Hi everyone!
We have made it to Ottawa! We finished our walk today on Parliament Hill, ending the 12th week of our 3-month walk across Canada. I am very thankful that we made it here safely, that we were blessed with the perseverance and strength we needed to take every step along the way. A big thank you goes out to everyone who supported us by their prayers, their hospitality, generosity, to our host families, my friends and family and all who supported us along the way. It is thanks to all of your support that Crossroads was successful this year in its first walk across Canada, and that our walk was fruitful in taking steps to put an end to abortion in Canada. We have met so many people along the way, raising our voices for those who have none, and have given great witness to the pro-life message. But this is just the beginning for me, as this walk motivates me to do ever more to try to change hearts and minds and put an end to abortion. It is my hope that Crossroads also inspires others to do more, whether politically, socially, or prayerfully, to put an end to abortion.
So, that said, I will wrap up what happened today as we walked into Ottawa. So we got started walking this morning at 9am, and walked into Ottawa, down Sussex drive to the PM's house, then back up all the way to Parliament. As we approached, we saw a big crowd there, and suddenly they started applauding and cheering. They were there for us! What an amazing sight it was, and what a warm welcome we received. Beyond all my expectations. There, we were greeted by Pierre Lemieux, a conservative pro-life politician for the Glen-Carrie-Prescott-Russel ridding. We had a bit of a ceremony - he presented us with certificates of achievement and a Canadian flag. Cyril gave a little talk, and to top it all off we were given a tour of Parliament.
At the moment, I will soon be heading to the airport. I want to thank all you who took an interest in my blog and who supported the Crossroads pro-life group. Let us continue working for justice and for an end to abortion in Canada and around the world.
Etienne
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
August 10 2007 (Friday)
An awesome day. We spent the morning walking, then we met up with Wanda, who organized our weekend in Ottawa, had a quick lunch, then proceeded to meet fellow pro-lifers to walk and pray outside the Morgentaler clinic in Ottawa. It was really busy there, as it was noontime and we were in downtown Ottawa. We received the most criticism yet on the trip, with people screaming "bigots", "pedophiles", "sickos", etc. We also had a small group of anti-protesters coming out, holding up signs that said "Pro family - pro child - pro choice". Strange. We were 21 pro-lifers in total - a good outcome. There will be much more going on tomorrow as well.
Afterwards we drove out to where we left off walking and continued walking a little longer. Then we all proceeded to our host families places. More to come tomorrow...
Afterwards we drove out to where we left off walking and continued walking a little longer. Then we all proceeded to our host families places. More to come tomorrow...
August 9 2007 (Thursday)
Tonight and last night were our last nights on night-shift. We are walking altogether on Friday to the outskirts of Ottawa, and will finish up the last 10 km all the way to Parliament Hill on Saturday. I am really excited - and thankful - for making it this far. It is now just a matter of time before we are standing outside of Parliament.
August 7 2007 (Tuesday)
Today we got to check out Notre Dame basilica, one of the four minor basilicas in Montreal. The others are St. Patrick, St. Joseph's Oratory and Mary Queen of the World (Marie-Reigne-du-Monde). Among other things (like paying a visit to the police station, where Jeremy tried getting a temporary ID since he got his wallet stollen a few weeks ago) we did the Way of the Cross behind St. Joseph's Oratory.
August 6 2007 (Monday)
Today, Jeremy Ben and I walked through Montreal during the day while the others took the day off (we get our day off tomorrow). We basically started walking at 11am and finished at 9 or 10pm. We walked along the Ottawa River, then through parts of Old Montreal, and essentially through most of Montreal. Tomorrow the others are going to walk, while we check out the city. We start walking again Tuesday night.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
August 5 2007 (Sunday)
Hi everyone,
Today is Sunday, which means its Mass day. So I woke up early, got prepared, and headed off for St. Monica's to give my talks.
I liked St. Monica's, especially the priest there. When I first met him, I asked him if he was Father Raymond (which was what was indicated on our sheet). He said that he wasn't, that he was Father Bertelli. So I asked him if this was the first time at the parish... assuming the other priest was away. But he replied, laughing, that he was pastor there for 40 years!
He was a nice old Italian priest, and invited me for breakfast after morning Mass.
