Anglican Communion News Service

Christ Church Cathedral in British Columbia is building a seven circuit labyrinth to mark the new millennium. Labyrinths have been part of the Christian tradition since about the fourth century, an are designed to aid meditation and contemplation.

"It's really a kind of metaphor for life's journey," said Patricia Crossley, who is co-ordinating the project to lay out the design on the South Lawn of the Cathedral. "You approach the centre and then move away; come close, and then move away again."

The pattern of the labyrinth is laid out in coloured bricks - the path is marked in salmon coloured blocks, while the borders are in grey. The all weather surface is low maintenance.

"It comes from the idea of a pilgrimage, and for those people who could not trek to Jerusalem, they could use the labyrinth to walk and think," said Patricia Crossley. "But is exists in many faiths. It's just a central, quiet place to come and muster your thoughts."

Patricia explained the difference between mazes and labyrinths: "The idea of a maze is to confuse; it's a puzzle, a game with obstacles. A labyrinth is a single pattern which leads a walker to the middle and then back out, a smooth, unbroken path, a walking meditation."

The labyrinth at Christ Church is being constructed by a team of five workers who are on work-release from a local prison. The inmates are part of a restorative justice project at William Head Penitentiary.

"Restorative justice is a new approach to dealing with criminals by having them focus on the harm that has been done to people rather than the law they have broken," said David Hough, chairman of the citizens' advisory committee for William Head. "One of the first steps is personal accountability. This is about taking responsibility and then making changes."

Statistics from Correction Services Canada demonstrated that prisoners involved in work-release programs before they their release tend to have a lower rate of re-entering the prison system. The crew building the Christ Church labyrinth are so taken with the idea that they are planning to construct a sister labyrinth in the grounds of the penitentiary.

Item from: Diocesan Post