North Carolina Pilgrims Depart On Ground-Breaking Journey To Turkey

Jewish, Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders will travel this fall on a pilgrimage from Western North Carolina to Turkey, as part of The Pilgrimage Project, a groundbreaking program uniting worshippers in unforgettable journeys of the body and spirit to places in the world sacred to all three Abrahamic faiths.

Created by Friendship Force International, a non-profit global exchange organization, The Pilgrimage Project brings faith leaders together in communities across the country to learn first-hand about their sister faiths and to return to their communities as leaders for future interfaith dialogue and action. Other communities planning future pilgrimages include Chicago, Milwaukee, Dayton, Hartford Connecticut and Charlottesville Virginia.

The flagship pilgrimage departs November 10, with leaders from Western North Carolina. Turkey is a country rich in spiritual heritage for all three faiths. The pilgrims will visit sacred sites in Istanbul, Cappadocia, Konya, Izmir and Ephesus, attending worship services and meeting with local religious leaders and congregations.

The interfaith leaders from Western North Carolina include pilgrimage coordinator Dick Wolgamott, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville; Rabbi Philip Bentley of Agudas Israel Congregation of Hendersonville, the Jewish faith leader; Christian faith leader the Rev. Dr. J. Mark Stanley, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville; and Elmoiz Aburna of Asheville, the Muslim faith leader.

"Our goal for the project is for pilgrims to return home with a new understanding of their own faith as well as a deeper knowledge of the common roots of all three faiths,” says Leslie Withers, Pilgrimage Project Coordinator, “and also be equipped and motivated to continue interfaith dialogue and action in their communities in western North Carolina."

Scholarships for pilgrims are available through a generous grant from the CF Foundation, based in Atlanta. The local Friendship Force Club of Western, N.C is supporting the pilgrimage by raising additional scholarship funds and providing publicity and community outreach.

If your community would like to know more about creating an interfaith pilgrimage, please contact Leslie Withers at: 404-965-4329 or by email at: pilgrimage@thefriendshipforce.org.