[Gocamino] Confraternity

[Rebekah Scott]

Dear Grant:
  That is an excellent question, and I think the answer is still evolving where Americans are concerned. I am going out on a limb to try for some clarity here. I hope others who are better informed with correct me if I'm wrong; everyone forgive me if I get long-winded.
   
  A traditional type confraternity is an organized, non-profit group of devotees of a particular religious practice/pilgrimage/saint.  The official Catholic Encyclopedia definition is here: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04223a.htm. 
   
  The best example in our little pervue is the Confraternity of St. James in London. It started as a group of Catholic and Anglican academics with a keen interest in the Camino de Santiago. They sponsored academic studies and supported the few hardy souls willing to travel to Camino spots to further the study of Camino arcana; their meetings were held in one anothers' homes and in church halls, etc. When the Camino started to boom, their mission outgrew its founding impetus and they were among the first to produce user-friendly, annually updated guidebooks, a very good web site; www.csj.org.uk/csj.htm,  then sponsor (with the Ponferrada Camino Amigos group) the refurbishing and staffing of the now-beloved Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino -- a stop in a then-abandoned village where pilgrims would otherwise have to hike 40+ kilometers to the next refuge. 
   
  They still produce a periodical of Camino studies, both academic and prosaic; their annual guidebooks to all the various caminos are still a gold standard. And last year they opened a second refuge along the Camino del Norte near Lugo. They're a real success story, and they run a very tight, efficient ship. Still, I'm not sure how they'd fit into the Catholic Encyclopedia's definition; people of every religious stripe join the organization, and only some take an active role in religious affairs.  Still, ties are close with the local bishop and parish priests, and now in Rabanal the Benedictine brothers next door.  Their backbone is still a spiritual one, and they won't hesitate to tell you that; their headquarters and library are now in the parish hall of a church in Blackfriars, London. 
   
  I think the Camino's religious aspect is a sticking-point for some American pilgrims -- by extension so an American Confraternity. We are rather sensitive about religion; some of us wear our faith on our t-shirts, and others think faith and religious belief should be kept totally to one's self lest someone "shove it down others' throats." We've all been victims of both kinds, so we step lightly. 
  Still, the Camino is in its very nature a journey of faith, and it's been a Roman Catholic institution a lot longer than the USA has even been here. We would be wrong to impose our values -- or lack thereof -- onto a place or an institution that does not belong to us. 
   
  And so comes the Confraternity Question: How many of us would fall into the strict definition outlined by the Dictionary? And how many of us would prefer the model provided by our UK friends and colleagues? If we were a confraternity, what shape would we assume?
   
  I am a very spiritual person, but I don't advertise. I'd be willing to join a confraternity, (I already am an active CSJ member) but I would not want to be disingenuous about my commitment to a particular brand of Christianity therein. As an American I would want to keep it open to all faiths, or none. So long as I was assured everyone's beliefs were going to be respected, I'd gladly join an American confraternity, especially if it would further our goals as Camino pilgrims. I'll even lead the first Rosary, and/or lead the first shavasana meditation. (My husband would likely take on the Existential Humanists division).
   
  this is a fascinating topic; I hope others will add their corrections/comments/etc. 
  Thanks, Grant, for opening a lovely Can Of Worms!
   
  Rebekah       
           

			
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