The Way

"The Way: A Cinematic Retreat Guide" is ideal for Lent or Ordinary Time and appropriate for ages 16+. The guide, that began as a handout, takes its inspiration from Emilio Estevez' 2011 film "The Way" about Tom, an eye doctor with poor inner vision, who walks the ancient pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain, carrying his beloved son's ashes. Tom learns to see things in a new way and makes new friends along the way. At the end of the Camino, Tom is a new man. The guide is divided into five stages or sessions for the first five weeks of Lent but a creative retreat leader can adapt the material or use the guide in whole or in part, such as a three-day evening retreat. There are also activities and questions for reflection and conversation. The "Check List" in the guide includes items for a pilgrimage backpack the leader can give at at appropriate moments that enhance the retreat experience, such as a rosary, stone, shell, holy water bottle, New Testament, etc. This guide includes catechetical templates to use as is or to prepare your own handouts for talking about "pilgrimage" to children and youth, as well as a Youth Pilgrimage Activity for teens. The goal of "The Way: A Cinematic Retreat Guide" is for participants to experience the transcendence of film in their own spiritual lives and those with whom they share faith and humanity, to see more clearly and to love more deeply. After all, the famous French Catholic film Critic André Bazin (1918-1958) once wrote: "The cinema has always been interested in God."