After recently reading A HUG FOR THE APOSTLE and attending an informative talk by Laurie Dennett at St. James Cathedral in Toronto, I’m excited for this next appearance by the author who walked the Camino de Santiago in 1986 as a fundraising effort for MS research. In her last talk, Ms. Dennett focused on the late parish priest of O Cebreiro, Don Elías Valiña Sampedro, who made it his life’s mission to reinvigorate the famous pilgrimage route that weaves its way through France and Spain to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and beyond to Finisterre at the end of the world.
Laurie Dennett will make her way from St. James Church up to St Thomas’s Church for her next speaking engagement. This talk will be more informal, with readings from her book as well as discussion on the Camino itself. A Q and A with audience members will be included, as well as discussion with members of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims regarding the ways the pilgrimage route has changed–and stayed the same–over the years.
If the Camino is sneaking its way into your life, as it is wont to do, you should make your way to St. Thomas Church on December 7th. They say that once you hear about the Camino, it grows in you until you answer its call. You may not know this, but your pilgrimage has already begun. What better way to ignite it and urge it on than through an afternoon of lively Camino conversation with fellow peregrinos (pilgrims)?! The event is put on by the TORONTO CHAPTER OF THE CANADIAN COMPANY OF PILGRIMS. Admission is $15. Tickets are available online HERE through this link or at the door.
Ms. Dennett’s book, A HUG FOR THE APOSTLE, will be available for purchase at the event. She will happily to sign it for either yourself or a lucky reader on your Christmas gift-list. It’s a wonderful read, filled with history, the camaraderie of the pilgrim lifestyle, humour, and the trials and tribulations of the adventures Ms. Dennett faced out on the road during her pilgrimage to Santiago.
KEVIN CRAIG 