SYates
Camino Fossil AD 1999, now living in Santiago de C
- Time of past OR future Camino
- First: Camino Francés 1999
...
Last: Santiago - Muxia 2019
Now: http://egeria.house/
There have been over time many forum threads regarding this, so I am very happy to be able to announce here on this forum publicly and in detail the “Seasonal, Anglican-led, Camino Chaplaincy of the Church of England (Diocese in Europe)” ;-) See also http://egeria.house/chaplaincy/
Seasonal - Because, at least this year, this chaplaincy will only be offering its services during May/June and September/October 2018. Depending on how this pilot project works out, offers will be expanded in the years to come.
Anglican-led - Because the project originated among members of the Church of England, but ALL are welcome, both as visitors and as volunteers.
Camino - Because our main focus is on pilgrims, but the door is equally open to other visitors to Santiago and expats that live in the area.
Church of England (Diocese in Europe) – That is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction we operate under, or, in simpler words, the Anglican bishop in Europe, his suffragan bishop and staff will keep us in line ;-) And yes, the archbishop of Santiago knows of this project.
The first priest serving in this pilot project is the Revd Liska Stefko from Toronto (Anglican Church of Canada) who works both in parish ministry and as Pastoral Minister to L'Arche, see www.larche.org. She has walked her first Camino in 2014 and gives part of her sabbatical to our project.
@Alan Pearce is known by many here as a fellow pilgrim, hospitalero in Rabanal/Miraz and volunteer in several Camino projects. A retired horticulturist and a licensed lay minister (lay reader) in the Anglican Church of Australia for the last 25 years, he has walked his first Camino in 2008.
These two are the first, but several others will follow in their foot steps and I will introduce them here when the time comes.
What we offer
During the first year of the chaplaincy (13th May – 27th June 2018 // 2nd September - 23rd October 2018) there will be an Eucharist every Sunday and a more informal Eucharist every Wednesday.
The Sunday Eucharist will take place at 10:00 a.m. at the Parador Hotel (Hostal dos Reis Catolicos) here in Santiago. The hotel is giving us the free use of the lovely “Sala (salon) San Marcos” and the director told us “we are happy to do this for you, as this building has such a long history of caring for pilgrims”.
During the week there will be several events at Egeria House where I live in and where the volunteers are also staying during the project:
Open Breakfast Door - As we volunteers need to breakfast anyway, we will keep the door open from Monday to Friday from 08:00 – 09:30 to share with the pilgrims that come by what we have ourselves for breakfast. There is no program per se, just good old fashioned practical hospitality.
The door will be also open each weekday afternoon from 15:00 – 18:00 (Wednesdays longer). Most of the time we simply offer a “drop-in, have a cup/glass of something and a chat with us about your Camino or whatever you like to chat about”.
At 17:00 each weekday we then invite people to join us for a “Journey Prayer” – a form of reflection about the Camino and its impact on us all. This Journey Prayer will take different forms depending on who is present.
On Wednesday we invite you to an informal Eucharist “around the table” followed by a simple, shared meal. Which brings me to a text that has spoken a lot to us, the members of the “starting team”:
“We saw a stranger yesterday.
We put food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
music in the listening place.
And with the sacred name of the triune God
He blessed us and our house,
Our cattle and our dear ones.
As the lark says in her song:
Often, often, often, goes the Christ
In the stranger’s guise.”
We put food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
music in the listening place.
And with the sacred name of the triune God
He blessed us and our house,
Our cattle and our dear ones.
As the lark says in her song:
Often, often, often, goes the Christ
In the stranger’s guise.”
If you are interested in joining us as a volunteer, we are still looking for lay volunteers for September/early October 2018, but we already have “priestly coverage” for the whole time of the project in 2018. If you like to volunteer in either position in 2019, or in the following years, or if you simply want to keep up to date with this new chaplaincy and what it offers, more details here: http://egeria.house/chaplaincy/ All volunteers need to have walked at least one Camino!
The above link is also the best one to share with your local Camino association, Facebook group and the like, if you want to help to get the word out.
And obviously we are very grateful for any prayer, good thoughts/wishes and general expressions of support.
One last word: The forum rules here allow for exchange of information regarding “religious matters” (and yes, @ivar has approved the posting of this announcement) but not for religious discussions, as these often end in fights.
All comments regarding more information/clarifications of what I wrote and similar, are very welcome, but please lets not get into any theological or other rhetoric! If you have any questions/concerns that you think might be “stretching these rules”, feel free to contact me via PM or http://egeria.house/contact
Buen Camino and hoping to seeing you soon in Santiago, SY
PS Whilst I am making this announcement and am so a bit more “visible” here on the forum, please bear in mind that I am just a small part of a much larger team. Everybody else brings to this projects his or her gifts and as I am a “known forum addict” this announcement fell naturally in my lap ;-)
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