Priests Outside Castrojerez July 2018

[MickMac]

Priests Outside Castrojerez Camino

 

[nycwalking]

Camino number two, 2002, I'd hoped to meet a nice available man.

Instead, I met 7 Catholic priests and a half-naked, he was coming from shower, bishop from Germany.

This post reminded me of that time.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Priests Outside Castrojerez Camino

At least two of them are clearly seminarians.

 

[Deleted member 77020]

Camino number two, 2002, I'd hoped to meet a nice available man.

Instead, I met 7 Catholic priests and a half-naked, he was coming from shower, bishop from Germany.

This post reminded me of that time.

well, I thought the Camino was to be a personal spiritual journey of sorts and not a pickup place?

 

[Deleted member 77020]

Priests Outside Castrojerez Camino

I asumme that since most are wearing their cassocks and singing in Latin they are a group of traditionalist who celebrate Mass in Latin SSPX Society of St. Pius the tenth.

Priests Outside Castrojerez Camino

 

[JulieandPeter]

Camino number two, 2002, I'd hoped to meet a nice available man.

Instead, I met 7 Catholic priests and a half-naked, he was coming from shower, bishop from Germany.

This post reminded me of that time.

Those priests look hot. Sorry, I could not resist. They really do look hot; it's hard to imagine walking in robes with packs.

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

How can they walk in black robes, with backpacks, in the heat??

 

[Kathar1na]

How can they walk in black robes, with backpacks, in the heat??

I don't know the answer to your question - and I'm sure that there are forum members with practical experience - but this Guardian article may be interesting in this context: Dressed in the dark - How Bedouins know that black is cool

Thousands of articles if you google black clothes desert .

 

[VNwalking]

I don't know the answer to your question - and I'm sure that there are forum members with practical experience

Well, you sweat.
My experience in dark robes is that being in the sun just magnifies the heat. But those articles stress that it depends how loose the robes are. Mine have more fitted sleeves than what these priests are wearing.

 

[nycwalking]

well, I thought the Camino was to be a personal spiritual journey of sorts and not a pickup place?

On the way, camino number one, I met many folk who'd met their mates on pilgrimage.

Ergo, I was not opposed to doing same. And, I did have quite the spiritual journey on camino number two. Hard not to do when much of your time is spent with Catholic priests.

On one camino, I witnessed the initial meeting of a couple who ended up marrying about a year thereafter.

It is what it is.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

Far out! I've never walked the Camino in cassock, but I've sure thought about it! Maybe next time.

A very not hot Rappahannock_Rev....

 

[MickMac]

O my god this post went west very quickly

We met them again about 1 hour or more later, in an old Irish coloughuism " They looked knackered " meaning quite tired

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

well, I thought the Camino was to be a personal spiritual journey of sorts and not a pickup place?

:0D

There is actually a whole thread about it here:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...-wanting-to-fall-in-love-on-the-camino.37177/

;OD Cute...!

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Did you say "hot" priest? Take a look at the priest on the far right of my recent photo from the Le Puy route...need I say more? View attachment 45178

Camino Chris, you will get the moderators busy with this one ;OD

... Hey, don't delete me!! I am the one who stuck to the topic with the black robes...! :OP

 

[KinkyOne]

Camino Chris, you will get the moderators busy with this one ;OD

... Hey, don't delete me!! I am the one who stuck to the topic with the black robes...! :OP

But you're still Bad Pilgrim

 

[KinkyOne]

...I cannot elaborate further or I may be banned. Apparently I've said too much already!

Oh, no need to worry. It seems that mods softened somehow or they are all walking their Caminos at the moment. If my post in "stupid question" thread wasn't erased after 2-3 days you can be sure yours wouldn't be either.

Anyway, you weren't discussing religion, were you?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Kinky, I was thinking the same thing...no talk of religion so was hoping I could get away with just a touch of off color fun!

 

[KJFSophie]

We walked quite a ways with a group of 4 priests, dressed like every other pilgrim. They did not disclose that they were priests until one evening in an alburgue when the owner tried to put two of them in a room of two bunks/4 beds with us ( two women, one married ). I've no idea what they thought we might do, or for that matter what they might do, but they made the owner rearrange everyone and those men of the cloth were nasty about it. It was so interesting. They were in a panic, screaming in Italian. I don't think they gave one thought to how their overreaction made us feel. Ahhhhhhhh....the camino moments

You can't hide and be in plain view at the same time.

 

[VNwalking]

I've no idea what they thought we might do, or for that matter what they might do, but they made the owner rearrange everyone and those men of the cloth were nasty about it. It was so interesting. They were in a panic, screaming in Italian. I don't think they gave one thought to how their overreaction made us feel.

It would not have been personal, about what they thought you might do.
Nasty often comes from fear, and you acknowledge they were in a panic - and in a panic, people lose touch with anything but relieving that panic. Not being able to communicate only exacerbates that.

