Faithful departures - Stephen Walsh

Brought up in classic Catholic fashion to keep the faith, Stephen Walsh nevertheless managed to mislay his own towards the end of a not very successfully misspent youth. Years later, and fully aware of his spiritual shortcomings, he decides to jump sandals-first into a series of pilgrimmages, in the company of a diverse, yet devout, cast of devotees.;His journeys take him anywhere the Blessed Virgin Mary has put in an apparitional apearance; anywhere a jaded traveller can buy 3-D postcards of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He goes to Lourdes in the company of several thousand Liverpudlians, and to Medjugorje with a coachload of Londoners. He travels to Rome, of course, and to Knock in County Mayo, where Sister Pius's redeye tour stops for three house before it turns round and heads home again...;Against a gaudy background of grot and grotto, Walsh relearns his prayers, recites his rosary, bathes in sacred waters, climbs holy mountains, watches Padre Pio videos and listens to his fellow-pilgrims' inspiring tales of life, love and the Faith of his Fathers. Meanwhile, he makes a parallel journey through his not exactly typical Scottish Catholic childhood, searching for the answers to one or two not insignificant questions about life, the universe and everything...