Warriors on the Way

Early on in this blog I included a link for a CBS piece on El Camino de Santiago adapting to the 21st century.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-camino-de-santiago-trek-adapts-to-the-21st-century/

If you’d like to see it, I hope the link works. In the article, Father Steve Rindal is interviewed, and I wrote that I met him several years ago at a Camino gathering in Asheville,  North Carolina, where he spoke about a foundation he works with called Warriors on the Way.

The afternoon before I walked in to Santiago, I noticed a gathering, a small discussion circle, on the balcony of my albergue. Later I met a woman with the group and asked if their leader was Father Steve and she said yes. 

So I went and said hi to him, and told him that I’d heard his presentation in Asheville, and how much I admire his work. Here’s our picture together. He told me this group has been one of the best yet, in terms of insight and healing and working together.

Here’s Alane, who served as a nurse in Afghanistan. We walked together awhile on Wednesday. She retired to Arkansas now, but told me she just came back from England, where she visited some guys who were just little boys when she became their friend while serving there.

The albergue where we were staying that last night was huge, and a couple blocks off the Camino, so I was not really happy with it. None of my friends were there. So what a nice surprise to run into this group.