On Purpose: Journeys Through Family, Architecture, Faith and War

by Mark Stafford

People visit ‘places of pilgrimage’—both sacred and secular—for myriad reasons. On Purpose: Journeys Through Family, Architecture, Faith and War celebrates ‘place’—the deeper meaning of the places we seek and those that seek us.

Chapters on:

Lourdes, France Santiago de Compostela, Spain The Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh City Notre Dame du Haut, France Skellig Michael, Republic of Ireland Jerusalem, Nazareth and the Negev in Israel Hamel, France Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC Zenkōji, Japan Doi Suthep, Thailand Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France

Weaving reportage and history—both public and personal—the author explores what draws people to these places. But he asks, in essence, just one question of each: What’s it like once you arrive?

‘What intrigues me is the nexus of journey and destination, where expectation must give way to reality’

We meet the wily tour boat captain at Skellig Michael … the distracted teen at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ... a bored camel outside the Garden of Gethsemane … the girl learning how to blow a kiss at St-Maries-de-la-Mer …

This is the reality of souvenir sellers and zombie tourists, of traffic jams, crowds and foul weather, but also of travellers seeking peace, beauty, information, healing, joy and answers.

98 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2018