This happened when he visited the holy site to find the remains of an early church. He was lost in thought, looking at the names on the monument, when a car pulled up. The driver left the vehicle with the engine still on, stamped the visitor stamp on the notebook next to the entrance, and drove away without glancing at the sight.
It took about 15 seconds to get in and out. His wife didn’t even get out of the car. The couple seemed to be on a pilgrimage to holy places. The area was cost-effective since many sacred places are concentrated here, so you can get multiple stamps in one visit.
At first, they probably looked up related information and prayed the rosary while making the 14 stations of the cross. However, the similar narratives of martyrdom repeated at each pilgrimage site made the sense of reality disappear, the emotion dulled, and only the desire to get the stamps seemed to remain. If they had just stamped a few more, the couple would have been happy to go out in front of the congregation during Mass and receive a blessing. After traveling for hours and wandering around looking for a place, they finally arrived, where they only briefly remained.
According to the Holy Land-related data collection published by the Episcopal Conference, there are currently 167 Holy Sites registered nationwide as of 2024. The number of Sites increased from 111 in 2011 to 167 in 2016, and the new data collection to be released at the end of the year will expand the number to around 190. He also heard that selecting a new Holy Site was difficult because of competition among the dioceses.
It is said that over 10,000 people have completed the Holy Land pilgrimage and received a blessing. He has no intention of disparaging the pure faith and passion of those who have already completed or are on the pilgrimage. He is concerned that as the number of pilgrimages increases, the number of 15-second pilgrimages will increase. When a bus carrying a pilgrimage group arrives, people rush to receive their stamps. Prayers and explanations are put on the back burner. Since they have to visit several places daily, they can’t stay in one place for long. Some even bring other people’s notebooks to stamp, which is a huge mess.
Contrary to the original intention of honoring the spirit of martyrdom and restoring the faith of the early church, pilgrimages have become a popular tourist attraction for travel agencies. Local governments, sensitive to the number of outside visitors, support it because they think it will help the local economy by activating tourism, but is that really the case?
Several holy sites have been built but are left unattended, with no one visiting or caring for them. There are also places where the facts are unclear, and you can’t help but shake your head. The monotonous construction of holy sites is also frustrating. Seeing empty tombs lined up makes you frown, and the excessive decorations and installations are sometimes painful. You start to wonder if there is a need for so many holy sites nationwide.
Whenever I see the 100-year-old temple site of Cheonjinam Holy Land, which has been neglected for decades after a foundation stone as big as a house was laid, I feel embarrassed. I wonder what to do about places where hundreds of billions were spent, but even the facts are questionable. Even when the truth is told, they keep their mouths shut and ignore it. This disaster was caused by poor early research, overinterpretation, and excessive passion for local churches.
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