Chairman's Report for 2004
| The following report was delivered at the Confraternity's AGM on 29th January 2005, and will be published in a forthcoming Bulletin. You may quote reasonable extracts without permission, though we would appreciate an acknowledgement. For more substantial use, please contact the Secretary. |
William Griffiths
A month has passed since the closure of the first Jubilee Year of the Third Millennium. A year ago, at this AGM, I shared with you some of the reflections of the Archbishop of Santiago, Julian Barrio Barrio, drawn from his Pastoral Letter for the Jubilee "Pilgrims through Grace". I would like to use the same three themes to review our activities in this past Jubilee Year: Desiring, Giving and Jubilating.
How have we desired ? What have we desired ? As always, our reason for existence has been to step out into the state of pilgrimage, and to assist others in stepping into pilgrimage. In this Holy Year we have experienced the further growth of a desire about which I spoke a year ago : the desire to create a new Refuge, as a new place where members of the Confraternity can give something back to the Camino. I have occasionally heard the question : "Does the project for a new Refugio imply any lessening of the Confraternity's commitment to the Refugio Gaucelmo at Rabanal ?" It is only necessary to look around you on this AGM day at the various activities related to Rabanal, or to walk into our Office on any day and see the display of photos of "our friends in the village of Rabanal" to realize that that question is to be answered "No". During this year we have continued working with the Amigos del Camino de Santiago de El Bierzo to put on a still firmer basis the co-operation we have had with them at the Refugio Gaucelmo. (By the way, in October 2005 the El Bierzo Amigos are hosting in Ponferrada the triennial Conference of the Spanish Associations, which many of us will surely wish to attend.)
The task of co-ordinating the many members who choose Gaucelmo as their place to serve as hospitaleros continues as vigorously as ever. Tony La Roche was our first co-ordinator during the year, doing this with great devotion until his tragic death, when Stuart and Tricia Shaw volunteered to take over. You will be hearing more details of the work at Rabanal later on, and Stuart and Tricia will be glad to hear from you as volunteer wardens or sponsors of a week's hospitality. Let me just repeat the reassurance which I hope is unnecessary : that our commitment to Rabanal continues for as long as there is need for it.
The new Refuge project arises from the perception that there are many unmet needs of pilgrims on the "other routes", and that by seeking to meet them we may be doing something positive to lessen the overcrowding on the Camino Frances. It also recognizes the phenomenal growth of the Confraternity in the last 22 years, which gives us the resources to consider whether this is indeed the right time for a second Refuge. Since this time last year, a Subcommittee devoted to the project has been set up by the main Committee. Two large meetings of interested Confraternity members have been held, the first on 14th February, and the second, for people to report back information gathered during the pilgrim season, on 4th September. At this meeting, we were very fortunate that Keith and Maureen Young came forward to be co-ordinators of the New Refuge Development Group. Two more meetings of the Development Group have been held, and the next will be on 12th February, appropriately the Feast of St Julian the Hospitaller "whom pilgrims invoke for good harbouring". For further details I must refer you to members of the Development Group, and especially to Maureen Young, who will be speaking to us shortly. I shall only say that at this stage the Confraternity remains open to many possibilities. We have looked at possible sites on the Northern Caminos and the Via de la Plata, and we are having discussions with people in Spain, but we are not yet committed to any location.
One possibility that I mentioned last year has developed in a slightly unexpected direction. I said last year that the Vezelay Route, so long the Cinderella of the French routes, was being vigorously developed by the Amis de Saint Jacques de la Voie de Vezelay, led by Monique and Jean-Charles Chassain. A month after our A.G.M., John Hatfield and I were invited to attend their A.G.M. and a meeting of "accueillants", people who receive pilgrims along the Route. My own first experience of Vezelay was, naturally, "bouleversant", but John and I were also overwhelmed to discover the variety of facilities for pilgrims being offered along the Way by municipalities, religious houses, families, and by the Amis themselves. In this ferment it seemed to me that the best way that the Confraternity could help was not by looking on the Vezelay Route for a possible location for our long-term new Refuge project but by providing hospitaliers right away for Refuges that needed them. John and I were shown a Refuge about to open at Corbigny, 35 Km. South of Vezelay. I was delighted to be accepted as their first hospitalier in the first fortnight of June. I was still more delighted that 4 other Confraternity hospitaliers followed : Gaby Hodgson, Margaret Anderson and Roger and Julie Davies. A tradition of serving afternoon tea to pilgrims (in numbers naturally far smaller than those at Rabanal) is now well established at Corbigny.