After the 8:30 and 11:00am Mass, Greg picked me up, and then we went to pick up Ben at his parish. I had to go looking for him, and found him enjoying himself outside the church where parishioners were having a "carnival" to raise founds for a group going to WYD. Afterwards, us three went to visit St. Peter's, which was a minor basilica which is actually constructed after the design of St. Peter's in Rome, except 1/3 the size. But still, it was so large and so beautiful. All along the walls were painted Saints, hundreds of them, in succession. It was neat. Among others were Brother Andre, the Canadian Martyrs, and St. Lawrence O'Toole (a distant relative perhaps?)
Tonight Father is treating us to a BBQ. Tomorrow, we are staying another day in Montreal (taking a much needed day off), for two reasons: the distance back to Ottawa, our next stop, is only 200km away, and reason number two, is that its Cyril's birthday. So we will hopefully get more time to visit churches and such things as this.
Tomorrow we are also having another walker joining us for a week. It'll be interesting to have a new walker, shake things up a bit.
We start walking again on Monday night I believe. We are going to be walking more than just the 200 km to Ottoawa, as we are walking 4 full days... where to, Cyril has yet to tell us. I'm curious to know where he will take us...
Today is Sunday, which means its Mass day. So I woke up early, got prepared, and headed off for St. Monica's to give my talks.
I liked St. Monica's, especially the priest there. When I first met him, I asked him if he was Father Raymond (which was what was indicated on our sheet). He said that he wasn't, that he was Father Bertelli. So I asked him if this was the first time at the parish... assuming the other priest was away. But he replied, laughing, that he was pastor there for 40 years!
He was a nice old Italian priest, and invited me for breakfast after morning Mass.
After the 8:30 and 11:00am Mass, Greg picked me up, and then we went to pick up Ben at his parish. I had to go looking for him, and found him enjoying himself outside the church where parishioners were having a "carnival" to raise founds for a group going to WYD. Afterwards, us three went to visit St. Peter's, which was a minor basilica which is actually constructed after the design of St. Peter's in Rome, except 1/3 the size. But still, it was so large and so beautiful. All along the walls were painted Saints, hundreds of them, in succession. It was neat. Among others were Brother Andre, the Canadian Martyrs, and St. Lawrence O'Toole (a distant relative perhaps?)
Tonight Father is treating us to a BBQ. Tomorrow, we are staying another day in Montreal (taking a much needed day off), for two reasons: the distance back to Ottawa, our next stop, is only 200km away, and reason number two, is that its Cyril's birthday. So we will hopefully get more time to visit churches and such things as this.
Tomorrow we are also having another walker joining us for a week. It'll be interesting to have a new walker, shake things up a bit.
We start walking again on Monday night I believe. We are going to be walking more than just the 200 km to Ottoawa, as we are walking 4 full days... where to, Cyril has yet to tell us. I'm curious to know where he will take us...
August 5 2007 (Sunday)
Hi everyone,
Here are some pics from last weekend in Toronto. Enjoy :)
This is us having a meal with the Gethsemane youth group, after we got up on Friday, and shortly before we headed off for their youth group meeting at a local school. We ate at an Italian restaurant... mmm
Here is Greg giving a talk at the prayer group meeting (made up of adults, youth, and children). See how many people there are! And we are told this is a small crowd compared to usual... Greg is a very fine speaker. 
This is me giving a talk following Greg and Jeremy. Greg and Jeremy were tough acts to follow...
This is us (Greg, Jeremy, and I, from left to right) gratefully receiving a check from the Gethsemane group... they unexepectedly had offering baskets passed around so that people could donate to Crossroads. They were very generous.
The final prayer...
A group of all of us together, posing for the camera. Greg, Jeremy and I are right behind the kids in the front row.
August 4 2007 (Saturday)
Okay, this morning we woke up, Father had a private Mass for us, then we went to one of the Morgentaler clinics here in Montreal to pray. For those who don't know, Morgentaler was the man who basically established abortion clinics across the country when abortion was still illegal. This case then went to the Supreme Court where it decided that abortion should be made legal. We haven't had too much of a response from Montreal, most people ignore us. Especially when we were walking, we only got 2 or 3 positives.
