Pilgrimage overview
Since the atrocities of October 7th, 2023 in Israel/Palestine and the war that followed, those of us who are connected to the Living Stones, the Christians who live in the Holy Land, have had a sad separation and a deep concern for their future. To put it bluntly, we have missed our connection and our ability to stand, literally, with them. With that in mind, we are planning a Solidarity Pilgrimage for anyone who would like to come along.
You will see that the itinerary for this pilgrimage is less precise than it would be for a ‘normal’ pilgrimage, in which the principal focus would be the traditional holy sites. While this will, most definitely, be a pilgrimage, and we will visit some of the sites and pray at them, our main purpose in traveling at this time is to spend time with, and to encourage and stand in solidarity with, the Living Stones, the Christians of the Holy Land. We will do this intentionally. This will include visiting some of the various institutions that the Diocese of Jerusalem so dutifully and faithfully oversees there.
Since the beginning of the war we have been in close contact with our many friends on the ground, and been watching closely the advice of the State Department. Our partners in Jerusalem, Habib and George Khoury, have been operating pilgrimages for around forty years, with a completely unblemished safety record, and we are confident that this pilgrimage can operate as safely as any other pilgrimage we have operated. If events should change this judgement, either on the part of the State Department or of our own partners and contact, then we will, of course, cancel these arrangements and refund all monies paid.