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The Norfolk and Norwich Christian community website

Pilgrims end 120-mile walk at Norfolk shrine

StudentCross12010: Hundreds of pilgrims will reach the end of a 120-mile walk carrying a large wooden cross, at the national shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham, Norfolk, on Good Friday for a unique Easter celebration.
 
Pilgrims taking part in Student Cross, Britain’s oldest annual pilgrimage, will have experienced a week of joy, blisters, friendships forged for life and liturgy as never experienced before.
 
More than 250 people of all ages set out from locations across England, including London, Nottingham, Oxford and Ely in ten separate groups from March 27.
 
They will have walked around 120 miles during the course of the week carrying a life-sized wooden cross and will gather together at Walsingham on Good Friday.
 
Dave Stanley, Student Cross national director for 2010, said: “Pilgrimage is an intense and rewarding experience. It is more relevant today than it has ever been for those prepared to face its challenges. Modern life can be complex and uncertain. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by its pressures and burdened by worry. Going on pilgrimage is a fantastic way to strip back to the basics, examine the fundamental questions in life and consider what is really important.
 
StudentCross2“Student Cross enables people to think deeply about the direction they are taking, how they can see their role in the world and how God can play a part in their lives. It also offers a unique way to celebrate Easter – both a chance to recharge your spiritual batteries and a crash course in community living.
 
“We are an immensely varied group of people. From the very young to the very experienced. From people who feel secure in their faith as Christians, to people who have simply found that walking with friends restores them in some way.
 
“We are students, parents, teenagers and children, people with jobs and people without. Fit and unfit, wildly enthusiastic and apparently reluctant. What we have in common is that we find this pilgrimage an invaluable way of connecting with what is most important in our lives.”
 
Christians of all denominations walk Student Cross, as well as people who would not call themselves Christian but who are also searching for spiritual meaning in their lives. Most Legs have a majority of Roman Catholic walkers.
 

 


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