In late October of last year, Legionary priests, Fr. John Bender and Fr. John Klein, and Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi, Jill Dominy, took 40 young adults from Atlanta to walk the final section of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This pilgrimage lasted six days, and drew young adults from all over the city and throughout the Atlanta section.
But the pilgrimage really began months earlier, long before the pilgrims had even arrived in Spain to take their first steps. In preparation for the six-day Camino, the pilgrims were invited to attend formation nights during the six months leading up to their departure in October. On one evening each month, participants gathered to receive formation on a spiritual theme, to talk about what to expect and how to prepare for the pilgrimage, and to simply to get to know each other and experience community before the Camino even began.
The theme of the pilgrimage was Camino al Cielo (“Way to Heaven”), and each of the six days of the journey focused on a different beatitude. Each morning after breakfast, Jill or one of the priests would lead a morning reflection for the participants that would orient their day, which was then followed by 30 minutes of personal prayer, an opportunity to walk in silence and pray and reflect on the beatitude. Afterwards, the participants would discuss what they had reflected on and share as they continued the day’s journey.
In addition, participants were also given an open-ended question each day that invited them to reflect on their own faith journey or a difficult moment that they had overcome, and then to share it with the group in deeper conversation. These reflective questions were designed to both stimulate and focus discussions along the road – with the pilgrims walking up to 18 miles a day, the group spent 6-8 hours on the road together, time that provided both opportunities of deep discussion with each other, and times of silence and quiet reflection that allowed individuals to continue to go deeper in their personal relationship with Christ.
This balance between conversation and personal reflection illustrates perfectly the two pillars of the pilgrimage: community and deep friendship, and deep spiritual life and moments of prayer.
“The young adults really took advantage of the quiet time to go deep as they walked and journeyed with the Lord, and that time also fed into deep community moments, deep bonding,” says Jill. “After we had been back only a month, we had already had a reunion to get together, and we have another reunion coming up, so it was beautiful to see the deep community that was built on that shared experience. It has really rooted us in deep friendship in the Lord.”
Upon arriving at the end of their journey at Santiago de Compostela, the group spent some time in Madrid, experiencing Spanish art, food, and culture, and spending time together processing their shared journey.
Two pilgrims share their experience of deep community and deep relationship with Christ along their six-day journey, and the impact it continues to have on their lives months later:
John Loeffler
“While journeying to Santiago, strangers became friends and existing friendships were strengthened. As we walked together, we meditated on the Scripture and shared our lived experiences. Despite having very different lives and upbringings, a few common threads appeared in all of our stories. Many of us all spoke of a deep longing and loneliness that pushed us to turn away from the world of ourselves and towards the salvific grace of our Lord and the Church he established on this earth so that we might know him and serve him better in this life and love him in the next.
The Camino allowed for a venue that encouraged us to be vulnerable and share things we may have never shared with anyone before. We were raw and open with each other in a way that would be unheard of for strangers. We laughed, we cried, and we forged bonds and a better understanding of each other, ourselves, and the human condition.”
Allaine Dela Cruz
“This past October, I embarked on the ancient pilgrimage, the Camino de Santiago, traversing over 80 miles along blue-and-yellow marked paths to the magnificent Basilica of St. James. Walking beside fellow pilgrims, each step became a meditation, each mile a testament to physical endurance and spiritual peace. The journey through Spain’s Galician landscape brought profound reflection and unexpected joy, culminating in our arrival to Santiago de Compostela with 1000+ other pilgrims from across the world.
Our group of 40 grew into a tight-knit community. We supported one another through physical challenges while sharing our collective spiritual growth. After the pilgrimage, our time in Madrid added depth to our journey, immersing us in Spain’s rich cultural heritage as we processed the transformative experience of the Camino.
Two months after returning home, I continue to uncover new layers of meaning from this pilgrimage, notably how the ups and downs of life should not discourage us from seeking Christ’s mercy. The graces received along the Way of St. James unfold unexpectedly, shaping my daily life and spiritual resolutions, such as finding more times in the day to pray. This pilgrimage has left an indelible mark on my soul, reminding me that the most profound transformations often begin with a single step.”
The six-day Camino was organized by the Regnum Christi Atlanta Young Adults section, a vibrant group of individuals in the Atlanta area from all walks of life, with the common focus of growing deeper in their faith as they face the new experiences of their lives, and developing a more intimate relationship with Christ. They offer weekend and day retreats, spiritual direction, and team encounters, and often host activities at local college campuses like the University of Geogia or Georgia Tech.
The RC Atlanta Young Adults section is also active in the Mercy Missions Atlanta, a Catholic non-profit focused on leading young people to cultivate a personal relationship with Christ and to form them as missionaries to meet people in the streets of Atlanta through meaningful and profound encounters.
To find out more about the RC Atlanta Young Adults section and upcoming events, including upcoming missions, visit them at RC Atlanta Young Men and RC Atlanta Young Women.
