The United Thank Offering (UTO) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the UTO Camino Challenge Grant to create the Anglican Pilgrim Centre in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. UTO pledges to match donations up to the first $60,000.

The vision for the Anglican Pilgrim Centre is “to provide a place for the 100,000 Protestant pilgrims who walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela each year to have a place to end their pilgrimage by celebrate the Eucharist together,” said Sherri Dietrich, UTO board president. The Centre will welcome pilgrims of all faiths, encouraging youth development, spiritual formation and interfaith dialogue, by providing space for pilgrims to process their journey together and share their experiences. “An Anglican Centre in Santiago will show the continued strength and faith of the Spanish Reformed Church in Spain, and UTO is grateful to be a part of this project,” Dietrich added.

The Camino de Santiago de Compostela is one of the most ancient routes of pilgrimage in Christianity, and Santiago de Compostela was the third most holy site in Christianity in the Middle Ages, after Jerusalem and Rome. Plans for the Anglican Pilgrim Centre have been in development since 2015, and UTO now joins in the work.

This October, the UTO pilgrims will be walking part of this ancient route and will end their journey in Santiago de Compostela. Follow their progress on the UTO Facebook page and webpage, or on the Friends of the Anglican Centre Facebook page and webpage.