[The Living Church] After more than 80 miles of walking, members of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark completed a six-day pilgrimage across New Jersey on July 30.
The journey, which began in Belvidere on the state’s western border, averaged 15 miles of walking per day and brought pilgrims to 20 Episcopal churches between the Delaware and Hudson rivers. Envisioned by the Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith and organized by the Rev. John Mennell, the pilgrimage helped parishioners explore neighborhoods of the diocese and learn more about the diversity and challenges present in New Jersey.
“We suggested making a pilgrimage across the diocese as a way to get a different perspective on the incredible diversity in the diocese,” Mennell wrote via email. “In a relatively small geographic range you move from incredible wealth to extreme poverty. The space separating rural farmland from industrial blight is surprisingly small.”
