Please follow the link below for the latest information about the confirmed location of the Beatification of Cardinal Newman.

www.paxtravel.co.uk/stoppress_newman

I should like to wish a big welcome home to the pilgrims from ACN (Aid to The Church in Need) who have just returned from a memorable visit along the pilgrims route to Santiago de Compostela. To quote from the press release by John Newton on their visit:

“FRIENDS and supporters of Aid to the Church in Need who completed a week-long pilgrimage to the Tomb of St James in Spain were delighted to be granted last-minute special access to the relics of the saint.

Twenty-two benefactors of the charity, who walked up to 18 miles a day, arrived in Santiago de Compostela on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (11^th June).

But mile-long queues stretching out of the cathedral that day meant that some members of the group were unable to visit the relics.

Next morning, the guide from Christian tour operator Pax Travel, which coordinated the pilgrimage alongside ACN, asked the cathedral sacristan for a special viewing.

Initially the request was refused until eventually the sacristan changed his mind and the ACN pilgrims were granted a private visit to the relics at least an hour before they were opened to the general public.  

2010 is a special jubilee year of the Apostle James and pilgrims who visit his shrine in Compostela can obtain a plenary indulgence.

            The veneration of St James in Santiago Cathedral includes climbing up steps behind the altar to a golden statue of the saint. The statue is then given a hug.

            Pilgrims then descend to the crypt under the altar, where the relics are kept in a silver casket.

During this jubilee year, an indulgence is granted to any pilgrim who prays at the tomb of the St James, and fulfils the usual conditions – prayer for the Pope’s intentions, reception of communion and recent confession. The next jubilee will not be until 2021.

ACN pilgrimage coordinator Portia Borrett was delighted that everyone got to see the saint’s relics.

She added: “I felt that every person had brought something special to the pilgrimage and I felt privileged to have travelled with them.”

The pilgrims were accompanied by ACN UK chaplain Father Martin Edwards, who said daily Mass.

Also travelling to Santiago in the same week was Damian Carroll. He walked about 500 miles from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-port, France over six weeks to raise funds for the ACN-supported Save the Saveable project in the Sudan.

Save the Saveable is providing Christian education for more than 15,000 children living in displacement camps around Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan.

Pax Travel made a £20 donation towards Save the Saveable for each pilgrim.

Sudan is a priority for ACN help in Africa receiving key support for projects including catechesis programmes, training for priests, sisters and seminarians, construction of churches, and ACN Child’s Bibles.”

“Yet the face was different from that on which the priest had gazed so often in Portugal, in Rome, in Goa and in Macau. It was not Christ whose face was filled with majesty and glory; neither was it a face made beautiful by endurance to pain; nor was it a face with strength of a will that has repelled temptation. The face of the man who then lay at his feet was sunken and utterly exhausted…The sorrow it had gazed up at him as the eyes spoke appealingly: “Trample! Trample! It is to be trampled on by you that I am here.”

The above is a passage from Silence by Shusaku Endo, one of the most remarkable novels I have ever read. If you haven’t read it, beg, steal or borrow a copy, or better still go out and buy it. Reading Silence brought home to me how fortunate and pampered most of us are today in the Western World, obsessed with materialism and our own ‘rights’ (generally our material rather than human rights). The passion and suffering of Christ were brought home to me when I was in Turin two weeks ago with my Catholic Parish from Baldock, and waited patiently with thousands of other pilgrims for nearly three hours to Venerate the Holy Shroud. I was amazed how ladies of 87 years were able to wait for their turn without complaint and then, footweary but fulfilled trudge back to the hotel where we were staying. Our visit to the Shroud Museum the next day gave us a wonderful insight into the make-up and history of the Shroud. If it is a medieval fake, the so-called fakers would have had to be the cleverest human-beings who ever inhabited this planet, such is the recent consensus among scientific experts who have re-analysed all the evidence, some of which was not available during the 1998 carbon-dating.

More on the suffering of Christ : our first groups of pilgrims have returned from witnessing the Passion Play at Oberammergau and have reported that it was a stunning experience and, for some, a “life changing experience”. We were blessed that on the days many travellers were unable to fly because of the ash-cloud, all of our flights were able to take off and land on schedule! Divine intervention?

It therefore came as a surprise to me, when I received a few letters from people who had witnessed the stunning Passion Play, complaining that they had not had a mini-bar in their hotel room, or that they had to walk across the street to use the swimming pool! I am certainly not without fault myself in appreciating material things (Oui, je suis un grand pecheur, aussi,) but, my young staff have been working round the clock to ensure the well-being of our pilgrims. Some of them even stayed up all night, working on a contingency plan to bring everyone back should their flights have been grounded. Fortunately this proved to be unnecessary, but I am proud of my staff. They work three times as hard as the pampered, striking BA cabin crew for less than half of their pay.

That was my rant! Having said this, Pax Travel will continue to do everything to look after the welfare of its pilgrims. This is always first and foremost in our minds, and is why 70% of clients are first, second or third time pilgrims, and many of them we regard as friends. Hopefully it is also one of the reasons Pax was voted best religious tour operator for 2009.

The other Passion Play is being performed in the stunningly-beautiful setting of Sordevolo, north of Turin. I am flying out to join the Pax group, guided by Judith Dean and Maddie Holmes, and will witness the play on Sunday July 4^th. The last date on which Pax has availability for Sordevolo is Saturday 11^th September on our short tour lasting from 9^th – 12^th September which will be based in the mountain sanctuary of Oropa, (which contains one of the five Black Madonnas in Europe). There are just a few more places remaining on this tour, a bargain at £599!

