Catholic Traveller

make a pilgrimage - renew your spirit

Welcome

What is Pilgrimage?

"A journey to a holy place, undertaken for religious reasons; a journey to a place with special significance."

To the above definition, which was taken from the dictionary, we might add, "to reunite a person with their center of being and help to restore their relationship with their Creator."

Sometimes just getting out of the routine for a few days or a few weeks can help us re-center and kindle or rekindle the fire of a passionate life devoted to love.  Catholic Traveller's mission is to inspire busy people to take time out now and then for retreat and pilgrimage - to allow the Spirit to enter and heal and renew us, so that we return to our everyday lives better able to see and serve Jesus and Mary in all those around us. 

Now you can help us keep providing you with fresh content on this website through your donations.  Just click on the DONATE button on any page to go to our secure shopping cart. 

New to the site:  Media Reviews - a collection of movies, books, websites and other media we've checked out and like.  As the page fills up, website links will be moved to the links page.

We are on CatholiCity - CatholiCity is a Catholic website offering zillions of resources - free Catholic books and CDs, Catholic news and commentary, and online Catholic resources.  Catholic Traveller has been reviewed and accepted and we are now listed in the Best Catholic Links database.  Just enter Catholic Traveller into the CatholiCity search engine, or go to Best Catholic Links, click on Places to Go, Pilgrimages and scroll down to Catholic Traveller ;)  http://www.catholicity.com/

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A Simple Catholic

Catholic Traveller has come to a crossroads.  With the rising price of gas and feed and the added expense of hiring someone to take care of the homestead when we're gone (see sister site www.mrsdshomestead.com), it is getting more and more difficult to continue to provide fresh content on this site.  So we're going to change focus a little.  We will still be featuring missions, shrines and other holy places when we are able to visit them.  We will also be putting more time into projects that have been on the back burner, like Silver Bullet Press, our publishing arm, and the CT Store, where we would like to offer items to make your pilgrimage simpler and more comfortable.

This homepage, when there are no feature articles, will be a blog, entitled "A Simple Catholic".  Its focus will be the editor's own pilgrimage through the maze of rules and regulations, nits and picks which tend to plague any large organization, religious or otherwise.  The attempt is to get back to the basics of our Catholic faith and try to live it simply and devoutly, to search and discover "what would Jesus (have me) do" in my life today?  My hope is that in sharing my daily pilgrimage, with its triumphs and failures, other busy people will be inspired to make a brief daily retreat in an effort to grow in love and friendship with Jesus and Mary.

Peace of Christ,

Robyn Dolan, Editor

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June 11, 2008

Catholic Traveller now has a "roving reporter".  Well, sort of.  Maryruth Monahan, travel writer, will be travelling to St. Augustine, Florida, and has graciously offered to tour missions and shrines there and share her experiences with us.  We are looking forward to what she has to offer and to posting a new feature article on this page soon!

Busy, busy, busy.  So with Tball, swim camp, summer school, running a business (or three), tending to farm chores, blah, blah, blah, how do we make any time at all for prayer and meditation?  Sometimes it seems that after moving to the country and working from home I have become busier than when I had a "real" job and lived in the city.   Technically I'm not, but it's a matter of perspective.  My priorities are different.  I want my house to be a peaceful environment and it cannot be that way with all kinds of clutter, dirty dishes, and clothes stacked everywhere.  So I need time to clean house and clean out the clutter.  I want time to run my farm and benefit financially and physically from the homegrown produce, meat and dairy.  This means I cannot be rushing off to every activity available to me or my son.  Yet, I do want him to have social contact and enjoy activities with friends of all ages.  So we try to limit activities to two days a week, besides Sundays. 

Still, where do I fit prayer time into all of this?  I have made a habit of beginning my day with prayer.  This time is precious to me.  I am thankful for working at home, because often, with a "job", this time gets lost to me because of oversleeping and then rushing to get to work on time.  I am grateful for homeschooling, because I can work to encourage this habit in my son, instead of rushing to school, etc.  And yet, I still crave more.  I want to stop during the day and read my Bible or say the Rosary, but frequently I feel there is too much to do, and I cannot take the 15 or 20 minute break.  Not to mention that in saying the Rosary I tend to meditate myself to sleep, so it takes much longer.  These are all excuses.  When I take 10 or 15 minutes once or twice a day to take a prayer and meditation break, my work seems to go easier and better, my priorities become clearer.  Hmmm...why can't I get it through my head?

