City Again: Sint-Jozefkerk

Carrying on my Quest for Authenticity, I visited the Sint-Jozefkerk. This cathedral may not be as grand as Martinikerk or Der Aa-kerk, but, considering that this house of worship is an official centre of the Groningen-Leeuwarden Diocese, it is surely promising if you are a religious tourist or an authenticity seeker.

Source: Wikipedia

One of the reasons I chose this place is that I was invited to attend the concert featuring a choir performing Mozart's Requiem there. Since I am into both the religions and classical music, I just could not miss such occasion.

Arches decorated with Dutch carvings. 

My expectations of Sint-Jozefkerk having similar interior design as Martinikerk or Der Aa-kerk immediately vanished, the moment I opened the door of the main building. The first thing that hits your eye is commandments carved on the pillars in Dutch and Latin. As your sight will venture through the pillars, it will come across the enormous crucifix above the altar. For some reason also, the overall lighting in the cathedral which filled the place with bright yellow colour made me feel relaxed and calm.

Since we have already established who do we mean by saying 'religious tourist' (see previous post), the following question emerges: 'Why one becomes a religious tourist?'. What motivates a person to travel far away from home and listen to the choir in a cathedral visit sacred places/ceremonies/events etc.? There are a lot of theories on that subject but here I will mention one of the two brought up by Blackwell (2007) - content theory of motivation.

Same carvings can be seen on pillars

Blackwell (2007) stated that a religious tourist (as every tourist) has needs both low-level and high-level kinds (think of Maslow's hierarchy). Religious tourism gives the opportunity of satisfying such types of needs as social (during pilgrimages people can feel themselves as a part of a group), self-actualisation ('spiritual enrichment  will make you better').

In my case, I am fulfilling self-actualisation needs by listening to classical music and being in a spiritual place.  

References:

 Blackwell, R. (2007). Motivations for Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage, Festivals and Events (R. Raj & N. D. Morpeth, Eds.). Wallingford, UK: CABI Pub.