The Green Chalice by Mark Coleman

Pilgrimage Some of my best conversations have taken place when walking. Whether with friends or strangers the walking somehow oils the process of meeting others. And even more so when there is a common St Chad's Church Tower purpose, the same destination, the shared goal, as in a pilgrimage. My vicar friend Andy blogs about pilgrim walking . It becomes for him a way of looking at the world.An excerpt from his blog: "There is also something about walking, thinking and reflecting at the same time.  Is there a connection to tacit knowledge where you learn by doing things with your hands?  Perhaps a variant of it?  Certainly it was good to reflect back on the last year which has been hard and good........." I have been helping plan a pilgrimage for Saturday 14th February. We are working with the 3 Faiths Forum and local Churches and Mosques to organise a walk from Rochdale Parish Church, St Chad's to the Golden Mosque and then to St Edmund's , both in Falinge. In ...

I have been asked to read at the forthcoming Holocaust memorial day for Rochdale borough. It's to be held at Middleton Arena on 27 January . It is a privilege to do this and look forward to it, with some heaviness. For these are dark and difficult stories, of hatred of minorities, of poisonous myths, of the mechanics of genocide... and we see them occurring still. So it will be poignant. It was chilling to hear of the attacks on the Kosher supermarket on the 9th January, reminding us all that anti-semitism is still around. I remember reading Martin Gilbert's book Holocaust Journey whilst in Poland in holiday in 1998. I kept looking at the train tracks and thinking to myself: It was those rails that took millions of Jews, Gays and Trades Unionists to their death. I am sure that it is true that we are what we remember. We become the stories we tell and retell. I have come to see this particularly in my research into what we say and do in Church. When we forget to pray about certa...