Whispers from the Camino: “Religio”

“What is your intention for walking the Camino?”

That is the question I knew I was going to be asked when arrived in Saint Jean de Pied Port to get officially registered for the pilgrimage. I wasn’t sure what form it would take, but I had heard that we had to declare an intention and it would be recorded.

Pilgrims at the train station in Bayonne

On the second half of the train ride I was beginning to think about how to answer that question. From what I had heard I would be given four choices: religious, cultural, personal or recreational.

I wasn’t happy with the choices. Actually, it wasn’t the choices themselves. It was the fact I wouldn’t be allowed to make multiple choices.

I could easily rationalize any one of the choices. Yes, religious in that I am an ordained pastor and my choice to walk it was an extension of or, at least, an expression of my Presbyterian faith tradition. But, also cultural in that I was studying how the Spanish had built the infrastructure of this pilgrimage that drew hundreds of thousands of people every year. I was seeing what I could glean for an American expression of it. And then, personal. Of course, it was personal! I was the one doing it, but I think that choice was set off as a contrast to religious. And, of course, recreational. In a world that likes to split life into categories how could this not be considered recreational since I clearly wasn’t getting paid for it.

Line forming to register, St. Jean Pied de Port

But I was annoyed that I was going to have to make a choice. It wasn’t one category for me. It was a combination of all four categories. I remember when I was college I did a double major in religion and sports and fitness center management. For me religion and recreation went together, but in college the only way I could pursue this combined passion was to follow two different disciplines. I remember thinking at the time, “I have two majors and one life.”

I was feeling the same about the Camino. I had committed to the Camino for religious, cultural, personal and recreational reasons. I had committed to a pilgrimage that was an extension of who I am as a whole person, not compartmentalized chunks of who I am. Why did I have to break it into clean categories?

Typical St. Jean cobbled street

Of course, my angst over this issue had been coming for quite some time. Part of being a minister is to make sure that there are good boundaries between one’s professional life and one personal life. In recent years, I just wasn’t able to separate the two. I found myself increasingly saying, “I don’t have a professional life and a personal life. I have ONE life and I am fortunate that I get paid for some it.”

That line resonates with me deeply. I have been paid for much of my ministry work, but I have also founded a new church development as a volunteer minister consultant. I have personally funded three pilgrimages, a website and the writing of a book. In my professional life I have been paid for some of it and not paid for some of it. And, at other times, I have been forced to just make a buck at any old job.

Anyway, I was resisting having to narrow in on one particular intention for the Camino knowing that no single category would tell the full story. I was doing this because it was the next right thing for me to do and it had religious, cultural, personal and recreational aspects to it.

First night alburgue

I arrived in Saint Jean and about two dozen of us departed the train and intuitively made our way toward the middle of town, some being more sure of where they were going than others. After arriving at my alburgue (Spanish for hostel), I set up my bedding and then went in search of the registration office. At least thirty people were in the line ahead of me and all of were asking about where each had come from and what we hoped to accomplish on the Camino. The energy was high. All of us had just arrived from different parts of the world and were giddy and anxious about this once-in-a-lifetime adventure just hours away.

My turn was coming. Camino volunteers were set up by language and I filed my way toward the English-speaking line. I was both excited and a little anxious. There were forms to fill out, brochures to grab and maps to be explained.

Registration by language

Finally, I had the form in my hand where I would need to declare my intention. It was as I had been told: __religious__cultural___personal__ and recreational.

I took a breath and hesitantly checked “Religious.” Again, I was sad to be forced to make the choice as it did not represent the complexity of my holistic approach to life. But I was content. The word religion comes from the Latin root “religio” which means to bind or integrate.

I know well enough that the common perception of religion is that it is a world set apart. And, the registration form did nothing to correct that unfortunate perception. But the word itself and the essence of religion is about integrating and bringing worldviews together.

I didn’t like being forced to choose one intention over another since all of them bleed into each other in real life.

But since I was forced to choose, I chose “religion”—not the religion that they meant on the form, I believe, but religion as the unifying umbrella for all of life.

I checked the box and called it good.