Ontario

Hello all,

Well, we've made it to Ontario, which means we have covered 4 provinces, and have 2 to go. Who would have thought that nearly half the trip would be spent in these last two provinces, and primarily Ontario? This is not to complain, however - I think many of our Ontarian team members are excited and happy to be back in our home province, myself included. We are happy to have lakes, trees and rocky hills surrounding every turn in the road, and for those of us who are or have attended Our Lady Seat of Wisdom in Barry's Bay, ON, it feels like home. It is incredible how fast and dramatically the landscape changes as soon as one crosses the border into northwestern Ontario from Manitoba. Manitoba has trees, certainly, but the Ontario border dramatically brings the Canadian Shield with it. Unfortunately, it has also brought a plethora of mosquitos and black flies with it as well. Something else for us to offer up…though the sheer number of them does make for a good laugh when one looks at the interior roof of our minivan after a night shift, where our swatting walkers create a suspended graveyard for the mosquitos. The front grille on our white Dodge minivan doesn't fare much better…makes for a good laugh from onlookers when we pull into a gas station after night shift! Some of them have actually congratulated us for getting so many of the bloodsuckers.

This trip has not been without its interesting run-ins, and many of them have been very inspirational. One of the most memorable occurred in Winnipeg, when I was driving with two other teammates to our host family. We were sitting at a red light when a pristine '68 Impala convertible pulled up beside us. I had my window down, so I commented to the dude that he had a nice ride. I wasn’t expecting much conversation to happen after that, but he asked what we had written on the other side of our van (Walk Across Canada) so I told him we were doing a pro-life walk. "Pro-life?" He asks in a slightly elevated tone. The light had since turned green, but he kept pace with our van. "As in not pro-choice?!," he continued. Great, I thought. Here comes a verbal tirade. Turns out to be quite the opposite. "I'm adopted," he says, "and if it wasn't for people like you, I might not be around today." We carried on a conversation between our cars for about a kilometre down a busy Winnipeg street. Once again, it's these experiences that help boost our morale when it seems like most are against us.

Another thing that is encouarging, and reminds us of just how great of an undertaking this trip is, has been talking with those who don't agree with our cause. This might sound strange, but some of the most inspiring encounters have been with those who vehemently oppose our cause, but deeply and truly respect us for standing up for the pro-life cause. First of all, I actually prefer it when people take a confrontational stance when we tell them we are walking for the pro-life cause. It is annoying to tell people our cause, and, when you can tell that they are pro-choice, they still just ignore the issue and half-heartedly wish us luck on our journey. None of that! I know that I am probably guilty of the same crime with standing up for my faith, but you can tell that these people just do not care, which, as I have discussed previously, is typical Canadian apathy and is slowly rotting this country away. On the other hand, I have gotten into some heated discussions with pro-choicers I have met along the way, and at the end of each of those conversations, they still congratulate us on our mission to walk across the country. And the difference here is that they truly mean it, and you can tell. I have been thinking that this is where this walk can truly make a change in the hearts of Canadians. If we can get people to respect us for what we are doing, then they are much more likely to consider our cause or mission with at least a more positive eye than beforehand. And if we can do that in the hearts of enough people, then who knows how many hearts can be changed on this walk?

We are currently in Marathon, ON, and heading towards Sault Ste. Marie. Though we spent this past weekend in "The Soo", the distance between the northwestern Ontario border with Manitoba and Sault Ste. Marie is definitely the longest and most isolated stretch of this walk. It is beautiful country, but we need to make it to more populated southern/central Ontario in order to be in cities large enough to host our weekend visits. Though this stretch is isolated, we have still managed to receive great support! In the span of a couple of days last week, we met two different individuals who were members of the Thunder Bay Right to Life group, who were both previously unaware of our walk, but we very impressed to see us and our mission. Another man, Doug, was driving home to Mission, BC from his holidays in Cape Breton, and happened to know a couple of my close friends and had walked with last year's Crossroads team for a few days. Small world! It is hard to believe we only have 4 weeks left before we finish off, but I'm sure our witnesses and interesting experiences will only increase as we get closer to the final and most populated stretch of our walk.

