in sceptical times, because the big questions of life death and the suffering to which man is the tragic heir, might just be bought into sharp relief [6], and what better place than the road, “that somewhere which is nowhere” to face the age old questions of why we are here and what life means. [7]

In my new role as Pilgrim Officer at Canterbury Cathedral, I meet pilgrims of differing belief pathways, and one conspicuous thing is the point where I offer the chance of a pilgrim blessing, and the tears usually start to flow. The dean of Lichfield Cathedral remarked that “people talk incessantly of the spiritual experience they have had in cathedrals” and a man was recently observed in tears in an English cathedral saying, “I am a secular person, but something about this place has got to me”. [8]

We should not ignore this quest for spirituality in special places where the membrane between the sacred and the profane is especially thin and by keeping the doors open, pilgrims may well experience this primitive yearning for meaning, that is often present but camouflaged in the non-religious. As a recent pilgrim wrote, “Despite not being religious it was a meaningful experience and ending at Canterbury with a blessing was very important, different to previous walking holidays!”

Pilgrimage as an ancient religious ritual is not only recently capturing the public’s imagination but offers a path to faith and spirituality for the religious and non-religious alike. If the church desires to welcome those turning to faith or re-turning to faith then pilgrimage is going to play an important part in that narrative and is a zeitgeist opportunity that should be seized with enthusiasm. Churches and cathedrals are uniquely positioned in leveraging and aligning with the prevailing spirit of the times, in the dominant intellectual, cultural, and societal trend of pilgrimage as a pathway to faith, spirituality and meaning seeking in this modern era.

I post pictures of pilgrims on Instagram to continue in a contemporary digital way the medieval tradition of portraying pilgrim stories in stained glass here at Canterbury Cathedral, and you can stand by the miracle windows where pilgrims with the same hopes and dreams, prayers and aspirations would have stood hundreds of years ago. Coming to Canterbury Cathedral offers a real chance to touch the past and connect with the heritage of pilgrimage.

Follow us @canterbury pilgrims and tell your pilgrim story at www.canterburypilgrims.co.uk to be documented as the monks would have done here in the twelfth century.

Email pilgrims@canterbury-cathedral.org or ask for me at the visit centre.

[1] Stanford, P. (2021) Secular pilgrims: why ancient trails still pack a spiritual punch. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/28/secular-pilgrims-why-ancient-trails-still-pack-a-spiritual-punch.

[2] (Stanford, P. (2021) Pilgrimage: journeys of meaning. London: Thames Hudson. p.11.

[3] Gergen, D. (1996) A pilgrimage for spirituality. U.S. News and World Report. 23 December, p.80

[4] Armstrong, K. (2009) The case for God. London: The Bodley Head. p.19

[5] Stanford, P. (2021) Pilgrimage: journeys of meaning. London: Thames Hudson. p.12.

[6] Ibid. p.219

[7] Preston, V. (2020) We are pilgrims. London: C. Hurst and Co Ltd. p.8-9.

[8] Twiston-Davies, B. (2019) “Oh to be a pilgrim in Britain’s green and pleasant land”. Available at https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/oh-to-be-a-pilgrim-in-britains-green-and-pleasant-land-n8lw3pwph