This sabbatical leave from May 15, 2006 to August 13, 2006 is for the purposes of both making a personal pilgrimage and exploring 'pilgrimage' as both a metaphor and model for both personal and parish life. My wife, the Rev. Canon Janet Griffith Johnson, will also be taking a sabbatical leave from her position as Director, Human Resources for the Diocese of Huron, Anglican Church of Canada, and will accompany me on this entire pilgrimage exploration.

The core element of this sabbatical leave will be a personal pilgrimage on the historic pilgrim route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela across northern Spain. The pilgrimage on the Camino will be 'buttressed' by visits to two other Christian pilgrimage destinations.

Prior to beginning the route of the Camino we will first take a one-week retreat at the Iona Community in Scotland. Traveling the Camino de Santiago de Compostela itself will take some 40 to 50 days, concluding on the Feast Day of St. James (Santiago) in Santiago de Compostela on July 25th. We will continue walking to Finisterre (Fisterra) (literally the end of land), which was once thought to actually be the 'end of the earth'. My exploration of pilgrimage sites will conclude with a 5-day visit to the Taize community in France.