Also highlighted on our website are our autumn pilgrimages, which include two tours to Syria, and several to the Holy Land, as well as visits to Lisieux, Fatima, Rome and Assisi, and the Franciscan Sanctuaries of the Rieti Valley (Greccio, Rieti, Spoleto, Fonte Colombo).

We would love you to join us on one of our autumn pilgrimages. For anyone who has visited Oberammergau with Pax Travel during the summer of 2010 we will offer a £60 reduction on the quoted prices. Why not contact us for a check on dates and availability?

On a more humble note, a sincere thank you to all of you who are travelling on a Pax pilgrimage this year. We appreciate your custom, and if you are happy with our arrangements, we are delighted. If you are not so happy we will try to remedy this!

Best wishes to all.

Philip Dean.

Thank goodness our prayers have been answered and the latest volcanic ash cloud has moved away. I know that this a grey area (no pun intended), but I sincerely hope that the regulatory authorities in UK and Europe, together with our new government (HOPEFULLY!) and the airlines and travel trade can work out a more proactive way of dealing with this situation in the future. None of us are able to predict the direction that future volcanic ash will take. At least the authorities seem to be listening to recommendations from the manufacturers of aircraft engines rather than simply the burbling of bureaucrats! We have been talking to other AITO operators and travel insurers, and are trying to incorporate events such as disruption caused by volcanic ash flows into insurance cover, but Rome was not built in a day, so for the present it be a wing and a prayer and a seat of your pants job.

Talking of Italy, I am off to Turin tomorrow with our Catholic Parish group from Baldock. As well as viewing the Holy Shroud of Turin, we will also be visiting place associated with St John Bosco, as well as the shrine of Our Lady of Consolation. More about that when I return.

Bookings are now coming in for the packages we are offering in Birmingham and Oxford for the Papal visit and the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman on September 19^th. If you are thinking of bring a group, and would also like tickets for The Dream of Gerontius on Saturday 18^th, then do not hesitate to get in contact with us.

We also have space on our pilgrimages to Mexico, Syria, The Holy Land, Turkey, Rome & Assisi, and the Franciscan Sanctuaries of the Rieti Valley this Autumn.

Philip Dean

It started last Thursday. British airspace had closed because of our Icelandic friends had been sending us (c)ash (there is no ‘c’ in Icelandic). Our 29 pilgrims in Assisi were due to fly back from Perugia on Friday. I nearly froze! Suppose this went on for another day? By Friday morning, I had to make a decision. I Authorised Cora (Pax Travel Manager for Italy) to ask Claudio our Assisi coach owner, to find the necessary three drivers, and his best coach to drive the group on the 28 hour journey to Calais. Meanwhile Andrew hired a coach to drive from England to Calais to meet up with Fr Anthony’s pilgrims on Sunday morning. Quinto, Donatello and Enzo, summoned at short notice, performed heroic feats to drive in relays to the French channel port. They met up with our English coach, and by 3pm on Sunday, we were getting calls of thanks from tired but very grateful pilgrims from North London. So far so good, but what about Fr Thomas from Abergavenny, in Venice with 35 pilgrims, and due to fly back to Bristol on Monday. If I have to see the bald pate of Lord Adonis once more saying that he is “erring on the side of Caution”, I will scream! Once again it is left to Pax, the tour operator, to sort out the mess caused by politicians. Cora pulls a blinder here. She is approached by the head teacher of a secondary school in Treviso, Italy whose party of 47 children and 3 teachers are stuck in London. Cora matched the two groups up and Pax hires a coach from Padua to Calais, brings the Italian school children over from London on our English coach (Thanks Dave!) and they do a swap in Calais! Off got the Italians to Treviso, whilst Fr Thomas and his weary pilgrims sail and drive off to Dover and on to Abergavenny, tired but relieved.

“Thank you very, very much”, said Fr Thomas.

Yes, Pax Travel were voted Best Religious Tour Operator for 2009, and we have tried to live up to our responsibilities, unlike the criminally negligent insurance companies and politicians. The total cost to Pax Travel for the repatriation £12,000, total cost to our pilgrims, nil. Total contribution from airlines and insurance companies, nil.

Oh, there is a little piece of Divine Intervention on Wednesday morning; the airspace miraculously re-opens and Fr Stephen and his 30 pilgrims fly back from Northern Spain to Heathrow on schedule.

Of course, many people are still unable to return, some will be stuck abroad for several weeks. But remember, if you book with my company, Pax Travel, I assure you that we will always look after you. If you make all your own travel and tourism arrangements, with no assistance from a licensed Tour Operator, you are on your own, when the sun is shining you may save money, when the rain (or ash!) starts falling, it is down to you to get home!

Thank you to all the clients we have repatriated, for your kind messages;

“Cora, I am so very grateful for all that you and Misia and the drivers and the Hotel did for us. I would like to record how wonderfully Pax Travel cared for its clients. Every blessing, Anthony”

“Although very tired when we arrived home, we had a truly wonderful time and would have no hesitation in recommending you to others. Sincere thanks, Chris & Sharon”

Thanks from all from Pax to Anthony, Chris and Sharon, oh and our pilgrimage to visit the Turin Shroud departs on Friday from Gatwick with Fr Michael! Deo Gratias!

Philip Dean

Welcome to the Pax Travel Blog. This is our first post and is simply a test!  We’ll be writing more here soon!