After we prayed there, we went to the St-Marie-Reigne-du-Monde church, where we were supposed to meet up with a pro-life group to pray the Rosary, but that never happened. But we got there nonetheless, got to visit the church, which was huge! From there we just came back to the rectory and just did up our Mass kits and other things till evening Masses. I gave a talk at St. Monica's. Tonight we went out for a meal at St. Hubert, since Father was away and we couldn't get into the rectory.
Afterwards, Ben and I visited St. Joseph's Oratory. It was very impressive, although only the crypt was open when we got there (it was 10pm at night). So we visited Brother Andre's tomb, and saw the hundreds of crutches from people who were healed by his intercession. The view over Montreal at night from on top of the hill where the Oratory is is also very amazing.
After we prayed there, we went to the St-Marie-Reigne-du-Monde church, where we were supposed to meet up with a pro-life group to pray the Rosary, but that never happened. But we got there nonetheless, got to visit the church, which was huge! From there we just came back to the rectory and just did up our Mass kits and other things till evening Masses. I gave a talk at St. Monica's. Tonight we went out for a meal at St. Hubert, since Father was away and we couldn't get into the rectory.
Afterwards, Ben and I visited St. Joseph's Oratory. It was very impressive, although only the crypt was open when we got there (it was 10pm at night). So we visited Brother Andre's tomb, and saw the hundreds of crutches from people who were healed by his intercession. The view over Montreal at night from on top of the hill where the Oratory is is also very amazing.
August 3 2007 (Friday)
Today we walked past the Quebec-Ontario border, and walked nearly into Montreal itself (we are still just outside of it). The day started with what sounded like cannon shots from a nearby storm, but it was just overcast when walking and then the sun came out.
We went this night to Fr. Bryan Boucher's rectory, where we are staying this weekend.
Although I've been walking all day, the other guys who walked last night had an "amazing" time in Montreal today, visiting all the different churches (and basilicas). These include St. Marie de Montreal and St. Joseph's oratory. St. Joseph is a huge church, which is easily seen coming into Montreal. It is the site of St. Brother Andre's burial, who was a man who lived just outside the church and who was basically responsible for the construction of the church. He lived 40 years as porter and was known especially by his devotion to St. Joseph. People claimed he had healing powers because when they would approach him for council or healing, he would ask them to pray to St. Joseph, and they would be healed.
We went this night to Fr. Bryan Boucher's rectory, where we are staying this weekend.
Although I've been walking all day, the other guys who walked last night had an "amazing" time in Montreal today, visiting all the different churches (and basilicas). These include St. Marie de Montreal and St. Joseph's oratory. St. Joseph is a huge church, which is easily seen coming into Montreal. It is the site of St. Brother Andre's burial, who was a man who lived just outside the church and who was basically responsible for the construction of the church. He lived 40 years as porter and was known especially by his devotion to St. Joseph. People claimed he had healing powers because when they would approach him for council or healing, he would ask them to pray to St. Joseph, and they would be healed.
August 1 2007 (Wednesday)
Hi everyone,
So we are nearing the Quebec border, and the farther East we go the hotter it seems to become! We've had some scorchers this week, with temperatures of 33 celcius today and will be 34 tomorrow. On the humidex, supposedly, it's over 40. It's been nice though, walking in such nice weather. We're also now walking alongside the St. Lawrence river, so we know that we're close to Quebec.
So we are walking along highway 2 (as somebody asked me about), and as we approach Montreal we will take highway 22, I believe. I'm sorry if I can't give much info about what roads we're on, since really I'm not even sure if the walk leader knows until we get there. Especially going into Toronto it seemed like we were taking smaller roads off the main highway (I suppose it's safer that way).
One thing that I've noticed as we approach Quebec is how beautiful all the churches are becoming - even ones in little towns along the way. Just the paintings and size, statues, and structure, its very impressing. As you all know, this walk is a pilgrimage, so this weekend we'll for sure be checking out lots of churches in Montreal.
Bye for now,
Etienne
So we are nearing the Quebec border, and the farther East we go the hotter it seems to become! We've had some scorchers this week, with temperatures of 33 celcius today and will be 34 tomorrow. On the humidex, supposedly, it's over 40. It's been nice though, walking in such nice weather. We're also now walking alongside the St. Lawrence river, so we know that we're close to Quebec.
