November 2024 newsletter
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Rhode Island where I am happy to be back on level ground. Board Member Edie Morrill and I had a productive time in Spain, both on the Camino and in Santiago.
camino ingles (and a little market research)
We began by walking the Camino Inglés with two Camino first-timers, Roxanne and Matt. The route was new to all of us. We had signed up for a self-guided tour that included lodgings that seemed comparable to Casa Anglicana. Our plan was to compare what we offer with similar places elsewhere.
After six days, I can say that Casa Anglicana stacks up rather well. Our breakfasts are better; the rooms, beds and bedding are comparable. Most bathrooms have us beat, but that should improve soon. Noise levels in city rooms are worse than those on Rua da Porta da Pena (our address in Santiago de Compostela) and yes, garbage trucks pick up in most cities during the night. Everywhere, people returning home late at night tend to be noisy, both inside and outside the hotels. All in all, it was a valuable trip. We arrived for our work week at Casa Anglicana with a list of ideas to improve the experience of our guests.
As for the walk itself, I was surprised how hilly it was. We averaged 39,000 steps and 115 “flights of stairs” each day of our six days' walk. While the guidebook claims the walk is 113km, we were well above that, averaging 22km a day.
We could not have had better walking companions than Roxanne and Matt who remained cheerful despite the hills or days of rain.
In Santiago
The week in Santiago was busy. Bishop Carlos made a brief visit to welcome a group of pilgrims from St. Bartholomew’s Church, NYC. Chaplain in Residence, Archdeacon David Waller of the Church of England, was there as well. On Saturday afternoon, Bishop Carlos welcomed the group to Santa Susana and Archdeacon Waller presided over the pilgrim Eucharist as the Bishop needed to catch his train back to Madrid. After the service, Edie and I welcomed everyone back to Casa Anglicana for the usual refreshments and house tour.
Earlier on Saturday, Bishop Carlos, Archdeacon Waller, Edie, and I met to assess the first year of our pilgrim collaboration with the Anglican Chaplaincy. We all agreed that it was a success but there is room for improvement. Recommendations for a more standardized worship schedule and increased opening hours at Santa Susana will be forthcoming. We feel confident that this will better serve our pilgrim visitors, tourists, and Santiago residents.
The 2025 Rota for Chaplains is nearly full. If you have walked the Camino and earned a Compostela, speak passable Spanish, are a priest or deacon in good standing in your diocese, have a safe church certificate, and would like to be considered for next year, please contact me at nancyhmead@gmail.com. There are limited openings between July 19, 2025 and September 6, 2025.
In exchange for daily services at Santa Susana and pastoral care of pilgrims at Casa Anglicana, we offer a double ensuite Bed and Breakfast room at the Casa. Please note that although we are Anglican in formation, our mission is to be an Ecumenical Centre, and this offer is open to clergy of other Protestant denominations.
For us, every trip to Santiago involves work at Casa Anglicana. This trip was no exception. Reviews of Casa Anglicana on booking.com provide the best place for us to see what we are doing right and where we need to improve. Not surprisingly, our location and our staff get the highest ratings. Felipe, our house manager, and Nelly, our housekeeper are pure gold. We continue to be grateful for all the love and attention they give to the Casa and to each guest who walks through our doors.
Work at Casa Anglicana
During our stay, we talked with two German pilgrims. They spent one night at the Casa, went to Finisterre for two days and returned to the Casa for another two nights. They said coming back felt like “coming home.’ This was music to my ears.
We do not ever want to be anything more than a safe, clean and affordable place for pilgrims and tourists (possible pilgrims to be) but we also want to provide guests with a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. So, when reviews on Booking say we need to upgrade our bathrooms, paint and repair our walls, add mirrorsto every room and cut down on the noise, we take these complaints seriously and look for solutions.
Our goal this trip was to implement as many of these suggestions as possible. The Spanish Church in Madrid was given two apartments full of furniture through a bequest. Bishop Carlos told us we were welcome to “come and take anything we could use.” He didn’t need to ask twice, so we made a quick daytrip to Madrid, arriving just before lunch. We looked through dozens of boxes and picked things we thought might enhance the Casa. These things were packed in a van and sent to Santiago. We arrived back at the Casa near midnight to find piles of furniture, rugs, pottery, sculpture, a clock, a lute, even a collection of souvenir spoons stacked in the entry.
For the next two days we organized and sorted. By the time we left, with Felipe and Nelly’s help, we had found a home for everything. Gracias to Bishop Carlos for allowing us to take the treasures from one home and relocate them in our house. They are a wonderful addition.
No stay at Casa Anglicana is complete without a cleanup of the garden and the front windows. We added a touch of fall to the garden, ate the last of the cucumbers and peppers, and perked up the pots in front. It was gratifying to see our efforts were appreciated.
Santiago has over 25 Michelin-starred and recommended restaurants and some of the best empanada shops in Spain. Come to one of our workshops and you can eat your way around the city. The Spanish class will ask for the Spanish menu; the other two can use the English menu. Don’t miss the chance to spend a week in Santiago, enjoy some of the museums, improve your Spanish, write an icon or a poem, meet new friends, and eat well. There are still some spaces for the Spanish intensive classes, and it is not too early to sign up for the Icon and Writing workshops in the Spring. I’ll be there. I hope you will join me.
Intensive Spanish for Anglicans (January 11-18, 2025)
Walk, Write, Seek: A Writer's Pilgrimage (April 24-27, 2025)
Icon Workshop (May 5-10, 2025)
Remembering Dear Friends
I want to finish by remembering with love and gratitude one former member and one present member of the Friend’s board.
Nancy Wallis Weidinger, who died in August, was an early and generous supporter of our project. She and I went on four Insider’s Travel tours and one impromptu hilarious bus trip along the Camino. (Our bus caught fire). On her final trip last year, she proudly walked the Camino Portuguese and received her Compostela. We will miss her creative decorating skills at Casa Anglicana, especially in our Garden which she so loved.
Dean Emeritus of Canterbury Robert Willis, who died in October, was a valued member of the Friends board and a frequent visitor to Casa Anglicana where he was much beloved by one and all. Our board will miss his wisdom and kindness, and our pilgrims will miss his approachability, gentle pastoral attention, and vast Biblical knowledge.
Some of you have asked if you could contribute to the Friends in their memory. Others have already done so. The answer is yes. We have established a fund in Nancy’s honor for the maintenance of our garden and window boxes. Donations in Dean Robert’s name will go toward endowing Room 105 where Robert regularly stayed, a room with the view from the window by the desk where he wrote most mornings. We believe both are opportunities to remember our board members and pay their generosity forward. We give thanks for their lives and everything they have done to further the work of the Friends. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
As we approach Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to each of you for your prayers and your support. Because of you and your faith in us, the mission of the Friends of the Anglican Centre is being lived out every day.
As always, I thank you for your prayers and your support,
Nancy H. Mead, Board President