{"id":48712,"date":"2019-08-25T11:54:14","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T16:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=48712"},"modified":"2019-09-06T11:57:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T16:57:42","slug":"is-god-a-tourist-attraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/","title":{"rendered":"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I imagine that many readers are already familiar with the photographs of some of England\u2019s ancient cathedrals that have recently been retrofitted with more \u201crelevant\u201d contemporary attractions. Our forebearers went to these Cathedrals to visit the relics displayed there and they formed an important part of the social fabric of the day, but today the number of people visiting these ancient religious monuments has decreased dramatically and many of them, for all their beauty and history, are in danger of closing for lack of interest and lack of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is true that some cathedrals still draw crowds, cathedrals places like Rome or New York are regularly filled with pilgrims and worshippers. It is also true that certain contemporary shrines like Guadalupe, Medjugorje, San Giovanni Rotondo and Bari are much more visited than the cathedrals of their respective dioceses.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then certain churches still draw visitors who come for their historical and folkloric relevance. I am thinking in particular of the Basilica of Santiago de Compostella, where all sorts of people visit on pilgrimage, even though many of them are not doing so out of traditional Catholic piety (and arguably Santiago\u2019s&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Yehylvgl_GY\">botafumeiro<\/a><\/em> is a forefunner of the contemporary installations in the Anglican cathedrals).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the question must be asked, what is the limit to what we can do to keep our churches and cathedrals relevant (and economically viable) in a changing society. There is an outcry when a diocese suggests closing a cathedral, pointing out that not enough people are attending or economically supporting it to allow it to remain open. Such was the recent case of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cruxnow.com\/church-in-europe\/2019\/03\/23\/dutch-cardinal-rejects-plan-to-sell-cathedral\/\">St. Catherine\u2019s Cathedral<\/a> in Utrecht, Holland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, as Christians, we are bound by St. Paul\u2019s example in 1 Corinthians, when he reminds us that \u201cto all people I became all things, so that by all means I might save some.\u201d But do we run the risk of making our cathedrals so relevant to the contemporary \u201cnones\u201d that they cease to be Christian in any meaningful sense? The&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>recently published an article with the title&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/13\/world\/europe\/uk-norwich-cathedral.html\">New in England\u2019s Medieval Cathedrals: Mini Golf and a Giant Slide<\/a><\/em>. To be honest, while I appreciate the desire to reach out to the \u201cnones\u201d and simply the very practical desire to be able to keep the lights on, I feel that they have gone too far. Rochester\u2019s Anglican&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rochester_Cathedral\">Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary<\/a> has been a place of Christian worship since AD 604. In July a miniature golf course was installed in the Cathedral. Each hole in the golf course includes a model of a bridge and a representative of the Cathedral explained its meaning: \u201cWe hope that, while playing adventure golf, visitors will reflect on the bridges that need to be built in their own lives and in our world today.\u201d Fortunately, the golf course is temporary, but personally I think it is a bridge too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another Anglican Cathedral that is in the news this week is Norwich Cathedral.&nbsp;&nbsp;A 55 foot-tall helter-skelter was temporarily installed in the cathedral. The Rev. Canon Andy Bryant, Norwich Cathedral\u2019s canon for mission, too The NY Times that the installation \u201cis a deliberate attempt to help people engage with our cathedral \u2026 There is this idea that the helter skelter makes it all brash and noisy, but people are going on to see the cathedral in all of its glory.\u201d Again, according to the&nbsp;<em>Times<\/em>, Canon Bryant \u201cwas inspired to install the carnival slide after visiting the Sistine Chapel two years ago and admiring Michelangelo\u2019s handiwork on the ceiling. It made him think of Norwich Cathedral\u2019s own ceiling, adorned with medieval carvings called bosses that depict scenes from the Bible, and lament the fact that visitors could not see them close up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last Sunday the&nbsp;Rt. Revd. Johnathan Meyrick, the Church of England\u2019s  Bishop of Lynn (who is a Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Norwich) preached his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-england-norfolk-49389623\">homily<\/a> from the top of the helter-skelter. In his homily, before sliding down the giant slide, the Rt. Revd. Meyrick preached on how \u201cGod is a tourist attraction\u201d and would be \u201crevelling\u201d in his joy at so many visitors to the cathedral (over 20,000 people visited the cathedral to see the helter-skelter).&nbsp;&nbsp;However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/god-is-a-tourist-attraction-anglican-bishop-says-on-cathedral-carnival-ride-64444\">not everyone appreciated<\/a> the bishop\u2019s sentiments.&nbsp;&nbsp;As an interesting counterpoint, Pope Francis preached in last week\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cruxnow.com\/vatican\/2019\/08\/21\/hypocrisy-of-spiritual-tourism-destroys-the-church-pope-says\/\">Wednesday Audience<\/a> against \u201cspiritual tourism\u201d practiced by those who live\u201ca life based only on profiting and taking advantage of situations to the detriment of others inevitably causes inner death.\u201d The pope warned against so many people who \u201csay they are close to the Church, friends of priests and bishops yet only seek their own interests. These are the hypocrisies that destroy the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am sure that Pope Francis was not reacting to Bishop Meyrick\u2019s homily the Sunday before, and admittedly he was not dealing with the same topic in his Audience. But the Anglican cathedral experience is one that should lead us to question what we should plan to do in the future. Many forecast further drops in church attendance.&nbsp;&nbsp;This leaves us with the serious question of how to evangelize those who do not believe in Christ, and the further question of how best to use our heritage and 2,000 year experience in this evangelization (along with the lesser problem of what exactly to do with our real estate and how to judge if the time has come to close a much loved church or cathedral).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I imagine that many readers are already familiar with the photographs of some of England\u2019s ancient cathedrals that have recently been retrofitted with more \u201crelevant\u201d contemporary attractions. Our forebearers went to these Cathedrals to visit the relics displayed there and they formed an important part of the social fabric of the day, but today the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":48714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3118,8,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-celebrandi-new-ws","category-art-and-architecture","category-episcopalanglican-liturgy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d? - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d? - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I imagine that many readers are already familiar with the photographs of some of England\u2019s ancient cathedrals that have recently been retrofitted with more \u201crelevant\u201d contemporary attractions. Our forebearers went to these Cathedrals to visit the relics displayed there and they formed an important part of the social fabric of the day, but today the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-25T16:54:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-06T16:57:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Neil Xavier O&#039;Donoghue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Neil Xavier O&#039;Donoghue\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1\"},\"headline\":\"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-25T16:54:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-06T16:57:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":944,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2_ARS CELEBRANDI\",\"Art and Architecture\",\"Episcopal\\\/Anglican Liturgy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d? - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-25T16:54:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-06T16:57:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":682},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/25\\\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1\",\"name\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\"},\"description\":\"Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue is originally from Cork, Ireland. He is a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ who has ministered in parishes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spent many years as an academic mentor to seminarians. Neil currently serves as Programme Director for Liturgical Programmes at the Pontifical University and as Acting Director of the National Centre for Liturgy. Since 2020 he has also served as the Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. He has studied at Seton Hall University (BA, MDiv), the University of Notre Dame (MA), and St Vladimir\u2019s Orthodox Theological Seminary (MTh). He holds a Doctorate in Theology (Ph.D.) from St Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth and is in the process of completing a second doctorate (D.D) in the Pontifical Facultad de Teolog\u00eda Redemptoris Mater in Callao, Peru. Neil has published a translation of the Confessio of St. Patrick: St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works (Totowa, NJ, 2009), as well editing the third edition of Fredrick Edward Warren\u2019s The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Piscataway, NJ, 2010). In 2011 the University of Notre Dame Press published The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland an adaptation of his doctoral thesis and in 2017 the Alcuin Club published his Liturgical Orientation: The Position of the President at the Eucharist. His articles have appeared in The Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, The Furrow and Antiphon. He writes a monthly article on some aspect of the theology of Pope Francis in the Messenger of St. Anthony and blogs regularly at PrayTell.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/nxodonoghue\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d? - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d? - Home","og_description":"I imagine that many readers are already familiar with the photographs of some of England\u2019s ancient cathedrals that have recently been retrofitted with more \u201crelevant\u201d contemporary attractions. Our forebearers went to these Cathedrals to visit the relics displayed there and they formed an important part of the social fabric of the day, but today the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2019-08-25T16:54:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-06T16:57:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":682,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/"},"author":{"name":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1"},"headline":"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d?","datePublished":"2019-08-25T16:54:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-06T16:57:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/"},"wordCount":944,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg","articleSection":["2_ARS CELEBRANDI","Art and Architecture","Episcopal\/Anglican Liturgy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/","name":"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d? - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-25T16:54:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-06T16:57:42+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg","width":1024,"height":682},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/25\/is-god-a-tourist-attraction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is God a \u201cTourist Attraction\u201d?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1","name":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","caption":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue"},"description":"Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue is originally from Cork, Ireland. He is a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ who has ministered in parishes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spent many years as an academic mentor to seminarians. Neil currently serves as Programme Director for Liturgical Programmes at the Pontifical University and as Acting Director of the National Centre for Liturgy. Since 2020 he has also served as the Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. He has studied at Seton Hall University (BA, MDiv), the University of Notre Dame (MA), and St Vladimir\u2019s Orthodox Theological Seminary (MTh). He holds a Doctorate in Theology (Ph.D.) from St Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth and is in the process of completing a second doctorate (D.D) in the Pontifical Facultad de Teolog\u00eda Redemptoris Mater in Callao, Peru. Neil has published a translation of the Confessio of St. Patrick: St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works (Totowa, NJ, 2009), as well editing the third edition of Fredrick Edward Warren\u2019s The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Piscataway, NJ, 2010). In 2011 the University of Notre Dame Press published The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland an adaptation of his doctoral thesis and in 2017 the Alcuin Club published his Liturgical Orientation: The Position of the President at the Eucharist. His articles have appeared in The Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, The Furrow and Antiphon. He writes a monthly article on some aspect of the theology of Pope Francis in the Messenger of St. Anthony and blogs regularly at PrayTell.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/nxodonoghue\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Tourist-Attraction.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48712"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48803,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48712\/revisions\/48803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}