So we are walking along highway 2 (as somebody asked me about), and as we approach Montreal we will take highway 22, I believe. I'm sorry if I can't give much info about what roads we're on, since really I'm not even sure if the walk leader knows until we get there. Especially going into Toronto it seemed like we were taking smaller roads off the main highway (I suppose it's safer that way).
One thing that I've noticed as we approach Quebec is how beautiful all the churches are becoming - even ones in little towns along the way. Just the paintings and size, statues, and structure, its very impressing. As you all know, this walk is a pilgrimage, so this weekend we'll for sure be checking out lots of churches in Montreal.
Bye for now,
Etienne
Monday, July 30, 2007
July 29 2007 (Sunday)
Today we spent the morning going to 3 Masses at Christ the Redeemer parish. It went well, and between Masses we got to spend more time in Adoration because this parish as well had a nearly perpetual adoration chapel (from 7am to 9pm). Its really neat to see all this Eucharistic adoration, its a sign of a very healthy parish.
Afterwards, the other group (Cyril Wendy Sarah and Tom) picked me up, because I am joining them for dayshift next week. The other guys are off to give more talks at some protestant church (Church without Limits).
My group went to drop Tom off at his grandparents - as I mentioned in another post, Tom was meant to walk with us only till Toronto, and so now he is leaving us. It was great to have him with us for these least few weeks. After this, with some time to spare, we went to visit the Niagara falls (which was really close to where Tom lives). The falls were amazing. Anyway, that night we spent another night at the host family and got up early in the morning to walk.
Afterwards, the other group (Cyril Wendy Sarah and Tom) picked me up, because I am joining them for dayshift next week. The other guys are off to give more talks at some protestant church (Church without Limits).
My group went to drop Tom off at his grandparents - as I mentioned in another post, Tom was meant to walk with us only till Toronto, and so now he is leaving us. It was great to have him with us for these least few weeks. After this, with some time to spare, we went to visit the Niagara falls (which was really close to where Tom lives). The falls were amazing. Anyway, that night we spent another night at the host family and got up early in the morning to walk.
July 28 2007 (Saturday)
This weekend is going to be busy! This morning we got up and drove out to meet the daywalkers (who stayed the night at another host family). From there we proceeded to go to one of the Torontan abortion clinics and prayed out there for an hour. Then we again split from the other group, and Greg Jeremy Ben and I went to St. Benedict parish to meet up with a priest - we just talked with him and ate some cake together. Then was some adoration (of which they have perpetual adoration 24 hours a day all week except for a while on Saturdays and Sundays). We went to Mass, Ben gave a speech, and it was there that I met up with my relative from Ireland Mairin. Oh yes, and the church was very beautiful. The priest at the end of the Mass got all of us Crossroads walkers to stand up at the front, and he was so enthusiastic about us that he got the whole congregation to sing Oh Canada!
Afterwards we went to a quick BBQ at our second host families' place and then made our way to the Right to Life swingdancing night that we were invited to . It was in downtown Toronto. I enjoyed it because when I got there I met up with a lot of people that I knew from when I went to UofT. I knew at least 4 or 5 people there, and I got to do a lot of catching up with people and with how the Students for Life group and the COMPASS (Catholic) group were doing. Plus, watching people swingdance was fun. We got there a little too late for the swingdancing lessons, however (not too unfortunately).
Afterwards we went to a quick BBQ at our second host families' place and then made our way to the Right to Life swingdancing night that we were invited to . It was in downtown Toronto. I enjoyed it because when I got there I met up with a lot of people that I knew from when I went to UofT. I knew at least 4 or 5 people there, and I got to do a lot of catching up with people and with how the Students for Life group and the COMPASS (Catholic) group were doing. Plus, watching people swingdance was fun. We got there a little too late for the swingdancing lessons, however (not too unfortunately).
July 27 2007 (Friday)
Last night was a really exciting walk as we made our way into Toronto. We started in the Mississauga area and walked towards downtown Toronto. The guys on dayshift actually already made it all the way to the centre of downtown Toronto, so what we were doing last night was a bit of "extra" walking. We intended to make it all the way into downtown (therefore doubling our witnessing in the city of Toronto by walking into it twice) but didn't get quite that far. Still, I was really excited, first of all because Toronto is an impressively large and active city, and also because it was the first time I've been to Toronto in a year. I went to the University of Toronto for my first year of university, in the downtown campus, so I definitely know Toronto quite well. When we finished walking in the morning, we drove around a bit (Greg wanted to see the Royal Ontario Museum building, which looks like a giant crystal, recently constructed), and I got to get a glimpse at Queen's Park (which is at the centre of UofT). Lots of memories there. This weekend I am also looking forward to perhaps meeting up with some people I know, especially my second cousin Mairin who is coming out to join us Saturday evening at some of our activities.