Not to diminish your side of the experience, at all. It sounds lit it was super-'Interesting.'
But at the same time I can relate to what they may have been feeling too. Speaking as a religious woman who much of the time lives in a monastic and gender separated situation, there is definitely a bit of a 'freak-out' when faced with sharing a bunkroom with a bunch of men, many of whom think nothing of walking around half-naked. One gets surprisingly modest.

I dress differently,though, which gives people a heads-up if I start walking around averting my eyes from every guy I pass. If the priests had been wearing dog collars they might have been better understood at the very outset of the situation in the albergue...

 

[KJFSophie]

It would not have been personal, about what they thought you might do.
Nasty often comes from fear, and you acknowledge they were in a panic - and in a panic, people lose touch with anything but relieving that panic. Not being able to communicate only exacerbates that.

Not to diminish your side of the experience, at all. It sounds lit it was super-'Interesting.'
But at the same time I can relate to what they may have been feeling too. Speaking as a religious woman who much of the time lives in a monastic and gender separated situation, there is definitely a bit of a 'freak-out' when faced with sharing a bunkroom with a bunch of men, many of whom think nothing of walking around half-naked. One gets surprisingly modest.

I dress differently,though, which gives people a heads-up if I start walking around averting my eyes from every guy I pass. If the priests had been wearing dog collars they might have been better understood at the very outset of the situation in the albergue...

Thank you for your comment. You make my point, that if you have special concerns as a member of a religious community, one can't both 'hide' that identity then scream when you need to have your needs met. As a clinical psychologist I understand panic, but taking no responsibility for creating that panic isn't acceptable either. They should have told the owner of the alburgue immediately on arrival or at time of reservation, not after several rooms of pilgrims were already settled into their bunks. Mind you, others in other rooms that did not speak Spanish or English had no idea what had transpired and were for the most part thinking it was something we had done because the priest was screaming and pointing at us like we were poison. The whole thing was a fiasco.

Having said that, I've always tried to make sure I was covered and modestly dressed at night in the albergues because of this...we don't know if there are religious among us. ( I've been accused of being a prudish American when suggesting this...lol )

The mighty sword has two sides. We must take responsibility for our own needs and on the other side, try to consider the needs of others...with a really fine edge in between.

 

[VNwalking]

You make my point, that if you have special concerns as a member of a religious community, one can't both 'hide' that identity then scream when you need to have your needs met. As a clinical psychologist I understand panic, but taking no responsibility for creating that panic isn't acceptable either.

The mighty sword has two sides. We must take responsibility for our own needs and on the other side, try to consider the needs of others...with a really fine edge in between.

Isn't that the truth?
And a wee bit of flexibility goes a long way, too.

 

[nycwalking]

Far out! I've never walked the Camino in cassock, but I've sure thought about it! Maybe next time.

A very not hot Rappahannock_Rev....

In 2004, while volunteering in Gualcelmo albergue in Rabanal del Camino a group of five or six priests came through.

They wore thick black cassocks, long black woolen leggings, and ankle length clerical boots in July. And, because they were a schism order, their words not mine, they carried everything needed for mass, and pots, and pans.

Luckily, they were young.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I asumme that since most are wearing their cassocks and singing in Latin they are a group of traditionalist who celebrate Mass in Latin SSPX Society of St. Pius the tenth.

Not necessarily, although it's certainly a possibility.

There are other groups who are attached to a fidelity to the Traditional Latin mass, the FSSP especially, but there are also some diocesan seminaries more attached than others to these traditions -- following Vatican II, all Latin Rite seminaries should BTW teach with some at least minimal emphasis on Latin, although most in the last 50 years or so have sadly abandoned that.

---

How can they walk in black robes, with backpacks, in the heat??

I've walked in black jeans black t-shirt and black pilgrim's cape -- and as I understand it, a cassock is actually a fairly light garment, so just personally, I've been dressed more heavily than these men are.

Was really just on the hottest summer days that I'd roll up the cape and carry it on my pack.

 

[wayfarer]

Please do not get into a debate on religion, it is not allowed and never ends well.

 

[Deleted member 77020]

Please do not get into a debate on religion, it is not allowed and never ends well.

you are right we shouldn't but on a different matter. I found an excellent place to stay in Santiago. It's a Hotel/albergue. Although rooms are small they have a bathroom with it, cost 25.00 euros. Excellent staff and they speak English. It's called La Salle, not far from Cathedral up by the Poor Clara monastery. I will definitely stay there again very relaxing place.

 

[Felice]

you are right we shouldn't but on a different matter. I found an excellent place to stay in Santiago. It's a Hotel/albergue. Although rooms are small they have a bathroom with it, cost 25.00 euros. Excellent staff and they speak English. It's called La Salle, not far from Cathedral up by the Poor Clara monastery. I will definitely stay there again very relaxing place.

