What happens when the pilgrim returns home? That question has entered the preparations for the Compostela Holy Year. From November 11 to 13, representatives of more than forty Spanish dioceses met at the Hospedería San Martín Pinario, in Santiago de Compostela, to study how to accompany those who make the Camino during the route and after their return.
The Archdiocese of Santiago informed at the closing of the Popular Piety Days that the contributions from the meeting will be used to prepare a common pastoral proposal. The work will continue in the dioceses. The balance describes a line of work for the next Holy Year, without yet presenting a common program of activities or a calendar of services.
What was debated in San Martín Pinario
The event was organized by the Popular Piety Area of the Episcopal Commission for Evangelization, Catechesis and Catechumenate. The program brought together in the same conversation those responsible for different areas: brotherhoods, brotherhoods, sanctuaries and pilgrimages. The Episcopal Conference raised the meeting around popular religiosity and its role in the transmission of faith.
The program included the intervention of Mikel Garciandía, bishop of Palencia and head of the Area of Popular Piety, and a presentation on the encounter with Christ by Miguel López Varela, delegate of Catechism of Santiago de Compostela. According to the chronicle of the Archdiocese, the organizers defended that the reception could also open a space to talk explicitly about the Gospel.
The reception of the Holy Year begins before Santiago
A practical consequence of what has been discussed is that attention to the pilgrim can be thought of in three moments: the preparation, the days of march and the return. Every moment has different needs. Before leaving, a person may want to know where to find a blessing or if their group will be able to celebrate a mass. On your way, you may only have a few minutes and are interested in knowing if the church you are passing will be open that afternoon.
It also tells how accompaniment is offered. In the same stage, there are people who travel for religious reasons, others who walk to remember someone and others who prefer to travel the route without participating in activities. For parishes and hospitaleros, the practical issue is to provide clear information and allow each person to decide if and when they wish to approach.
What can a pilgrim prepare now?
Anyone planning to walk during the Holy Year can ask their home parish about possible preparation meetings and consult the parishes or sanctuaries on their itinerary if they are interested in a specific celebration. For a group it is advisable to communicate dates, number of people and approximate time of arrival. If the visit is individual, checking the schedule close to the date avoids organizing a stage around a door that could be closed.
The return also deserves a place in the plan. Sharing what was experienced with the group that prepared the departure, participating in a meeting of the Jacobean association or returning to the community that accompanied the departure are options that each pilgrim can explore if they are interested. They are possibilities, not activities announced by the conference.
The next step is in the hands of the dioceses: converting what was discussed in San Martín Pinario into concrete proposals that the pilgrim can learn about before leaving.
Featured archive photo: Jl FilpoC, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources: Archdiocese of Santiago y Spanish Episcopal Conference.
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