After we finished walking, we hightailed it to our host family, who received us very well. We went to sleep, and when we got up at 4 we got to meet with a bunch of youth from the local youth group they have here (called Gethsemane ministries). They were an amazing bunch, and took us out to dinner before we went to their youth rally that night. There were hundreds of people there! Greg, Jeremy and I gave each our own (inspirational) talk to the youth, and then we sang songs and listened to Scripture and such. It was a fun night.
After we finished walking, we hightailed it to our host family, who received us very well. We went to sleep, and when we got up at 4 we got to meet with a bunch of youth from the local youth group they have here (called Gethsemane ministries). They were an amazing bunch, and took us out to dinner before we went to their youth rally that night. There were hundreds of people there! Greg, Jeremy and I gave each our own (inspirational) talk to the youth, and then we sang songs and listened to Scripture and such. It was a fun night.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
July 25 2007 (Wednesday)
Last night and this morning, we got to go to Mass at the Shrine of Canadian Martyrs in Midway. This is where is located the shrine for the Canadian martyrs, including St. Jean de Brebeuf and St. Gabriel Lalemant. The website for the shrine is found here: http://www.martyrs-shrine.com/story/. We got to see some relics, most amazing of all was the left side of the skull of St Jean de Brebeuf.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
July 22 2007 (Sunday)
Hi all,
Today Greg and I spoke at St. Matthieu's parish. It was a bilingual parish, so yesterday the Mass was in french and this morning it was in english. Greg gave a great speach in french yesterday evening... I didn't know he was so fluent! Although there weren't too many people there, we received a lot of generous donations. Today was also very special, as after Mass Greg and I proceeded to the local community building (formerly a school, known as Watergate). There we were served a lunch, and met up with an amazing youth group from St. Matthieu's parish. It was a new youth group, just formed last month, but they were really energised about their faith and it was really inspiring to see. We played some sports, and then went together with the youth group to one hour of Eucharistic adoration (which the youth group organises).Anyway, tonight we are leaving to go walking, Greg Jeremy and I. We are going to walk through Sudbury tonight, and be one step closer to getting to Toronto. We have a bit of extra time, so I think we'll be taking a detour through London, Ontario. It'll be an interesting week, especially as we will be visiting the Canadian martyrs shrine. I'll tell you more about that later. Bye for now,
Etienne
July 21 2007 (Saturday)
Usually Saturday is our day off from walking... but today was a bit different. We had a mini pro-life walk organised for us up a hill to the hospital, which went well, and not too long (30 minutes). The hospital is the site for abortions, and so we walked up there and did a couple hours of prayer service with a group of pro-lifers and with our host families (two generous women named Carita and Patricia who opened up their homes for us). We did that in the morning. We then spent all of the afternoon at another pro-life family, who basically cooked lunch and supper for us while we were busy going to and from Masses. Beautiful day... very sunny, and we just got to meet a lot of great people.
Etienne
July 18 2007 (Wednesday)
Hi all,
This week has been an interesting walk. We have been meeting numerous people who, like us, are traveling across the country for various causes. Oddly enough, up to now we haven't meet anyone doing anything like this. But we met one woman biking to end the euthanasia of animals, a couple cycling to draw attention to kids who drop out of high school, and an African man walking for "women and children". The couple who was cycling across the country actually started May 19 in Vancouver, just like us! However, we have been traveling day and night, so this explains why we just now met them. There are a few more cases that we saw this week, but I'm not sure what they were cycling for. A couple on bikes also yelled "pro-choice!" as we were walking by.... and shook their fists. Oh well. For the most part, we have been receiving lots of support - 95% of people are in support of us. Perhaps abortion is not as dead an issue as some of us are led to believe by the media...Etienne
Saturday, July 21, 2007
July 16 2007 (Monday)
Hi everyone,
We have started off the week to a great start. I am back on day-shift, and happily so, because it is so nice out right now. The weather is treating us well - nice and sunny. What's more is that we are walking along Lake Superior, so that on our off-shift today Jeremy and I went to the beach and just layed about for an hour. Very relaxing! Jeremy even went for a swim in the lake.