Thanks for reading, and we'll try to keep you posted!

Pat Wilson

Saskatchewan!

Hello all,

I'm sure you all understand, but I feel obliged to apologize on the lateness of this post once again. I hate being kept in the dark with things such as this, so I understand your situation. I started writing this post nearly two weeks ago - but the reason I didn't finish it until now is because it has been two crazy weeks. Saskatechwan has been quite the province, and has also managed to destroy every stereotype I've ever had about it. Yup, it's not even that flat. But one thing that is straight in this province is its unchanging pro-life stance. I think it is safe to say (since I am from Ontario, and I think we can all agree on how Quebec stacks up) that Saskatechwan is this great country's most pro-life province. Being from the East, this walk has really helped to dispel some stereotypes that us Easterners typically have of Western Canada. Perhaps the most surprising is that, through our observations, it seems that SK takes top baby-defender status over Alberta. While Albertans are certainly economically conservative peoples (though even that seems to be increasingly questionable), they are not the torch-bearing social right-wingers I once took them to be. Or at least they aren't anymore. I can't help but feel, with the growing oil economy and prosperity of the West, that maybe Alberta is trying to prove itself as the yuppies of the West…Calgary as the new Toronto, so to speak. I'm probably offending quite a few Albertans here, so I'll stop. We still love you Alberta, and the pro-life community in places like Edmonton was phenomenal. Drumheller is pretty cool too…

Anyhow, Saskatechewan. The pro-life community in Saskatechewan has been too good to us, particularly in the (likely) hundreds of burgers and other meals that have been cooked up for us in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Davidson, Regina, and last night, Redvers. I'd love to thank everyone by name who put these awesome events on, but for sake of brevity, I'll cover the highlights. In Moose Jaw, the pro-life community gave us a generous donation, and threw on a great event in which we were joined by a local Moose Jaw MLA, Warren Michelson, who is pro-life, and brought the local media to cover our walk. [Check the article here: http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/Local/News/2012-06-20/article-3012689/Young-abortion-opponents-stop-in-Moose-Jaw-on-cross-Canada-walk/1 ] In Davidson, we were given a huge banner by the pro-life community to put on the back of our RV. They have had these banners in past years so we were all elated to have one of our very own for our walk. Once we wash the three inch-thick prairie dust and dirt off the back of our RV, we'll be throwing the banner on. I'll try and post a photo as soon as it's on.

Redvers was a special experience for us. It's just a tiny town in SK near the border with Manitoba, but the pro-life community in this town felt like our biggest welcome yet. About 15 youth showed up with some parents, and after sharing food and chatting with them, we had about a 6 km walk through town with them. It was a great experience, and so awesome for us to see the youth who look up to us. For us to meet some young pro-lifers was also encouraging to us. Not only did these young people walk with us, but they had even raised money for us at a freezie sale at one of their schools, raising over $200. One of them had even written a song for us on piano, which she performed for us. You guys were amazing! I wish we could have these kids along for the whole way - we had a ton of fun!

Right now, we are getting close to the Manitoba border, and will be in Winnipeg next weekend. It will be our last city-stop before the way-too-large Ontario, where we will be heading towards Thunder Bay. We will be sorry to see one of our walkers, Cesar, leave in Winnipeg as he has other commitments to attend to, including going to work with a religious community in Belgium. We'll miss you Cesar!

I'll end this post with a little insight I had the other day when I was walking with one of our team members, Becky. We were thinking about how many steps we must take in a single shift, and we decided to figure out how many we take, roughly, in our summer of walking. We concluded it was around 2-2.5 million steps for each walker…obviously, a huge number! Thinking of large numbers, I decided after to look up the number of abortions in the US per year. This was also huge: 1.37 million - per year. To put it into perspective, this means that for close to every second step we take on the walk, a child is aborted in the US. This really and truly shocked me, but it also gave me encouragement as to why I am spending this crazy summer on this crazy walk. It is sometimes easy to want to just want to skip out on a PR event, or sleep through the knock on the window calling your turn for night shift. But we're doing this for something greater. And anything that can be done to stop this genocide is worth the sacrifice.

