numbers..final

[Howard Mendes]

In a message dated 05/05/04 03:58:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ed_maddenaLINEONE.NET writes:
I wonder why it is that non-Catholics want to receive the Compostella from
the Catholic Church?  Some will even lie as to their intentions for going on
the Camino in order to get it.  Is it because they just want a trophy or
certificate to show off to their friends/family back home to prove they did
walked the last 100km.
I think most people regard it as a certificate of accomplishment after a
grueling, but rewarding experience.  It is more than a souvenir or a trophy if an
official authority awards it to you.  Whether the Catholic Church "bestows" it
is incidental to most of us who wanted something symbolic at the end of the
Camino to evidence the achievement.  It is also a curiosity when the Church
latinizes your given name on the Compostela.
It annoys me that the Church wants to know the purpose of the pilgrimage when
many people including some of you on Listserve have expressed private or
personal reasons for doing it.  Most of the pilgrims that I met had various
reasons, some of which were personal as well.
Jean-Pierre Lacaze, a Frenchman I met on the Camino, is a person of
principle.  He refused to tell the Compostela Office what they wanted to hear and was
denied the certificate.  He told me that it is just a meaningless piece of
paper so far as he was concerned.  He said he had his own personal Compostela and
then pointed to his head.  He made me feel ashamed that I complied with the
Church's regulations and bureaucracy in order to get the Compostela.
In my opinion, a minority of the pilgrims walked the Camino for purely
religious reasons alone.  So all the fuss about statistics seems like nonsense to
me.
Howard Mendes, NYC
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