Church Talks

For the Church Assembly of Thursday, February 13, Ms. Elizabeth Benestad, faculty member of the School, talked about her pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago.

I was at lunch with Fr. Francis recently and we started talking about the Camino de Santiago. He asked if I would give a church talk on my experience. He followed that with – the kids like when the cool teachers speak to them. Ms. O’Reilly responded, You can still do it though Ms. Benestad.

Almost 2 years ago, in the spring of 2018, I took a sabbatical and spent that time walking the Camino. Officially known as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, it is a pilgrimage. It stretches 800 km (500 miles) from the Pyrenees mountains in France all the way to Santiago de Compostela on the west coast of Spain. Originally a walk to pay homage to St. James where he is said to be buried under the Cathedral named after him, today more than 200,000 people walk The Way each year. One of my closest friends, who actually used to work here, came with me; she was the one who introduced me to the Camino. And lucky for me, she speaks Spanish. I’m not sure how far Latin would have gotten me.

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