Newest Crossroads walk to be all Canadian

In 1993 the late Pope John Paul II called for young people to proclaim the gospel of life from the highways and the byways. Crossroads, a pro-life group which has taken that call quite literally and is dedicated to promoting the culture of life by walking across North America, will be coming to Canada this summer.

Special to The B.C. Catholic For over 10 years participants in Crossroads have been trekking across America on foot in the name of preserving life. On one of those walks they encountered Sisters for Life, founded by the late Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York in 1991.

"We started out based on our Holy Father's words in Denver in 1993, where he challenged the youth of America and the youth of the world to spread the gospel of life and the culture of life," said Jim Nolan, president of Crossroads. "He challenged the youth to act like the early apostles and go to the highways and the byways to preach the gospel of life."

Shortly after that World Youth Day, Steve Sanborn and Nolan founded Crossroads, a ministry devoted to raising awareness of life issues. Their idea was simple: walk across the country in T-shirts that say pro-life on the front, and let the chips fall where they may.

In 1995 the group held their first ever North American walk, trekking from San Francisco all the way to Washington DC, and the group has grown substantially since then. Crossroads plans a Canadian walk this summer which will run from May 19 to Aug. 11.

"Last year we had three walks travelling across North America from Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles," he said. "We also did an international walk with a bunch of European students, and walked from Brussels to Cologne."

Nolan explained that they are eyeing Vancouver as the starting block for a walk this summer. He also said he has been in contact with a number of pro-life Canadians who have walked with crossroads in the U.S. and are interested in helping.

"The right to life groups we told about this were ecstatic, and when we made the announcement that we would be doing this walk in Canada, we got a lot of replies from a lot of different provinces," said Nolan. "This walk is also going to be 100 per cent, totally, Canadian: it will be all Canadian students from colleges across the country."

Crossroads has `challenging' prayer schedule

Nolan, a Washington lawyer who was a participant in the walk a few years ago, said it is the experience of a lifetime. Each day consists of prayer, Mass when possible, and over 30 km of walking. Participants camp along roadsides during the week, and stay in host homes when they're available. Walkers also give pro-life talks and presentations, and try to witness to the gospel of life whenever people ask them about what they're doing.

According to Nolan, the spiritual benefits of the walk are great, and the physical benefits are a nice bonus.

"It's a pretty challenging prayer schedule during the week, praying for abortion and for unborn children, and for mothers to choose life," he said. "The spiritual benefits and the absolute benefits of it are amazing, I lost 25 pounds when I did it a few years ago, because during the week you're walking around the clock."

"It's definitely a commitment, because you're giving up your summer, which most students use to work and get time off to go home, but it's also a walk of a lifetime. It seems very challenging, and it is, but not many people know what it's like to walk 30 km in a day, and go all the way across North America."

"The walking also gets a lot easier, if you can believe it, by the end of the walk, you walk 30 km and it's second nature. You get used to the physical sacrifice, and because so many amazing things are happening, you start to forget what you are doing is so physically demanding.

"I can without a doubt say it was the most amazing experience of my life."

Aside from all the walking, students are trained to counsel people who come to them with questions about life issues. Nolan explained that participants have had numerous heart-wrenching conversations with people affected by abortion.

"There are a lot of heart-wrenching, heart-felt conversations, and a lot of saved life along the way," he said. "We peacefully counsel women who are contemplating abortion, and each weekend we book as many parishes as possible, so we can speak in Catholic churches as well."

Nolan said that people may be surprised by what they uncover during the pro-life walk.

"We feel that with all the American pro-life groups we can give real credibility to the claim that America is a pro-life nation. We feel that we have the right to say America is pro-life because we've found it out. We've done the research, we've walked across the country, and we've met the people.

"We think the same is true of Canada; we think that Canadians are people who are for life, and want life. I think we are going to find that Canada is a pro-life nation as well."

More information on Crossroads and the Canadian walk is available at www.crossroadswalk.com and 1-800-353-8817.