Won't you miss Walsingham?

If I had ten pounds for every time I have answered that question since announcing that I would be moving to new work in Camden Town, we would be building another Milner Wing! It’s a beautiful question because it shows the deep love that people have for this place. They appreciate Walsingham so much that they can’t understand why a priest who has the privilege of living and ministering here should ever want to leave. But the honest answer is ‘no’. I won’t miss Walsingham because by leaving, I’ll actually get it back!

That sounds an odd thing to say, so let me try and explain myself. On the one hand there are, of course, many aspects of the ministry here that I will miss enormously. It has been a fantastic privilege to minister to pilgrims and to be with them at important stages of their lives. The Shrine’s ministry with children and young people is constantly exciting and energising. I have been able to work with a tremendous staff team and with colleagues whom I admire enormously for their commitment and dedication to this place. The Shrine is also blessed with an extraordinarily able and dedicated College of Guardians.

But for all these rewards, the irony is that, by working full time in a place like Walsingham, you lose your place of pilgrimage. The whole point of any Shrine is that you come away for a while from the stresses of daily living to a place set apart, and then a few days later go back home again, refreshed and ready to live out the Gospel with renewed vigour. Many pilgrims don’t want to go home. They wish they could stay for ever, they even gaze longingly into the windows of local estate agents. That is an understandable instinct, but it is one that needs to be resisted. Pilgrimage finds its consummation at the Last Visit. Walsingham exists in order to send people back home again. It is a place that calls to conversion and then commissions evangelists.

And that is why the Shrine has such an important role to play not just in the Church but in the nation. I have no doubt that Walsingham canand must be a hotspot in the re-evangelisation of the culture. A few days ago someone asked me a very interesting question. ‘Now that you’re leaving, what do you most fear about Walsingham’s future?’ I knew the answer at once. ‘A domestication of its vision.’ We all know that the Church is sailing through extremely choppy waters just at the moment. Countless pilgrims, some who agree with the consecration of women and some who don’t, have been in touch with the Shrine in recent weeks to express their shock and surprise at the lack of generosity shown by Synod at its July sessions and I know that many of you who are reading this letter will be feeling fearful about the future and unsure of quite where God is leading you. If that is how you feel, please be quite sure that the Shrine is here for you as a place of sanctuary, healing and peace.

But at the same time, there is far more to Walsingham than sanctuary. Mary is for everyone, and as those who honour her, it is incumbent uponus to share in her ministry of holding up her Son for everyone to see. Sacred space evangelises. The Holy House is a place where all can hear their call from God and experience something of the immensity of his love. However marginalised we might feel by the actions of the wider church, there is never an excuse for failing in that duty to make Walsingham available to all who are in search of meaning in their lives.

I have had a thrilling six years of ministry at the Shrine. Never let anyone tell you that life in the countryside is quiet! Thank you forall that you have given me, for your support and prayers and for the opportunity to minister to you in somany different ways. You will all be in my prayers, as I hope I will continue to be in yours.

Fr Philip North - Priest Administrator