Charity Boss in 'Long Walk to Peace'

Wednesday July 12 2023

The director of Scottish Christian mediation charity Place for Hope will embark on a 290 mile pilgrimage for peace next month.

Carolyn Merry and her dog Pace (meaning ‘peace’) will walk from the the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland to the Island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland.

Starting on August 2, the route will take in the St Cuthbert’s Way, Border Drave Road/South Upland Way, John Muir Way/Union Canal, the West Highland Way and St Conan’s Way, arriving on Iona for the Thanksgiving Service in the Abbey on Iona on August 25. The journey traces backwards the route that missionary St Aiden took around 635AD, as he travelled to spread the gospel throughout Northumbria.

With the support of the Iona Community and Rev Canon Dr Sarah Hills, Vicar of Lindisfarne, Long Walk to Peace aims to resonate with people who care about peace and reconciliation and recognise the urgent and increasingly destructive challenges we all now face. It is a call for a world much more deeply rooted in love, inclusion, peace, and hope.

Carolyn spent over 25 years in the humanitarian, international development and peacebuilding sectors, often in places of war, extreme poverty, repressive discrimination and exclusion of those most vulnerable.

Carolyn said: “The world is facing unprecedented threats as the foundations on which we have built national and international systems and ways of life crumble. Foundations too often predicated on the misuse of power, greed, division and fear.

“As a person of peace I am drawn to walk this pilgrimage to dig even deeper into my spiritual roots and explore fresh perspectives on doing what Place for Hope seeks to do every day – support people to reach their potential as peacemakers in their daily lives, in their communities and in the world, to challenge the status quo of injustice and inequality and to help all live well with differences.

“I hope this pilgrimage will be an opportunity for me and all involved to see these times not just in terms of crises but as a moment for genuine and much-needed transformation if people and this planet are to heal and continue together. That’s worth walking for!”

You can join the Pilgrimage in a variety of ways, including walking part of the route, supporting with prayer or practical help, or signing up at http://eepurl.com/b87HTn to share in the reflections and updates along the way.

Life and Work is the magazine of the Church of Scotland. Subscribe here.

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