How long have the pilgrimages been running?
Like many dioceses, St Albans has run occasional pilgrimages to overseas locations for many years, but the present comprehensive programme began in the year 2000 when the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Christopher Herbert, made a commitment to ‘Pilgrim 2000’, a project supported by Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, then Bishop of Jerusalem, which sought to encourage churches, churches groups and dioceses to make a special effort to run a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the Millennium year. The project was overseen by McCabe Pilgrimages, and by the end of 2000, dozens of groups of all denominations had travelled, not only to see the ancient stones at the sacred sites, but also to meet and build relationships with the ‘living stones’, the local Christians who were, and remain, a minority in the Holy Land.
Like many dioceses, St Albans has run occasional pilgrimages to overseas locations for many years, but the present comprehensive programme began in the year 2000 when the then Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Christopher Herbert, made a commitment to ‘Pilgrim 2000’, a project supported by Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, then Bishop of Jerusalem, which sought to encourage churches, churches groups and dioceses to make a special effort to run a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the Millennium year. The project was overseen by McCabe Pilgrimages, and by the end of 2000, dozens of groups of all denominations had travelled, not only to see the ancient stones at the sacred sites, but also to meet and build relationships with the ‘living stones’, the local Christians who were, and remain, a minority in the Holy Land.
