To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela

The heart of "To the Field of Stars" lies in Father Codd's introspective exploration of spirituality and personal growth. As he walks the Camino, he grapples with his own beliefs, confronts his doubts, and searches for a deeper connection with the divine. His candid reflections on the challenges, revelations, and moments of grace he encounters along the way resonate with authenticity and emotional depth. It is through his vulnerabilities and struggles that Father Codd invites readers to embark on their own inner pilgrimage of self-discovery and spiritual contemplation.The memoir also shines a spotlight on the diverse and colorful cast of characters that populate the Camino. Codd introduces fellow pilgrims from different walks of life, sharing their stories and the unique perspectives they bring to the journey.I am using this book as a source of inspiration as I prepare for my Camino in just 2 weeks.

I read this delightful book the week before "my camino" in Portugal. A perfect preparation for all the pilgrimage offers...thanks Kevin!

I was enticed to purchase this book by the good reviews and my own impending walk of the Camino. As this was a book written by a Catholic priest, and as I am not religious, I was worried that the book would preach a solely religious message with the subtlety of a cudgel. Nothing prepared me, however, for the Very Angry Priest that the author, Father Codd, turned out to be.It all begins with his jilting of his first walking partner, Javier. The author wants to walk alone, fair enough, but the passive-aggressive way he goes about accomplishing that is childish and immature and certainly not what I would expect from a priest. Javier rightly treats him like a toad afterwards.There are other, numerous examples along the way, of our dear Father's tremendous, boiling volcano of rage that is so easily tapped. There's Father Cobb's unadulterated pleasure at seeing Guy the Canadian's friend (Alexandre) taken low by heat exhaustion, after having the temerity to actually jog upon the Camino. There is his embarrassing and unnecessary outburst towards the bar owner in San Martin who segregates diners between his bar and his restaurant area based on how much they order. Hey, Father Cobb, it's *his* place. He can seat people wherever he wants to!The mad fits of rage continue when Father Cobb, about as leftist a priest as one could ever not hope to find, admonishes himself internally for NOT teeing off on a fellow pilgrim who has the gall to support Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, one would think a *Catholic priest* would find empathy for both sides of a conflict and not choose sides and attempt to pass off one side as angelic and the other as demonic. I would expect a lay person to do this, like the pilgrim Father Cobb was so irritated by, but not a priest!Then there's his hatred for those who blow past him on the trail ("One young fellow with black hair, wire-rim glasses, and an angular face wears a blue Superman t-shirt... He flies past me without a greeting or even a nod. I don't like him. Superman indeed. Let's just wait a few days and we'll see if these little superheroes are still running down the road to Santiago!"), his daydream of pushing a car off a cliff of walkers who dare to have their backpacks taxied to the top of a mountain along the way ("...a squawking family of pseudo-pilgrims who walk along at my pace so that I cannot escape their annoying company... As they drop their minor-league loads, gather round the car cackling like old crows and take their unearned rest, I would like to be enough of a Superman to tip their coche de apoyo (car) over the bank of the road and have it tumble to the gully below, forcing them to walk as true pilgrims"). There're more examples, but you get the point: this is the angriest, quickest-to-judge (and condemn) priest that I have ever encountered (and I was raised Catholic so I've met a few).We haven't even gotten into the crying. I'm not saying a man has to be made of solid stone and cannot allow tears to flow when something tragic comes his way, but mein Gott, this angry priest is quite the blubberer. Seems like every chance he gets he's turning on the waterworks. Any story of the Camino de Santiago is going to have a familiar pattern to it, as the journey itself invites a neat literary structure. As predictable as any of these accounts will be, there was one thing I was 1000% sure would happen when our author finally reached Santiago cathedral: there'd be a good cry.Despite all this criticism, the journey itself is fairly well-told, especially at the beginning. The author's trope of talking to (and speaking for) animals gets old after a while, as does his affectation of referring to some of his items (like his backpack and hiking poles) by their Spanish names only. The book becomes repetitive as the same things start happening over and over again, just in a new town. Perhaps that is just the way of any journey, but the author should have been aware of these ruts that his account was wearing on the road and found a way to get out of them.But there is some value in this book. There is no great wisdom or spiritual insights from Father Codd, but as a day-to-day account of what one can expect along the Way, it's a fair guide and told from a fairly unique perspective. If you're a conservative Catholic, however, and in any way right-wing or traditional, you will probably be rubbed raw by this relentlessly leftist priest. One might be tempted to even go so far as blaming declining church attendance in Europe on such liberal priests like Father Codd, but that might be a bridge too far. What one can clearly say is that Father Codd really shouldn't be spiritually guiding anyone. He simply has way too much anger and is somewhat of a misanthrope when it comes to his fellow man. If anything, he probably should've been a hermit, so no one could annoy him (which is even more easily done than enraging him) and perhaps he could have found inner peace with the lack of outside, aggravating (to him) stimulation.

