American Pilgrims on the Camino/Gatherings

[Lydia Banales]

Hi Edie,
Long time, no hear. I understand you were on the Camino. Was I "out of
the room" when this association was formed. I don't know anything about
it. I'm sorry we weren't much help with Santa Barbara. If there is still
something we can do to help, we would like to. Good to see you posting
once again. Lydia

Edie Bennett wrote:

>American Pilgrims on the Camino is indeed, as Robert Ward says, "a group who
>decided it would be fun to have a big annual get-together of Camino lovers."
>And if you read the open letter posted by Kathy Gower recently, it is also a
>group who made the appropriate contacts and arrangements to provide
>hospitalero training given in the Spanish tradition by qualified Spanish
>trainers, a service those of us in N/A would have to travel to Spain to take
>advantage of.  It is also a group who made arrangements to offer a spiritual
>retreat at the Franciscan retreat center in Santa Barbara for pilgrims who
>want to re-connect with the spiritual side of their Camino experience.
>
>On the subject of names, it did indeed occur to us that people outside
>"America" would want to join.  People who live in the U.S. encounter a
>unique situation when describing our nationality.  We're "Americans" but
>America is two vast continents.   We're from the United States but there is
>no name for that.  United Staters?  You are right that North America best
>describes us.  These are challenging issues that I believe, in time, will be
>resolved as we work toward our mission, which is to educate and celebrate
>the pilgrim experience for all pilgrims everywhere.
>
>As Robert so nicely put it, "We're all on the same Camino, and we can all be
>proud of where we come from."
>
>Peace along your path,
>Edie Bennett
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Robert Ward" <robertwardaGOSYMPATICO.CA>
>To: <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
>Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:54 AM
>Subject: Re: American Pilgrims on the Camino/Gatherings
>
>
>
>
>>Ah, but note that the Little Company of Friends has a maple leaf on its
>>
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>logo!
>
>
>>I assume you are being facetious (irony being our national forte), but
>>
>>
>just in case you aren't I'll point out that the "American Pilgrims on the
>Camino" is, as its name suggests, a group of Americans who decided it would
>be fun to have a big annual get-together of Camino lovers. It probably never
>occurred to them that anyone from outside the States would want to join (and
>indeed, at last year's gathering, I was the only Canadian, and non-US
>citizen, in the crowd of 80 or so.) My guess is, though, that if droves of
>Canadians and Mexicans suddenly started applying for membership, the first
>thing these good people would do would be to add "North" before "American."
>Until that happens, it's a little presumptuous to ask them to change their
>name -- like telling the Camino Association of Burgos that I might join
>them, but only if they drop the "Burgos."
>
>
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>

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