I stayed at La Salle last year and found it to be just what I wanted. I had a clean, spacious, inexpensive and quiet single room. Just a little way out of town so no noise, but still very easy to get back to in the evening.
Whilst I was staying there, there was a group of special needs young adults and their carers staying as well. They were very well looked after.

 

[Deleted member 77020]

I stayed at La Salle last year and found it to be just what I wanted. I had a clean, spacious, inexpensive and quiet single room. Just a little way out of town so no noise, but still very easy to get back to in the evening.
Whilst I was staying there, there was a group of special needs young adults and their carers staying as well. They were very well looked after.

yes it is a great place to stay and the sitting room is also great met some people and it was nice to chat, small place but grand.

 

[OzAnnie]

Priests Outside Castrojerez Camino

You are being looked after again Michael. Good company. You had similar company on your 2013 walk as I recall.
Buen Camino
Annie

 

[MickMac]

They follow me guardian angels. It was a bit spooky .

 

[MickMac]

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/carraig-an-aifrinn-mass-on-the-camino.1218/

I see that shadow again he follows me everywhere class photography.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

The dilemma I have with walking in cassock is this:

(1) Walking in cassock would allow me to offer a very powerful public witness to my orthodox Latin Western Christian faith - a good thing to do in this day and age. Shucks, I suppose that's why I usually wear my 'dog collar' back home, even when I don't have to.... By wearing it I'm making a statement.

But (2) by walking in cassock, by making that statement, I would also be constantly calling attention to myself - not perhaps such a good thing to do in the Camino context! At least not for me.

Yes, by doing so I could offer a very powerful public statement, but I've discovered that a principal appeal of the Camino experience is, for me, precisely the therapeutic chance to lose myself in the moment, to lose myself in the movement. When I walk the Camino it gives me the opportunity to escape the making of statements for a few short weeks....

I've always carried with me, and been glad to have had available on appropriate occasions (e.g., hearing confessions) my detachable 'dog collar' -- but I've never worn my cassock. Probaby never will.

Plus I suspect that it would be hard to wash in the sink....

 

[VNwalking]

I suspect that it would be hard to wash in the sink....

That's the deal-breaker.

But seriously...your reflections are lovely, @rappahannock_rev .
And the 'dog collar' does seem a happy medium between pretending to not be who you are, and advertising that. It identifies you as someone who has devoted your life to the path you walk, without being a 'look at me' statement.

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Camino number two, 2002, I'd hoped to meet a nice available man.

Instead, I met 7 Catholic priests and a half-naked, he was coming from shower, bishop from Germany.

This post reminded me of that time.

Seriously .

 

[Djimbo]

On the way, camino number one, I met many folk who'd met their mates on pilgrimage.

Ergo, I was not opposed to doing same. And, I did have quite the spiritual journey on camino number two. Hard not to do when much of your time is spent with Catholic priests.

On one camino, I witnessed the initial meeting of a couple who ended up marrying about a year thereafter.

It is what it is.

Two years ago, I also met a couple who had met on the Camino. A few months back I was commissioned to do a painting commemorating their Camino in celebration of their wedding. I was well chuffed to do so and to have been a small part of their Camino experience. Time and reflection, talking story, and events like this continue to enhance my own Camino. (I'll be walking again next year...this time with my wife.)

 

[nycwalking]

Seriously .

Yes, seriously.

And, in 2004, while volunteering at Gualcelmo in Rabanal del Camino, so many priests sought me out for chit-chat, my fellow hospies dubbed me the, "priest magnet".

Want to hear a true tale?

Telling it anyway. Twelve or thirteen years prior to my first camino I asked universe to send me a man with these specs:

1. 6'2"/188cm.
2. 190lbs/86 kilos.
3. Single.
4. No children.
5. Well educated.
6. Never been married.
7. Named Ken.

And, twelve/thirteen years later at pilgrims dinner in Roncesvalles on second night there, on second camino, I met Ken who possessed ALL the specs!

Yes, Ken. Father Ken no less. Father Ken who turned out to live just across the park from me in my then hometown. Father Ken who'd been in a religious order one month shy of my earthly existence. Father Ken with a PhD no less.

I've told this truth before but its incredulity still ribs me.

The universe has a sense of humor.

 

[VNwalking]

I've told this truth before but its incredulity still ribs me.
The universe has a sense of humor.

And hopefully we find it funny, because that's a wicked sense of humor sometimes...


What a great story, @nycwalking!

 

[spagirl]

I thought the Camino was to be a personal spiritual journey of sorts and not a pickup place?

Isn't the camino anything that you want it to be?
Surely you can't think it wouldn't be a bad thing to fall in love on the camino?
Im always reading about the camino provides...

 

[VNwalking]

Im always reading about the camino provides...

Often what we don't want, to give us a chance to let go!
As @nycwalking experienced so vividly...

 

[Cricket61]