I read this book because I plan to walk the Camino de Santiago and wanted to get some insight to the Catholic rituals I would be see and perhaps participate in along the trail. The author of this book is a Catholic Priest and he did in fact describe many of the rituals and explained the religious thinking that goes behind them. I appreciate the insight but came away convinced more than ever that Catholics have some pretty bizarre and morbid sacraments. Communion perhaps being the most morbid of them all, unabashed ritualized cannibalism.Kevin provides additional insight into how he personally and many others endure pain and experience great joy along the Way while feeling the irrepressible tug to complete the 500 mile trail from St Jean in the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. This was the first time I have spent any time inside the head of a Priest. He demonstrates through this story that Priests are people too, with all the same issues and failures as everyone else.In many of his antidotes he lets us know that he either learned at the time or later from his mistakes. However there was one incident at a restaurant where Kevin describes the waiter as doing what his boss told him to do, and because the waiter would not bend to the Priest’s will and change the rules, the Priest calls this poor waiter an Idiot and storms out. Oddly Kevin never showed any remorse for this or made any indication that he had learned anything from his rude behavior in this incident.Father Codd informs us that his job is to run a seminary. I kept thinking at many points during the reading of this book that he needed to add a course to his curriculum, a course that teaches tolerance. Kevin should take the class, not teach it.In order to show my tolerance I would still recommend this book to anyone that wants to get some insight into Catholic sacraments and read a good story about walking the Camino.

Having just returned from northern Spain where I met my daughter as she completed her camino, I became totally intrigued by the whole subject of the famous "Camino de Santiago de Compostela" and as such I have now read two books on the camino, this being my third, each book was selected to give differing perspectives, the first was a father and daughter journey, "Buen Camino" the second was a lady's journey "Field of Stars" and now I am walking with a Roman Catholic Priest on his journey "To the Field of Stars" and though I am still four chapters from the end I have thoroughly enjoyed this journey too, and it has given me a completely different perspective through the eyes of an American Priest, I am sure that it would not be to everyone's taste as the author does dwell on aspects of his faith to relate to his camino experience, but as a practising Roman Catholic myself I find his thoughts and reflections very absorbing and it is also interesting to read his interpretations of certain events and thus makes the reading for me a lesson in the very human side of a Roman Catholic Priest's own inner thoughts and it is this which has made the book quite unique in its descriptive journey along the road to Santiago. Each book has been a journey totally differing from the other, and for anyone who is contemplating making the journey from St. Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, they are all must reads if only to give a flavour of the highs and lows that each and everyone must encounter along "The Way" and although it could be said that reading and doing are totally different, I would beg to differ, as I am intending to undertake the camino next year myself and realise that the weather conditions cannot be predicted, most especially in Galicia, the fellow pilgrims that I will encounter and in some cases walk with on occasion will be different, my personal reflections will be as changeable as the weather and the conditions dictate, and of course the experiences that will arise that will challenge me just cannot be quantified, but in having read of other peoples journey's I will at least have that vital insight in what I might expect and of course of greatest benefit are the notes I have made regarding the refugio's that I may be staying in as I make my way along the path to Santiago. Even if you are not intending to make the journey, reading "To the Field of Stars" as far as I have read so far will certainly open your eyes to the trials and tribulations of one mans pilgrimage, and makes for a very interesting walk through some undoubtedly beautiful scenery, some drab cities, and even worse industrial estates, but then the rewards are far greater in the villages where gems of achitecture and historically significant churches and remains will more than make up for the two latter but essential parts of northern Spain through which the path to Santiago takes you. Just close your mind to all around you and imagine yourself walking with the good Father to "The Field of Stars" you will enjoy the journey!

