A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan

Like many American Catholics, Egan is “lapsed but listening.”Įgan has a Jesuit education and writes frequently about the church in his New York Times columns, but he freely admits that he drifted from the Catholic Church years ago. He also gives himself a bit of an out on the 1,200-mile route, choosing to walk most of it but allowing himself “two wheels, four wheels, or train,” or any method that keeps him on the ground. Egan, however, decides to undertake the longer and lesser-known Via Francigena, which takes him from England to Rome. Many modern pilgrims, including nonbelievers, seekers and lapsed believers, still set out on the Camino de Santiago, which Egan acknowledges is what most people think of when they consider a pilgrimage.

The question of what a pilgrimage means in the modern day loops throughout Timothy Egan’s A Pilgrimage to Eternity. I got the indulgence but hardly felt like a pilgrim because I had taken a cab.

However, the security guards waved me through the Mercy Door in front of a group of exhausted and sweaty pilgrims by mistake. The next day, I decided to skip the indulgence and just walk in to see the church again. I Googled the qualifications, did my best to check off the list and started the walk among a group that had traveled from Eastern Europe but I found the heat and humidity of a Roman September too much to endure.

A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan