From Standing Stones to Cosmic Christ: Dwellings for God in North-West France

• July 25 – August 10, 2010  (17 days)
• download 2010 Summer Pilgrimage brochure

We met at Paris airport on July 25th, and travel by chartered coach to our first location, in the nearby cathedral city of Meaux. The itinerary includes:

• In Noyon, walking a northern portion of the ancient pilgrim highway to Compostella, into the city of John Calvin’s childhood.
• In Meaux, worshipping in the cathedral of St.Étienne, where laity were invited five hundred years ago to read and pray the Scriptures.
• In Beauvais, experiencing the reach of Gothic builders for the ultimate heights of sacred space.
• In Chartres, living the wonder of the first of Gothic cathedrals, with its ancient stone statues and labyrinth. We shall explore the mystery of the divine as light, in the astounding 12-13th C. stained glass windows of the cathedral.
• In Carnac, on the coast of southern Brittany, probing the unresolved secret of the awesome ranks of Neolithic stones, many hundreds in number.
• Still in southern Brittany, walking onto the isthmus monastic site of St. Cado, the Welsh Celtic missionary who evangelized the region in the 6th C.
• In St. Malo, sharing the ancient festival of the Celtic-Breton pardon procession at St. Nicodème.
• Exploring Canadian spiritual roots in the walled cosair city of St. Malo, whence Jacques Cartier sailed in 1534 to found New France.
• Sailing from St. Malo to the English-speaking isle of Jersey in the Channel, there to encounter French methodism.
• Walking the causeway out the salty tidal flats, and climbing the winding cobbled streets of Mont St. Michel, the Benedictine spiritual fortress.
• On the coast of Normandy, following the story of the 11th C. Bayeux tapestry, and then making a pilgrim visit to the fortified beaches of Arromanches (1944).
• Continuing in Joan of Arc’s Rouen,a meditation on the spiritual meanings attached to national identity and destiny.
• Still in Rouen, discovering the rich Jewish spiritual life of northern France in the 12th-13th C.
• Returning to our own era in Paris, exploring the vision of the Jesuit scientist and theologian, Teilhard de Chardin, of life unfolding in an evolutionary universe.

Accommodation will be in modest, comfortable family hotels and retreat centres in Meaux, Chartres, St. Malo, Rouen, and Vannes near the coast of Brittany.  See the Reserve page for details about booking, price and deposits.

Noyon to Iona : The Reformed Heritage

• With regret we announce that this trip has been postponed to another year [prevoiusly planned for Sept 30 - Oct 15, 2010].