In a society increasingly alienated from religion, among a people who more and more identify themselves as SBNR (spiritual, but not religious), why launch a tour company specifically dedicated to speaking of faith? After all, has not science proved faith irrelevant at best and recent fundamentalist expressions of faith proved it downright dangerous at worst?

But faith is the narrative of the people who first built the two cities of Boston (literally “Botolph’s Town”  elided together into Bo’s-To’n).  If we are going to properly understand how our fair American city of Botolph began, we have to engage at some degree with this narrative. Faith, especially Christian faith, was the reason for the original pilgrim fathers to flee Boston, England, to come to the New World, and to settle here permanently. Faith was the center not only of their spiritual life, but of their whole community.

Skyscrapers may have arisen in the South End of Boston to take the place of buildings lost in the great fire of 1872, temporarily causing the focus to shift from faith to finances, but once upon a time and even to this day in many sections of the old city, the highest point of the city skyline is the church steeple. The steeple is a constant reminder of humankind’s vertical relationship with something or even someonetranscending this world.

Today in the business world, so much is made about the importance of networking and making profitable connections, but this networking is merely horizontal in orientation. Boston Pilgrim Tours exists to turn our horizontal connections into a more vertical direction by deepening each person’s historical and religious roots and connection with the physical space they inhabit or visit. Boston Pilgrim Tours, by faith, inviting Boston tourists to become spiritual pilgrims.

Aaron Friar, Teacher and Tour Guide, blogging as the Mendicant Monk, is a transplanted native of northwest Ohio and came to Boston in the early 90′s to teach at a private Christian school. He has had an affiliation in his 40+ years of age with over 15 different Christian Churches and so has an up close and personal knowledge of their doctrine and practice. He works presently as an Administrator in an Episcopal Church and hopes to be ordained in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church.

For more information or to book a faith-based tour, reach out to him:    friarfree [at] gmail [dot] com  or at 315-975-2758 (cell).