The Catholic Diocese of Northampton joined the national pilgrimage to Walsingham on Saturday, 14 June, gathering under clear skies and the warmth of the early summer sun. Pilgrims from across the diocese arrived at the Catholic National Shrine for midday Mass at the Basilica, where Bishop Philip Moger presided.
Leading the Northampton pilgrims was Fr Simon Penhalagon, who also preached the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist. Drawing on the theme of the Jubilee Year—“Pilgrims of Hope”—Fr Simon offered words of encouragement and reflection rooted in both personal experience and spiritual insight.
“Hopefully my words will encourage each of us, wherever we’re sitting today and wherever we are on our own pilgrim journey,” he began, inviting the congregation to consider the ancient and deeply spiritual act of pilgrimage. He recalled having once lived in Pilgrim’s Hatch in the Diocese of Brentwood—“named after people just like ourselves,” he said—reflecting on the long history of pilgrims making their way to Walsingham over the centuries.
Fr Simon reminded pilgrims of the barefoot penitents of the Middle Ages and contrasted their sacrifice with our own experience: “I was moaning a little bit in my heart about a two and a half hour coach journey,” he admitted with a smile. “And there they are walking barefoot from London!”
His homily explored the roots of the word pilgrim—peregrinus in Latin—meaning a foreigner or wanderer, and connected it to the origin of the word parish, highlighting that we are all “foreigners in a strange land” whose true homeland is heaven.
Fr Simon spoke movingly about the Jubilee theme of hope: “Pope Francis has invited us not just to be pilgrims of hope but pilgrims into hope—people who are journeying deeper into what real Christian hope means.” He distinguished this theological virtue from mere optimism, explaining that true hope is “a confidence in all the truths that God has shared with us… a trust that He will ultimately journey with us through this life into eternity.”
At the heart of his message was the Gospel of the Annunciation, the foundational moment of the Incarnation: “God, in all his divinity… chose to become one of us,” Fr Simon said. “He humbled Himself that he might model love… dying for that love, laying down his life… and in the resurrection, defeating all sin, all evil, and opening the golden doorway to heaven.”
After Mass, pilgrims shared lunch—many picnicking in the shrine grounds under the blue sky—before setting off on foot along the Holy Mile. The pilgrimage concluded with a short service at the Abbey Grounds in the Anglican Shrine, bringing the day to a prayerful close.
In his final words, Fr Simon encouraged all present to deepen their trust in Christ:
“As we pilgrimage through this land, this strange land, as foreigners wandering through life to that ultimate homeland that is for us prepared… we ask Our Lady’s intercession to follow in her footsteps as the ultimate pilgrim who leads the way.”
The day was marked by joyful community, quiet contemplation, and renewed purpose, reminding all that in this Jubilee Year and beyond, we continue our journey—not just to Walsingham, but to the heart of our faith, walking together as pilgrims into hope.