Lastly - we like our followers to know that we make sure to unwind from time to time. Also, the craziness of the night shift schedule, and accompanying lack of sleep, often leads to some pretty interesting, but hilarious scenarios. Here's one of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x0v9nAN9o0

God bless,

Pat Wilson

Entering the Prairies

Hello all,

It's week 4 and we've hit the plains! Update in a flash: After descending the Rockies into the plains of southern Alberta, we have since jumped north and continued walking east from the Calgary area. We are now in mid-western Saskatchewan heading to Saskatoon.

While BC was incredibly diverse and interesting in its wide-ranging terrain, our experience on the Prairies has not been so plain as one might expect. Yes, while the terrain is largely unchanging, we have had some of our most powerful and varied encounters on the plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This week has brought some interesting encounters that I have to share. Firstly, this past weekend in Edmonton proved to be yet another great weekend for our team. Not only was our mission extremely well received at the parishes we visited, but we were fed too well - two barbeques were held for the team, one at one of our host families (Diane Middleton) and the other at the house of last-year walked, Nelson Morris. Thank-you to both, and to our equally generous host family, the Maddens! Also, one religious, (her name escapes me at the moment - my apologies!), bought our entire group lunch on Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, our stomachs were looked after this weekend! I never thought that I might gain weight by going on Crossroads, but if people keep feeding us like this…

This week has also brought some special encounters for our team. On Monday morning, we were hoping to go to Mass at the chancery office in Edmonton before heading out 5 hours south to Drumheller to continue walking. However, because of traffic and our over-reliance on the unreliable GPS, we missed the Mass. However, I figured I would ask the office if there was a later Mass anywhere in the area. I couldn't find the office, but the Western Catholic Reporter newspaper office was there, so I thought I would ask them. They weren't able to find a Mass, so we turned to head out. Just before pulling away, one of the newspaper reporters stopped us and asked us to do an interview. We had a great discussion and some action walking shots. Good to see that some good comes out of these less-than-good situations! I just found out that the article has been printed - check it out here: http://wcr.ab.ca/WCRThisWeek/Stories/tabid/61/entryid/2634/Default.aspx

The following day was even more eventful. The only Mass in the small Albertan prairie towns along Hwy 9 was in Hanna, AB at 7 PM. Hanna also happens to be the hometown of Nickelback, and so I wouldn't be too surprised if this grave misfortune was also responsible for the fact that Mass was cancelled that night, as the priest was on holidays. We were just about to leave the locked church when a dude riding a Harley pulled into the church. This man also happened to be Fr. Ian, the parish priest, just arriving back from his holidays in BC. He was more than happy to offer us a private Mass. He also let us use his facilities to cook and get washed up. But it doesn't end there. Just before we were about to leave, a few of us were hanging outside the church with our PRO-LIFE shirts on. A couple walking a dog were looking at us somewhat curiously, so we started chatting with them. It so happens that the woman, Delia Girard, was adopted and struggling that very day with friends who were being hostile to her pro-life views. We chatted and prayed together, and it strengthened both her spirits and ours to have such a providential encounter on the street.

So far, our experience in this province of Saskatchewan has proven to be most supportive overall, judging by the amount of positive response we are getting from passing cars and those we meet in the towns along the way. We have even got some donations on the road! We were also given a royal treatment last night in Kindersley, SK, from Fr. Cooper at St. Joseph's Parish, who swamped us with food and gave us much-cherished beds and showers to use last night. Such hospitality has really made me appreciate the generosity of others, as there has been so many who have laid down so much to accommodate us, particularly our weekend host families. Thank you to all, and

Now to enjoy the night prairie sky…it really is as phenomenal as  they make it out to be.

Pat

Week 2

Another week has cone and gone! I think the entire team can agree that our second week has passed much more quickly than our first week. Getting into the routine of walking 25 km each a day, irregular sleeping schedule, the whizzing cars, and the constant PR that accompany the trip, you could say that we have achieved some degree of normalcy in the trip at this point.