We have not yet reached Sault St. Marie by walking, but are staying at a campground just outside of the town. The KOA campground that we're staying at is quite luxurious, equipped as it is with a game of mini putt, and wireless internet. We haven't had time to enjoy it all, however, although Greg and Tom did play a round today of mini-putt.The weekend went really well - the parish we went to, Precious Blood Cathedral, was very generous. This is likely due to the very supportive Monseigneur, who really welcomed us. The priest often makes all the difference when it comes to us getting a good reception from the parishioners.
I'll keep you all informed on this week. Bye for now,
Etienne
Sunday, July 15, 2007
July 15 2007 (Sunday)
Hi all,
Some of you may have heard about CBC's "The Great Canadian Wish List" which finished a couple weeks ago. It was a youth-centered attempt by CBC to see what is the greatest wish for Canadians. It involved youth signing up for what their greatest wish is on a thing called "Facebook" which is really popular among youth. There's an article about it in Maclean's: http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070607_153018_13524.
The wish to abolish abortion in Canada included the message below. This wish was at the top of the Canadian wishlist by July 1st, which is when it ended. Just thought this was so encouraging - it shows that abortion is not a dead issue in Canada, but that indeed it is important for youth. The results for the wishlist were as follows:
Top Wishes By Membership
9920
Abolish Abortion in Canada
8535
I wish that Canada would remain pro-choice
4684
For a spiritual revival in our nation.
4672
Restore the Traditional Definition of Marriage
3616
I wish tuition fees would be either lowered or eliminated.
3521
It's time for drastic measures to save our environment
2544
Canada should keep ABORTIONS and GAY MARRIAGE Legal!
2067
A Canada where no one must choose between paying rent and their medication
1896
Proportional representation
1377
Greener Canada
Summary
Wish CreatorDave GilbertI wish that there was an end to abortion in Canada.The intentional killing of an innocent human being is wrong.Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being.Therefore abortion is wrong. From the moment of conception a unique, individual human being is created with separate DNA from his/her mother. They also could have a different blood type and/or gender if the preborn child is a male. By the law of biogenesis, to find out what a living thing is, we look to see what the parent's are. Clearly, a woman's offspring must be human. The term "foetus" is from Latin and means "offspring" or "young one". It is a stage in development for the newly created human, just like toddler. Stages of development change, but we are always human. The law governs many other things people deem wrong, ie. Child abuse and rape. People can choose to do these, but laws are in place against them because they harm other human beings. With no protection for the preborn child, until they take their first breath, today in Canada over 100,000 lives are ended each year. There is also no informed consent law for women making this important decision. Many women become depressed, and/or infertile, among other things. Infection is the most common physical harm which can lead to hemorrhaging and can lead to death. Abortion is not safe for women. This wish aims to redeem the humanity of the preborn child. It also recognizes that there needs to be necessary social changes in place to support women in crisis pregnancies.
Some of you may have heard about CBC's "The Great Canadian Wish List" which finished a couple weeks ago. It was a youth-centered attempt by CBC to see what is the greatest wish for Canadians. It involved youth signing up for what their greatest wish is on a thing called "Facebook" which is really popular among youth. There's an article about it in Maclean's: http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070607_153018_13524.
The wish to abolish abortion in Canada included the message below. This wish was at the top of the Canadian wishlist by July 1st, which is when it ended. Just thought this was so encouraging - it shows that abortion is not a dead issue in Canada, but that indeed it is important for youth. The results for the wishlist were as follows:
Top Wishes By Membership
9920
Abolish Abortion in Canada
8535
I wish that Canada would remain pro-choice
4684
For a spiritual revival in our nation.
4672
Restore the Traditional Definition of Marriage
3616
I wish tuition fees would be either lowered or eliminated.
3521
It's time for drastic measures to save our environment
2544
Canada should keep ABORTIONS and GAY MARRIAGE Legal!
