pilgrimage cheating

[Maryjane Dunn]

<snip>
Well, 31.  However, and this is a big "but," I bussed from Burgos to Leon.
Yes, I admit it.  I cheated, and for a variety of reasons.  <snip>

<snip> It looks like I am going to have to do at least 20 miles a day in
order to make
it.  I really do not want to cheat.  It would mean a lot to me personally to
complete the whole trip on foot.  <snip>
Occasionally the issue of "cheating" on the pilgrimage comes up as a topic;
sometimes it's disguised as who is a "real" pilgrim and who is not.  Let me
weigh in with my humble opinion before this becomes overblown again:

The "official" Church rules are that you have to walk the last 100 miles or
so, and carry a pilgrim's passport which is stamped at least twice a day to
"prove" that you made the pilgrimage, in the way that THEY intended. If it
is important to you to get the Compostela and be an officially sanctioned by
the Church, you should follow their rules. To do otherwise and then try to
get a Compostela is truly "cheating", because you have used deception to try
and obtain something you did not earn according to their rules.

If, however, you're interested in doing the pilgrimage for your own reasons,
you may do it however you like. Kings and queens of the middle ages didn't
suffer carrying their backpacks, eating poor food, or (gasp!) walking--they
often rode horseback or in carts, they brought along their retinue of
servants, and their food was probably of the same quality they ate on a
regular basis. If they had had access to air-conditioned, fancy
tourism-style busses, I'm sure they would have used them. Common folks would
have ridden them too, had they had the money. So there is no such thing as
"cheating" on the way you do your pilgrimage unless you 1.-- practice
deliberate deception in trying to get the Compostela, or 2.-- tell all your
friends "I walked the whole camino from Roncesvalles to Stgo" when in truth
you rode a bus a large part of it. In the case of #2 you're still not
technically "cheating" you're just stretching the truth (lying) to impress
your friends back home.

My advice would be to decide from your own personal viewpoint just what
aspect of the pilgrimage is important to you. Remember that of the Big 3
pilgrimages (Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago) it is only Santiago where the
*process* seems to have been as important as the actual arrival--since St.
James' miracles did not occur at his tomb but in the real world.

Maryjane

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