PROJECT LEAD

About Phil McCarthy

Phil was a GP in Bristol for many years. He held numerous leadership positions within the NHS and was Clinical Lead for the Bristol Homeless Health Service.


In December 2015 he took up the role of CEO of Caritas Social Action Network, the domestic social action agency of the Catholic Church in England & Wales. In March 2021 he returned to the NHS to assist with the Covid-19 vaccination programme.


He has been interested in long distance walking for many years and in 2008 he walked from Canterbury to Rome alone. This experience awakened an interest in pilgrimage and made him realise that he was a pilgrim!


In 2015 he walked on from Rome to Istanbul. He has written books about both pilgrimages - see below.



Pilgrimage books by Phil

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Rome Alone

Rome Alone is the record of Phil's three month pilgrimage. It includes anecdotes about the 1,200 mile walk, historical and cultural background to the route and personal reflections on his inner and outer journeys.


The book describes how it feels to step outside one's routine life and to "roam alone" for three months. Although the journey follows a traditional Christian pilgrimage route to Rome, Phil's thoughts and experiences will connect with people of all faiths and none.

Rome Alone is an exploration of the significance and possibilities of pilgrimage in a secular age of doubt and confusion. The book is a valuable resource for anyone planning a pilgrimage and will inspire others to set out.


The paperback costs £10 and the e-book £5. All proceeds support the work of St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney where Phil's grandfather Eugene McCarthy died in 1970.


The Dusty Roads of History

The Dusty Roads of History is the story of Phil's three month journey from Rome to Istanbul along Roman roads through Italy, Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. He walked from the tomb of Pope Benedict XV who strove for peace during the Great War, to his statue in Istanbul.


Along the way he visited the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos and the battlefields of Gallipoli where his great uncle fought, in the centenary year of the First World War invasions.


The book is an exploration of the potential for modern travel to be a pilgrimage into one's personal and family history and an aid to understanding the wider world events that shaped them.


The paperback costs £10 and the e-book £5. All proceeds support the work of St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney, East London where Phil's grandfather Eugene McCarthy died in 1970.

St Joseph's Hospice, Hackney, East London

St Joseph’s Hospice was founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1905 and is located in Mare Street, Hackney. It is the oldest hospice in England to have remained within its founding framework. 


The Hospice serves a community with a long history of material poverty as well as ethnic and cultural diversity. It also provided the vital context for the early work of Dame Cicely Saunders, who went on to champion palliative medicine in the UK and who was so important in the creation of the modern hospice movement throughout the world.

 

Today St Joseph’s Hospice is a proud modern, caring and compassionate independent Catholic charity that continues to care for and support the people of East London regardless of faith and background.


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