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St Albans Announced as Founding Member of Green Pilgrimage Network

St Albans Cathedral and City become founder members of international Green Pilgrimage Network

St Albans is to become a founding member of a new global network aimed at greening religious pilgrimages. The Green Pilgrimage Network will be launched on 1st November in Assisi in Italy in the presence of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. It is to be coordinated by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), in association with WWF.

The idea of making a religious journey to a holy place is something shared across different religions, and the vision of this network is to make places of pilgrimage as environmentally sustainable as possible. As the oldest place of Christian pilgrimage in Great Britain, St Albans Cathedral was invited to be part of this network in partnership with the City and District Council. The Cathedral is also one of Britain’s oldest recycled buildings – since Roman bricks are still visible in the Norman tower and throughout the building.

The Mayor of the City and District of St Albans, Cllr Aislinn Lee, said, ‘I am honoured to welcome the nomination of St Albans as a Green Pilgrim City, joining a worldwide network alongside other destinations like Jerusalem, Amritsar and Assisi. We look to a future welcoming ever more visitors in which the vision of a green future becomes ever more vital and compelling. In this vision, we can all become those who tread lightly on the earth and leave behind a better place for those who follow.’

Canon Kevin Walton, the Canon Chancellor, who has been working on the project said, ‘This is a significant step marking out St Albans as an international place of pilgrimage. It is also a challenge for us to ensure that we do all we can to actively care for God’s creation. To this end, we have been working hard to put together a plan to enhance our environmental standards.’

Our Green Pilgrimage Network video can be viewed by clicking below.

St Albans Cathedral and City join Green Pilgrim Network

Other cities in the Green Pilgrimage Network include:

Amritsar, India (Sikhs)

Assisi, Italy (Roman Catholic Church)

Etchmiadzin, Armenia (Armenian Orthodox Church)

Haifa, Israel (Baha’is)

Kano, Nigeria (Islamic Qadiriyyah Sufi Movement)

Jerusalem (Jews, Christians and Muslims)

Louguandai, China, (Daoists)

Pilgrimage Pathway in Luss, Loch Lomond (Church of Scotland)

Trondheim, Norway (Lutheran Church of Norway)

St Bishoy Monastery at Wadi El Natroun, Egypt (Coptic Orthodox Church)

For further information, and ARC’s general press release:

http://www.arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=484

The St Albans Cathedral congregation will take part in a public litter pick on the Abbey Orchard, starting at 11am on Sunday 30th October