I am also happy to report that we have sustained no real injuries as of yet - despite some fairly bad blisters for some - but everyone is more than happy to walk, even though it may at times be painful. In that vein, the phrase "offer it up!" has already become a bit of a joking cliché term - and though we joke about how frequently we say it, there is still much truth in the idea of offering up any pain in our walking for the unborn and the intentions we receive along the way at parishes.

The general response we have received so far along the road has been interesting. While the majority of actual response we visibly receive has been so far positive - friendly horn blasts, thumbs up and waves - it is still tough to gauge exactly what the majority of those who drive by us actually think. Looking into the cars of passerbys (we do not try to make it look obvious!), nearly all drivers notice us, and with some degree of interest. It is easy to notice the turning heads, or the glance, and the averted eyes. We very rarely get middle fingers, angry yells, or any negative response. It is interesting to note, because I think it is sadly indicative of the typical Canadian tendency towards apathy on topics such as abortion. I feel that many of these people likely do not disagree with our cause, or respect us for standing up for it, but might feel that since abortion is not directly their problem, then they should not be concerned or excited about the movement. How do we reach these apathetic Canadians? This is not an easy question to answer. But I only hope that our shirts have at least got these apathetic passerbys to think about the issue a little more, and maybe open their minds to consider that maybe there is something wrong with the genocide that we are inflicting on our future generation.

One of the things which has surprised me the most on Crossroads - in a good way - is the importance of the parish mission on the weekends. Visiting local churches, we share with parishoners what our walk is about, and ask for spiritual and financial support. I was initally reluctant to do this part of the walk, but have since found it extremely rewarding for both the parishoners, and our own motivation. For one, while many of these parishoners are deeply concerned about the pro-life movement, many feel that there is no hope for the future of the cause, resigning like many other Canadians to the lie that legalized abortion has become a closed issue in Canada. For them to see young people active and engaged in the mission, who care deeply enough about it to want to walk across the country for the cause, is very encouraging for many of these people. Their encouragement, in exchange, is very encouraging for us. To feel and receive this abundant support on weekends has helped to strengthen our resolve to walk with purpose this summer. Thank-you parishoners!

As I write this, we are currently marching east towards Fernie, BC, headed for the Crowsnest Pass and the Alberta border. While the mountains are beautiful, our legs are looking forward to some flat walking on the plains, which we should reach later this week. We spent this past weekend in Calgary - thank you to Anne Engel for hosting us in Calgary, and to the parishoners there who were very hospitable as well! We spent a few hours praying outside the Kensignton Abortion Clinic in Calgary on Saturday, and were met with our most hostile response yet - a number of fingers and yells were shot at us. It was sad to see, but also good, in some way, to actually receive some response rather than the apathetic blank stares we have often gotten so far in BC. Last weekend, we prayed outside the hospital in Kelowna, BC, where abortions are performed, and actually got some positive responses - great to see!

On the 5 hour drive back to Cranbrook, BC from Calgary, we were fortunate enough to see a great deal of wildlife! 3 black bears, 1 wolf, and a plethora of deer and elk. We have seen a great number of deer while walking as well - luckily, no black or grizzly bears have been spotted during walking. I guess our bear bells at night are working…

Continue to pray for us on our walk, and we will keep you posted on our progress!

Pat Wilson

Check out our pictures from the walk!

We've uploaded our first set of pictures from the walk. Head over to this link to check them out:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/crossroadscanada

Save the link because we'll be uploading more regularly!

The feet are moving!

Hello all!

Firstly: I'd like to apologize for not posting until now. It has been a crazy, but rewarding beginning to our trip. We are just now getting settled into our routine, as crazy of a routine as it is proving to be!

Secondly: Wow, what a start! After five nearly 24 hour days of collective walking, we have covered over 300 km through beautiful and widely diverse terrain. It's tough to know where to start writing about our experience so far - it feels like we have been on the road for a month! So I may just begin by outlining exactly what Crossroads does, and move into how we are doing.

