[Gocamino] Toronto Thoughts

[Kathy Gower]

I've put a bareest of bare synopsis of the Toronto Gathering on Santiagobis 
and will elaborate for this list-serve, but I did want to tell you all about 
a lively workshop I was not able to attend but was highly thought provoking:

that of Mary Victoria Wallis whose book "Among the Pilgrims:  Journeys to 
Santiago de Compostela" has just come out.  (This is not a plug...I haven't 
read it, but I have met and talked with her!)

Her workshop was entitled "Gortex, Matamoros, Indulgences and Me:  A 
Pilgrim's Quest for Authenticity on the Traditional Camino"

It was a lively discussion about "the tensions pilgrims sometimes feel 
between our modern world-view and the history and religious practice on the 
Camino and to explore its meaning in a way that recognizes the inevitable 
dissonance between old and modern."  (quoting Mary...)

Her questions for all of us, seasoned pilgrims, future pilgrimage planners 
and people who aren't sure the pilgrimage is even for them were pertinent to 
me....here's some:

Is pilgrimage an individual quest or are we art of a community of people 
striving to make the world better?

Does the Camino hold a moral imperative beyond healing our own personal 
wounds?  Could it take on a real, necessary role in relieving the suffering 
of the world?  Should it?

Obviously there are no right or wrong answers, but what delectable fodder 
for conversation!