2067
A Canada where no one must choose between paying rent and their medication
1896
Proportional representation
1377
Greener Canada
Summary
Wish CreatorDave GilbertI wish that there was an end to abortion in Canada.The intentional killing of an innocent human being is wrong.Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being.Therefore abortion is wrong. From the moment of conception a unique, individual human being is created with separate DNA from his/her mother. They also could have a different blood type and/or gender if the preborn child is a male. By the law of biogenesis, to find out what a living thing is, we look to see what the parent's are. Clearly, a woman's offspring must be human. The term "foetus" is from Latin and means "offspring" or "young one". It is a stage in development for the newly created human, just like toddler. Stages of development change, but we are always human. The law governs many other things people deem wrong, ie. Child abuse and rape. People can choose to do these, but laws are in place against them because they harm other human beings. With no protection for the preborn child, until they take their first breath, today in Canada over 100,000 lives are ended each year. There is also no informed consent law for women making this important decision. Many women become depressed, and/or infertile, among other things. Infection is the most common physical harm which can lead to hemorrhaging and can lead to death. Abortion is not safe for women. This wish aims to redeem the humanity of the preborn child. It also recognizes that there needs to be necessary social changes in place to support women in crisis pregnancies.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
June 14 2007 (Saturday)
Hi all,
The week is done! We have successfully walked all the way to Wawa, Ontario, and from there we have driven out to Sault St. Marie for the weekend. We have had no offers to host us this weekend so we are staying in the Villa hotel. Things are pretty relax now - Cyril and Sarah are still out in Thunder Bay dropping off the rental. This is a different rental from the one Greg is picking up in Toronto... By the way, Greg arrived back Wednsday night with a bright new red Grand Caravan. It must have been some drive from Toronto! But we're glad he is back with us. He walked with the others on Thursday and Friday. The last couple of days we have been camping out near Wawa, Ontario. It's been pretty nice here, a bit rainy (with, what Ben would say, sporatic bits of sunshine).
We have only 1 church to talk to this weekend, so you can imagine we won't be too busy. Also, there are no abortions here in Sault St. Marie so we will not have any prayer service. We also bought Taboo, the board game, so hopefully we'll be able to stay plenty busy!
We are looking forward to receiving a new walker on Tuesday. Wendy will be joining us. Sarah, I'm sure, will be very pleased to have another girl on the trip for the first time since we started.
So, we have now finished 8 weeks of the trip, with 4 remaining. We will be in Sault St. Marie, Sudbury, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, respectively, for the last five weekends.
Anyways, I'll keep you all updated as to how the weekend goes. Bye for now,
Etienne
The week is done! We have successfully walked all the way to Wawa, Ontario, and from there we have driven out to Sault St. Marie for the weekend. We have had no offers to host us this weekend so we are staying in the Villa hotel. Things are pretty relax now - Cyril and Sarah are still out in Thunder Bay dropping off the rental. This is a different rental from the one Greg is picking up in Toronto... By the way, Greg arrived back Wednsday night with a bright new red Grand Caravan. It must have been some drive from Toronto! But we're glad he is back with us. He walked with the others on Thursday and Friday. The last couple of days we have been camping out near Wawa, Ontario. It's been pretty nice here, a bit rainy (with, what Ben would say, sporatic bits of sunshine).
We have only 1 church to talk to this weekend, so you can imagine we won't be too busy. Also, there are no abortions here in Sault St. Marie so we will not have any prayer service. We also bought Taboo, the board game, so hopefully we'll be able to stay plenty busy!
We are looking forward to receiving a new walker on Tuesday. Wendy will be joining us. Sarah, I'm sure, will be very pleased to have another girl on the trip for the first time since we started.
So, we have now finished 8 weeks of the trip, with 4 remaining. We will be in Sault St. Marie, Sudbury, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, respectively, for the last five weekends.