May 28, 2008

We went to see Prince Caspian the other day.  What a fantastic rendition of the book.  I have to admit, the actors that get cast in the roles of my favorite characters are rarely as I imagined them, but when the movie is well made, that little distraction passes, and I end up captivated.  I read a review on the movie later which delved deeply into the spiritual issues that C.S. Lewis was dealing with in this book, namely pride.  Although much of the reviewer's analysis escaped me, I did grasp certain points of the movie.  Namely, that when I try to "do it myself" I frequently fail, sometimes miserably.  If we could do Spiritual Direction ourselves, we wouldn't need the Ten Commandments, the Gospels, religious leaders, retreats, pilgrimage or the Church.  Like Peter, carrying out an attack on King Miraz' fortress himself, rather than seeking out Aslan and his advice and direction first, I bumble through one misadventure after another, leaving behind a trail of destruction and tears.  Without a spiritual guide, it is difficult at times to resist the glamour of evil, as when the White Witch offers power and prestige in exchange for one drop of Peter or Caspian's blood.  Edmund, who remembers his humiliation at the hands of the White Witch and Aslan's subsequent mercy and sacrifice, shatters the illusion and saves Narnia from that possible disaster. 

Spiritual Direction requires submission.  I am a proud, vain person.  I like the feeling of being recognized for something "I've done myself".  But in truth, anything I've ever done well, I've had lots of help with.  In music, I've had years of lessons, encouragement, criticism, and investment by my parents.  In running my businesses there has been a network of people, offering advice, experience and assisstance.  So in my spiritual life, why is it so hard to figure out who to turn to?  Submission requires trust.  Our parish priest is busy, yes, with all the administrative details of running a "business".  But when approached with spiritual questions and issues, his demeanor changes.  He takes on a new enthusiasm, and answers with care and compassion.  This is his real vocation.  Our local bishop is laden with responsibility in running a large diocese which has been deeply hurt by scandal and in which immigration is a very present issue.  Yet when he offers Mass, and preaches on Jesus word and how very applicable it is in our lives right this minute, you feel his holiness, his closeness to Jesus, his sincerity and devotion to us, his people.  He is approachable, and very easy to converse with. 

Spiritual Direction is not a do-it-yourself project.  I have to ask for help, trust in the helper, and do what is suggested.  How do I know if it's working?  I have to look at my relationships.  Am I at peace, or fighting everyone and everything?  Am I at peace in my living situation?  Am I at peace with my work?  Am I in constant communication with my Lord?  These are my goals in seeking Spiritual Direction.

May 21, 2008

Spiritual Direction.  A friend and I were discussing religious life the other day.  Sometimes she thinks about entering a monastery to become a contemplative nun.  I encouraged her desire (against my own selfish wish to keep her here as my friend) to take several weeks or months at a Benedictine monastery where she is an oblate to discern this vocation.  After arguing with God about why He would give me such a gift in friendship and then take it away, I realized that in this particular case, knowing my friend's devotion to her elderly uncle, her daughter and her grandson, she was probably just experiencing a need for some Spiritual Direction.  In days past this was achieved by frequent confession with one's parish priest.  Now, with fewer priests,  and the ones we have being pulled in so many directions, it is sometimes a challenge to even have the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Confession. 

This has also been a theme in my life today.  Unlike my friend, I do not have quite as much freedom or finance to travel to the nearest monastery for a few days of personal retreat and guidance from the holy people there.  I try to get to confession frequently, which right now is every few months.  I try to absorb the message of the homily during Mass.  Here in our rural community, we have Mass on Sundays and Thursdays.  Our pastor lives 20 miles away and serves 3 churches and helps with a fourth over an 80 mile radius.  We have no deacon or assistant pastor at this time.  Where to turn for more frequent direction?

Some days it's as simple as reading a few verses from the Gospel of Matthew over breakfast with my son.  We read from the parts where Jesus is speaking.  Only a few lines, as just keeping a 5 year old's  attention to bless the food is a challenge.  The words will stay with me for at least a few minutes, and I can contemplate them in between planning the day's work, chasing the dog off the porch where we're enjoying the early morning sun with our meal, and calling the child back from fighting off Captain Hook in Neverland to finish his oatmeal.  And sometimes it's just enough to bless the rest of my day.

Copyright 2008 Robyn Dolan