Encounters with ‘angels,’ memories of loved ones bless Camino journeys
Cindi and Bob Klee of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis post a photo of Bob’s mom on a fence during their 2021 journey on the Camino, a pilgrimage they dedicated to the memory of his late mother. (Submitted photo)
(Editor’s note: A record 499,239 pilgrims from all over the world walked the Camino pilgrimage in northern Spain in 2024. The Criterion has invited people from the archdiocese who have made all or part of that pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain to share how that experience has influenced their life and their faith.)
10th in an occasional series
By John Shaughnessy
In our journeys in life, the moments that stay in our memories are often the ones when a stranger helps us through a tough time.
Eleven years have passed, but Bob and Cindi Klee still cherish the memory of what happened when they became lost during their first 500-mile trek along the Camino.
“During our first Camino, we decided to pray the rosary while we were hiking,” Bob recalls. “We were caught up in praying and missed a yellow arrow marker and hiked 3 kilometers [about 2 miles] out of our way. We wandered onto a farm, and a nice farmer stopped us and told us how to rejoin the Camino.”
Cindi chimes in with other memories of the people she has come to call “Camino Angels”—people who have touched their lives from the five journeys that she and Bob have made along The Way together.
“The Camino travels through many rural areas as well as large cities where the inhabitants are proud of what the Camino represents to people all over the world who come to walk in the footsteps of St. James the Apostle,” Cindi says.
“One time, a man in a van drove by on a hot day and offered each pilgrim he passed bottled water. Once, when we experienced colds and injuries, a kind innkeeper gave us a private room. Pilgrims have also stopped to help when they saw I was injured.”
Then there are the moments that have touched their soul, when the physical journey also became a deeply spiritual one.
‘It was so moving’
“After our first experience, which included some injuries on my part, it brought me so much more joy than I expected and brought me so much closer to my faith that I wanted to return again and again,” Cindi says.
“It was so moving to me to think that, at one time, in the early 1100’s, as many as 500,000 people walked this route in blind faith without any of the modern amenities we have now to follow in the footsteps of St. James.”
That connection with past generations of the faithful especially hit home to the couple as they stopped in many of the small village churches along the Camino path.
“I always marvel at the beautiful tribute to God these small churches contain in sparsely populated areas with little resources,” Cindi says. “Most churches on the Camino have a special pilgrim Mass that includes group or individual pilgrim blessings. Some included singing nuns, some included Gregorian chants.
“In one small chapel, nuns greet pilgrims with a blessing and give each pilgrim a small medallion of the Virgin Mary. In another small village, the Franciscan [friar]
gave each pilgrim a small stone with an arrow waymark painted on it to carry on the rest of their journey. In Leon, Bob was selected to read a prayer to the English-speaking congregation while the priest read the same prayer in Spanish.
“All of this served to exemplify to me how unified we all are in our Catholic faith.”
During their journeys, the couple from Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis also made a special gesture to recognize the people who gave them the roots of their Catholic faith.
‘Looking out for each other’
“We were both raised Catholic, and both sets of our parents were devout Catholics,” Bob says. “My siblings and I attended Christ the King School and Bishop Chatard High School. Cindi and I were married at Christ the King. Our three children also attended Christ the King and Chatard. We loved that they practiced the Catholic faith and received the same sacraments as we did.”
As the couple walked their first two Camino journeys, they noticed how pilgrims had left crosses, prayer cards and photos of their loved ones on fences, rocks and crucifixes.
Those scenes led the couple to dedicate their 2019 Camino to Cindi’s late father and their 2021 journey to Bob’s late mother.
“We laminated prayer cards for them,” Bob says. “We made five of these, keyhole-punched the cards and then attached long rubber bands to them. Then during several parts of the Camino, we attached the cards to historic points and monuments, saying prayers for their souls. We were really moved by combining our love of the Camino with prayers and dedication to our parents.”
Cindi adds, “We found this a lovely way to say a silent prayer in recognition of our parents’ lives.”
Their experiences have also deepened their connection with each other.
“We always relied on our Catholic faith to unify our family throughout six career relocations,” says Bob, retired from Eli Lilly and Company. “During our first Camino in 2015, we spent 37 days hiking together, covering 500 miles. This was the longest time we had ever spent continuously together.
“We enjoyed the common experience, hiking together in sunshine and rain, walking long flat trails or climbing mountains, enjoying the small towns together, praying together and looking out for each other.”
Cindi believes the Camino is meant to be a shared experience.
“Without each other’s love and support on each Camino we have traveled, it would have been difficult to get through some of the bad days of weather, long hikes, injuries and setbacks. All of these shared memories have had a lasting impact on our daily lives.” †