This book has been the highlight book of my year. It follows the journey of an American priest along 750km of the popular pilgrim trail, the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the northern Pyrenees to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain.Fr. Kevin has a real talent for inviting the reader to walk with him, to share in his highs and lows, in the `refugios' he stays in, the churches he visits, the many good friendships he makes, and even in the rare falling out with people. Most of all though, we get a real sense of `pilgrimage' and how the camino is mirror on our lives (especially for those that share in Fr. Kevin's Christian faith).Some passages that particular struck me were those that describe each day as a mini-pilgrimage of its own, which joins together to form the larger Pilgrimage. Surely a reflection on our lives...."I am becoming aware that each day of the camino is in itself a camino, a small pilgrimage from one place to another, rather complete in itself with its own adventures and mysteries and lessons to be learned along the way....for once this camino day gets taken by the hand by all the other camino days, they join together to form something more grand. In communion with one another, they form a growing family having its own wholeness, its own identity, its very own being; they become El Camino."Along the way things can go wrong, things can be forgotten. Should the pilgrim return? Even when Fr. Kevin forgets his precious and loved sandals (worn in exchange for the heavy walking boots at the end of the day), he chooses to keep moving forward ...."This has become one of the primary rules of my own pilgrimage: never go back, always forward. Never go back even a little. Such rules have to be broken by necessity at times, but the rule itself is still important; it keeps me going in the right direction and makes decision-making simpler in those moments when I suddenly discover two kilometers down the road that I have left my shorts hanging on a laundry line. Forget them; don't go back. Ahead, only ahead."Companions come and go on the Camino. Sometimes they are held on to for a while, while other times the friendship is genuine but fleeting...."I look forward to bumping into him again in the coming days - but as sometimes happens on the camino, after this one visit I never see him or his companions again...Such is the camino and life: people come and go even though you love them."The camino is not all joy. Fr Kevin describes moods that change almost for no reason; this is part of pilgrimage..."If the previous day was a tiring one, then this new day walking from Castrojerez to Fromista is almost glorious. There is no explaining these things: some days are mostly grief while others are filled with energy and delight. It's a mystery that all pilgrims experience and comment upon but that none of us quite understand. The lucky thing is that not everyone is low on the same day or high on the same day. On my low day, I am cheered by another; on her low day, I do the cheering. We carry one another in this way."Awareness of the presence of God also ebbs and flows, but Fr. Kevin knows that God is always present whether we feel his presence or not..."From my prone position with hand pulling my leg tautly up towards my chest, I spy the first star in the darkening sky. It has been there all along, seen or unseen. A medieval aphorism that I was taught on a retreat some years ago comes to mind: Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit. Bidden or unbidden, God is present. That is exactly what I am coming to understand on this road: Like the star above me, seen or unseen, he is here. Felt or unfelt, he is with me. Attended to or not attended to, he is walking with me."As the pilgrimage goes on Fr. Kevin let progressively allows the camino to set the rhythm..."My prayer is changing too. The very walking, with its rhythms and constant movement forward, has become in itself my deepest prayer. I now walk without imposing an agenda of my own on the day, that this or that should be happening to me or that I should be doing this or that by way of praying. Just by being out here walking, I am praying. Let what happens happen, let the camino teach me with its twists and turns and endless surprises, yes, let God do or not do what he wants to do with me out here. For whatever it is worth, I give him this time and this walking. That's enough. He calls the shots. He sets the agenda. He leads me on."Along the way tourists mix with pilgrims, and Fr. Kevin identifies a difference...."But we pilgrims are constantly reminded along the way, Turistas manden; peregrinos agradecen. Tourists demand; pilgrims thank."On three occasions Fr. Kevin is moved to tears. He identifies this one time with the emotion of thanks and sorrow that comes from being in the presence of Christ..."This small piece of bread blessed and broken is like a window between heaven and earth through which Christ's friendship streams out to me and washes my face in colors that no artist can imagine. I suppose that is why I find myself crying.On this third run of tears, I finally have a couple of words to locate whence they come. The first is sorrow, sorrow for my faithlessness, my lukewarmness, my lack of enthusiasm for the work of my life, my compromises in living my deepest promises, my disregard for so many. The second is gratitude. As I sit here with my eyes running, I feel the deepest thanksgiving for everything in general and for everything in particular: this heartbeat, this life, this church, these friends, mother and father, brothers and sisters, the road, the earth under my feet, my feet, my aches and weariness, wooden Mary and son, faith, the Eucharist, my imperfect yet graced priesthood, all of it. I am grateful. I am just enormously grateful over it all. Yes, for everything in general and everything in particular, I am grateful to tears."Despite the challenges, Fr. Kevin borrows from the indefatigable hope of Julian of Norwich..."to borrow the words of Julian of Norwich, the medieval mystic: all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well."As with Fr. Kevin's pilgrimage I was sad to reach the end of this book, but I very much appreciated how Fr. Kevin welcomed us on his journey and allowed us to walk alongside him and his friends. May God bless him and all pilgrims everywhere.

I bought this book many years ago before I walked my own Camino Frances on TWO FEET in 2015. I know I enjoyed the first read as I left a note inside the book . Having just completed reading again I know I got much more out of the book this time round. I believe it to be a very honest account of his daily walking experiences and I like how each chapter covers a days walk as it does make for a more understandable coverage of the distance and geography covered. Excellent.

I have read many books on the camino and this is undoubtably one of the very best.The author captures the hardship,spiritually and friendships of the road very well and gives an insight into Catholic faith without being afraid to criticise its failings.I was sorry to finish this book and recommend it to both those thinking of walking the camino and those armchair travellers who cannot.

...this is the one.Kevin Codd tells his camino story with such humour, such earthy realism, humility and hope, that it envelops you in a warm embrace and carries you right into the heart of God.I will forever be grateful for this book, which enriched my life and helped me to prepare for my own camino, due to start in just over a month.