a pilgrimage to eternity by timothy egan

Augustine and a book by the late Christopher Hitchens, whose snarky cynicism about religion seems to help Egan keep Augustine’s pious self-loathing in check. But as another writer of Egan’s generation-Bruce Springsteen- recently put it, “once you’re a Catholic, you’re always a Catholic.” Egan is not so much God-haunted as he is Catholic-haunted.Įgan’s reading material during his pilgrimage speaks to the liminal space he occupies in his faith life.

His family has been directly damaged by the abuse crisis, and his own faith deteriorated as a result.

But this trip begins with a desire to meet Pope Francis, whom Egan sees as one of the few hopes the church has during its “worst crisis in half a millennium.” As the book unfolds, it becomes clear that Egan’s stake in that crisis is personal. 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