This year again, any Confraternity members who are French-speaking will be most welcome to strengthen our links with the Amis by serving at Corbigny, and at another Refuge at Sorges in Perigord. John Hatfield is kindly acting as co-ordinator, and further details can be obtained from any of us who went last year. You will have an opportunity to meet the Chassains themselves if you come to the 19th February Practical Pilgrim Day. This is the one devoted to "other" less-trodden routes and, as usual, is run by Alison Raju in Nottingham. I like to say to the Chassains that "Nottingham est pour les specialistes" but, of course, there is no such thing as a specialist on the Camino. Pilgrimage entails new experiences and new challenges every day. We are all beginners, and that is the way in which we desire.
How do we give ? A humbling question, knowing full well that one receives in giving. Archbishop Julian spoke last year of the need to accept a pilgrim "just as he is". This year, I have read some words of Archbishop Cormac Murphy O' Connor to the Order of Malta, the Knights Hospitaller founded in the 11th Century for the service of pilgrims. He writes of the effect of pilgrimage on young people : "enabling them to 'breathe with another lung' for the first time". Who among us has given to pilgrims in this way ? Look around you, and think also of your confreres who have not made it to this meeting : every member of this Confraternity has given immensely this year. All I can do is to thank on your behalf a few, whose giving is known to all of you : Our outgoing Presidents, Their Excellencies the Marques and Marquesa de Tamaron, and our new Presidents Their Excellencies the Conde and Condesa de Casa Miranda. My Vice-Chairmen, Alison Raju and Howard Nelson. I am sorry to inform you that Howard has decided, with great regret, not to offer himself for re-election to the Committee this year, because of commitments he has to work with another charity. He is continuing, for as long as necessary, as Librarian and Webmaster, but looking for someone to relieve him of these tasks. If you would like to discuss the possibility of taking over the Library or the Website, please see Howard. All those who have served on the Committee this year as Trustees : Jane Bradshaw, Gosia Brykczynska, Paul Graham, Gerry Greene, Chris Jackson, the Revd Colin Jones, William King, Mary Moseley, Eric Walker and the Revd Ricky Yates have been at the heart of all our giving this year. Some who have had to step down during the year are continuing to give. If you have received a Pilgrim Record lately, you will have been glad to see that it was issued by Eric Walker, though Eric had to step down from the Committee during the year. The Committee has also included members who are not Trustees (as Trustees cannot receive payment from a charity) : Marion Marples our "ever-delightful" Secretary, and Alison Thorp our equally-delightful Finance and Systems Officer. Last year I gave as my reason for saying so little about Alison that you were about to hear her present the accounts. This year, it is no longer so. We have successfully found an Honorary Treasurer from among our number, Tony Ward, and have watched with admiration the transmission of the expertise from Alison to Tony. So Alison is no longer Finance Officer, but the Committee has happily persuaded her to continue as Systems Officer. Tony (whom you will be hearing shortly) receives no payment from the Confraternity, but it has been found practical for his accountancy firm to do our book-keeping and so he does not have the status of a Trustee. The Office has also recruited Christine Pleasants as Office Assistant, and a team of volunteers continue to offer all kinds of help during the week and on our monthly open Saturdays. The writers and publishers of our Bulletin, our Guides and our other publications continue to surpass themselves. All these people, and many more, have made concrete the giving of all of us ; and we have all received from their giving on our behalf to the Camino de Santiago
How have we jubilated ? How have we reached towards that state of "praising what we cannot speak of" ? We have jubilated by setting out on bodily pilgrimage, or on the pilgrimage of the heart, along the Roads of our Master St James. By sharing our experiences of that pilgrimage at our Practical Pilgrim Days, as we shall be doing again in the next few weeks. By celebrating the Feast of St James : some in Winchester, some in Montebourg, some in Rabanal, some in Perigueux, some in Santiago. By walking with the Amis de Saint Jacques de Normandie from Salisbury to Mont-Saint-Michel. By gathering, as returned pilgrims, at St Peter's Church, Stoke Lyne, Oxfordshire. In all these and countless other ways, we have jubilated through 2004 and we carry the jubilation forward into 2005.
You will all know a wonderful carving from the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, that Abbey just South of Burgos that makes such an enticing detour from the Camino. It shows Christ with the two disciples (the two pilgrims, as they are often called) reaching the village of Emmaus on the evening of the first Easter Sunday, having walked from Jerusalem. At the moment when the disciples persuade their unrecognized companion to stay with them, His feet are shown by the sculptor in a remarkable position. One foot seems to be staying, while the other is going on. I have heard it suggested that this represents well the attitude of a pilgrim. A pilgrim is entirely present in the here-and-now, in a particular place on the Camino. A pilgrim is also in a state of detachment from the here-and-now, looking ahead to his goal in the sanctuary, and to the eternal sanctuary that lies beyond it. We have been present, and jubilating in the particular qualities of 2004. With God's help, and St James's companionship, we shall be present and able to jubilate in the particular qualities of 2005.
Ultreia ! Suseia ! Deus adiuva nos !