Many of you are probably wondering - how does this Crossroads operation work? 24/5?! Do you guys walk the whole thing?! Yes and no. As a group - collectively - we will be walking all the way from Vancouver to Quebec City. Individually, we will be walking probably anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire distance. This isn't because we are weak and only somewhat care about the cause  - but merely for the fact that we have time constraints. It would take us more than twice as long to all walk the entire distance - which would make our mission at least a 6 month operation. As college students, this isn't exactly feasible. Furthermore, our mission isn't for selfish reasons - ie. being able to boast at parties that we walked the entire country, or to achieve the best suntan possible. Rather, we are walking to witness to the pro-life cause. This is done just as effectively with our walk being done in rotating shifts, as there is nearly always someone on the road, witnessing to the cause.

With that sorted out, let me inform you of how we organize the walk itself. Firstly, the team is divided into two groups every week: day shift and the (in?)famous night shift. Each shift aims to cover about 50 kms a shift, totalling 100 km over a 24 hour period. When one group is walking, the other is resting or sleeping. The transitioning point between the shifts is daily Mass in the weekday morning - if it is available remotely near where we are camped out or walking. This is an important time for our team, as it is one of the few times during the weekdays that the day and night shifters can see each other, catch up, and have a bit of team-building, before the shifts move off to either the road or bed. It is great that the team is able to recoup and regather around the Mass, which emphasizes our community of shared faith.

As far as our walk itself, our team has so far covered nearly 400 km over the first week, which I am very impressed with considering the fact that none of us are used to 25 km of daily walking! We have been relaxing with an incredibly generous host family - the Ziebarths - in beautiful Summerland, BC. (They live right beside one of the oldest vineyards in the province!) We are currently speaking at parishes in the Okanagan region this weekend. While we are all physically and mentally exhausted after our first week, it has been extremely rewarding. One of the most uplifting things in our first week on the road so far has been the support and kindness we receive at the churches we attend and speak at. During our training in Vancouver, the team got especially close to the parishoners at St. Clare of Assisi parish in Coquitlam, BC (a suburb of Vancouver). The priest, Fr. Craig Scott, was incredibly accomodating and supporting, inviting the entire team down for coffee after every morning Mass! It was our experience at this parish where our patron saint for the trip - St. Clare of Assisi - was chosen. We were informed by the parishoners here that St. Clare's feast day is on August 11 - the exact day we will be concluding our walk in Ottawa on Parliament Hill! Being the first parish we visited as a full team, it only made sense to choose St. Clare as our patron, as her namesake both commences and concludes our trip.

The hospitality has followed us down the road. We visited a gorgeous little parish in beautiful Hope, BC for two days, and were welcomed with much support there. I have to say a few words about Hope itself - as the scenery surrounding the town is incredible, even by BC standards. Lush green, with the mighty Fraser River running through the town, and surrounded by impossibly steep mountains, I felt like I had stepped into a fantasy movie. For those Stallone fans, it might also be remembered as the town where Rambo: First Blood was filmed. To the delight of the male contingent (all Rambo fans!) present on the trip, we were delighted to find that our campground was located right adjacent to the bridge where the opening bridge scene of the film was shot! It was a nice little treat for us movie buffs, despite the fact that Rambo might not be the most ideal role model for our cause (though he certainly wasn't apathetic about his beliefs, so we can respect that!)

There is so much more to inform you all of, particularly regarding our walking itself, and the varying backgrounds of our team members, so I will be posting more as soon as I have a chance. Stay tuned for picture updates as well.

In the meantime, I have also been posting semi-regularly on Twitter for the walk, as it is easier and faster to do on the road from my smartphone, and I don't need to find a WIFI signal and a power outlet for my laptop in order to post. So, if you want to check out our Twitter, you can find it at this address: https://twitter.com/#!/CA_Crossroads. You don't need to sign up in order to see our posts, but make sure to check back regularly to see our updates. You can also like our page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrossroadsCanada

Please inform any of your friends or family of this blog address as well. All team members who wish to blog will be doing so here, so expect many more posts and pictures from myself and others!

Please also keep us in your prayers! We will keep you, and all the unborn in our many prayers on the walk as well, and you can forward us any prayer requests, which we will make sure to pray for as we walk.

Pat Wilson