Musings

This category includes posts across the whole spectrum of topics and other issues such as museums, arts and culture, literature, writing and politics.

35,000 words… not

A picture is worth a thousand words — and these are worth thirty-five thousand. A photo essay from forty years…
Pilgrim, Lightworker, Medium, Meditator, Writer, Foodie, Guide & Coach

Paul McCarthy’s life changed direction when he visited Brasil to acquire a crystal light healing apparatus in 2008. He learned…
Novena to St Ignatius of Loyola

This novena to St Ignatius of Loyola offers nine days of guided prayer, from his dramatic conversion and devotion to…
When pilgrimage is not an option

Pilgrimage is a calling — not a requirement. For those who cannot travel to the world’s holy places, there are…
Bones and holy dust – relics of the saints

Bones, skin and holy dust — the relics of the saints once drew millions of medieval pilgrims across Europe, and…
I touched the Crown of Thorns

In 2012, I venerated the Crown of Thorns in Notre Dame Cathedral — a relic of the Passion of Jesus…
Some inspiring pilgrims

A carefully curated selection of inspiring and uplifting videos about pilgrimage and sacred travel: The extraordinary 14th century story of…
More inspiring pilgrims

Looking for a more intentional, spiritually rich pilgrimage? This post recommends five deeply loved books on sacred travel—from The Art…
My top ten sacred sites

A suggested list of sacred sites from 17 countries to inspire your travels, including Christian and Muslim holy places and…
Some reading suggestions

Paul McCarthy has written two books about saints that have inspired him (St Ignatius of Loyola and St Francis of…
Reflections on this year’s pilgrimage to Italy

Reflections written from a hotel near Milan airport on the final night of this year’s pilgrimage to Italy — saints…
Annecy, France

A detour from Turin to venerate the relics of St François de Sales and St Jane de Chantal in the…
Turin revisited

Turin may be the most beautiful large city in Italy — grand boulevards, magnificent churches, and the shrines of Don…
Materialisation over a relic in the Basilica of San Antonio

A day of prayer and unexpected grace in Padova — multiple visits to the Basilica of Saint Anthony, and a…
Convent of the Visitation, Treviso

A visit to the Convent of the Visitation in Treviso to venerate a relic of St François de Sales and…
Bologna again

Back in Bologna for a second time — revisiting the shrines of St Catherine of Bologna and St Dominic, a…
Pisa!

Pisa rewards the pilgrim as much as the tourist — four remarkable museums, an extraordinary Eucharistic miracle, the church where…
Chasing Caterina around Siena

A full day following St Catherine of Siena through her city — the duomo, the pilgrim hospital, San Domenico, and…
My first time in Siena

First impressions of Siena — medieval brickwork, a guided tour with the remarkable Anna Piperato, a Eucharistic miracle still unexplained…
Gubbio

A peaceful day in Gubbio — said by some to be second only to Assisi for St Francis — visiting…
Foligno – “where it all began”

A brief but meaningful pilgrimage stop in Foligno — the town where St Francis sold his father’s cloth, setting in…
What can we learn about San Francesco from Perugia

Perugia holds an important place in the story of St Francis — he was imprisoned here, and it changed him…
Under the Tuscan fog in Cortona

A day trip from Assisi to Cortona in the Tuscan fog — visiting the Franciscan hermitage at La Celle, relics…
Revision line – Veneration of the relic of St Francis… and St Carlo Acutis

A third veneration of the relics of St Francis of Assisi using the guided option — more intimate, more intentional…
Second time line – Veneration of the relic of St Francis of Assisi

A second visit to the relics of St Francis in Assisi — mass in the upper basilica, the Basilica of…
First time line – Veneration of the relic of St Francis of Assisi

The bones of St Francis of Assisi — hidden for 600 years, exhibited for one day in 1978, and now…
On the pilgrim path in Rome

Two days on the pilgrim path in Rome — Trastevere, San Francesco a Ripa, the Station Churches, St Peter’s, the…
On my way to Rome again

Arriving in Rome for the 2026 Italy pilgrimage — Il Gesù, St Ignatius, a spontaneous confession with a Jesuit, and…
Meet me in the library – I love books

Let me introduce myself through my love of books. From novels that survived a flood to saints’ lives, Spiritism, Islamic…
Kyoto — thousands and thousands of blessings

Kyoto — Japan’s cultural heart, with 1,600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines — and the final stop on my…
The island where God lives

The World Heritage island of Itsukushima — known as Miyajima, “the island where God lives” — where the entire island…
Ringing the peace bell in Hiroshima

A visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Park and the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace — 500 metres from the epicentre of…
The lovely town of Yamaguchi

Following St Francis Xavier to Yamaguchi — the quiet city where he preached in the streets, converted Japan’s first Jesuit,…
There is a gift in Kagoshima

Following St Francis Xavier to Kagoshima — where he made landfall on 15 August 1549, the first European missionary to…
My pilgrimage to Japan begins in Nagasaki

My Japan pilgrimage begins not where Xavier landed, but in Nagasaki – the Rome of the East, home of the…
Leaving on Uzbek Airlines

Departing Uzbekistan from Tashkent — the Usman Quran stained with the blood of the third caliph, the Soviet metro as…
Far from deserted, you can hook up in a yurt if you want to

Crossing the Kyzyl Kum desert on the Royal Road from Samarkand to Bukhara — a holy Islamic site in Nurata,…
The holiest place in Samarkand

Shakhi-Zindi — the holiest site in Samarkand, a necropolis of staggering beauty that brought me to tears. A place so…
To be in Samarkand

To be in Samarkand — the Mirror of the World, the Jewel of Islam, the Centre of the Universe —…
My introduction to Tashkent

First impressions of Tashkent — a city still finding its feet after Soviet rule, with bare trees hiding its beauty,…
Why are you going to Uzbekistan?

Why Uzbekistan? Because a decade ago I saw an image of Shakhi-Zindi necropolis and could not let it go. A…
Ending the old and beginning the new with St Francis

New Year in Assisi — a fourth pilgrimage to my spiritual home, deepening connections with St Francis, St Rita, the…
A different take on “The Voice” referendum

A piece provided to various progressive media outlets ahead of the national referendum of an Indigenous Voice to the Australian…
The pandemic opportunity

This is the most extraordinary time to be alive and the opportunity for growth is extraordinary. Twelve spiritual principles for…
Iran: extraordinary beauty, culture, refinement and hospitality

Six weeks ago I had one of the best holidays of my life — a guided tour of Iran visiting…
Lithuania – divine mercy, the hill of crosses and great cake

Lithuania — green, sunny, beautiful, and filled with extraordinary cake. The original Divine Mercy painting in Vilnius, the Hill of…
Դուք սիրում եք Հայաստանը

Eight days in Armenia — the first country to convert to Christianity, and a land of extraordinary beauty, faith, ancient…
Is the Maltese Terrier nearing extinction on Malta?

Malta is interesting, cultured and devout — but her quieter sister Gozo is the real treasure. On pilgrimage to the…
Valetta: European capital of culture or a plastic pig’s arse?

Valletta is the European Capital of Culture for 2018 — so why is its Maritime Museum the worst I’ve ever…
The perfumed underpass

A stopover in Abu Dhabi — a perfumed underpass, a woman in silver shoes, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (the…