Anyways, I'll keep you all updated as to how the weekend goes. Bye for now,
Etienne
June 10 2007 (Tuesday)
Hi all,
We are off to a good start this week as we continue on our way from Thunder Bay to Sault St. Marie. Greg left Monday morning for the airport to go fly to Toronto and pick up the rental. A little complication in this area however - Greg got there and the van he was supposed to pick up wasn't. So Greg will be staying with a friend while waiting for things to be resolved, and hopefully he'll be here by the end of the week. That's pretty much it in terms of big events. Ben and I finished our 48 last night, and we are currently camping out at some campsite between Thunder Bay and Wawa. Bye for now,
Etienne
We are off to a good start this week as we continue on our way from Thunder Bay to Sault St. Marie. Greg left Monday morning for the airport to go fly to Toronto and pick up the rental. A little complication in this area however - Greg got there and the van he was supposed to pick up wasn't. So Greg will be staying with a friend while waiting for things to be resolved, and hopefully he'll be here by the end of the week. That's pretty much it in terms of big events. Ben and I finished our 48 last night, and we are currently camping out at some campsite between Thunder Bay and Wawa. Bye for now,
Etienne
Sunday, July 8, 2007
July 8 2007 (Sunday)
Hi everyone,
This weekend, as you know, Cyril and Sarah weren't around so it was a bit quieter than usual. Yesterday, we went to see the Kakabeka waterfalls which is just outside of Thunder Bay. That was pretty neat. We did evening Masses and returned to the rectory for an exciting game of Risk.
I thought I'd give you all some pictures from last weekend, when we were in Winnipeg. Enjoy!
Here is Jeremy and Greg at Maria's house, playing Dutch shuffleboard...
This weekend, as you know, Cyril and Sarah weren't around so it was a bit quieter than usual. Yesterday, we went to see the Kakabeka waterfalls which is just outside of Thunder Bay. That was pretty neat. We did evening Masses and returned to the rectory for an exciting game of Risk.
I thought I'd give you all some pictures from last weekend, when we were in Winnipeg. Enjoy!
Here is Jeremy and Greg at Maria's house, playing Dutch shuffleboard...
Here is Jeremy at one of the booths we have after Mass. On the table you see we have pro-life stickers, JPII bracelets, spiritual adoption booklets (including a prayer to end abortion), pamphlets, and rosaries.
Here is Jeremy outside of St. Vital's parish in Winnipeg, standing beside a memorial for the unborn.
Here we are outside the Winnipeg hospital. The walkers are standing in the back, and the others are just some of the women who joined us there that day.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
July 7 2007 (Saturday)
Ben is in charge this weekend, as Cyril has left with Sarah already for Winnipeg.
Today we will not be doing any praying outside of clinics or hospitals, since in Thunder Bay abortions don't happen.
Today we will not be doing any praying outside of clinics or hospitals, since in Thunder Bay abortions don't happen.
July 6 2007 (Friday)
Today Ben and Jeremy and I just packed up the campsite and left for Thunder Bay. We will be crossing the final time zone (entering the Toronto time zone before Thunderbay). This means we are now 3 hours ahead of BC time.
The dayshifters managed to walk right into Thunday Bay today. The next stop now is Soult St. Marie.
The dayshifters managed to walk right into Thunday Bay today. The next stop now is Soult St. Marie.
July 5 2007 (Thursday)
The last few days have been uneventful. We are still camping out, now in a place between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, a tiny little town with a lake to go swimming in.
Last night's shift went well. We did about 50 km, and by the end of it, I just walked right into our campsite at about 8 am in the morning.
Last night was the 4th of July, and as such, the others celebrated by firing a couple fireworks. However, they only got two of them off when they were told to stop - it was past quiet hours. But anyway, Ben marked the occasion by wearing his American pro-life shirt from a past walk that he did (this is his fourth Crossroads walk).
We have one more shift tonight and then we will be taking a rest for the weekend. This weekend we will be staying in a church rectory, thanks to a certain Father Richard who is hosting us.
We have a number of things to deal with this weekend - Cyril and Sarah are leaving Saturday morning, driving the van to Winnipeg, as it is a rental and needs to be returned. They are driving back in a rental jeep. We will see them again Sunday night. Greg also will be flying out to Toronto Monday morning in order to pick up a new van for us, and drive it back here to Thunder Bay.
We have 4 Masses to do this weekend, which should keep us busy.
Last night's shift went well. We did about 50 km, and by the end of it, I just walked right into our campsite at about 8 am in the morning.
Last night was the 4th of July, and as such, the others celebrated by firing a couple fireworks. However, they only got two of them off when they were told to stop - it was past quiet hours. But anyway, Ben marked the occasion by wearing his American pro-life shirt from a past walk that he did (this is his fourth Crossroads walk).
We have one more shift tonight and then we will be taking a rest for the weekend. This weekend we will be staying in a church rectory, thanks to a certain Father Richard who is hosting us.
We have a number of things to deal with this weekend - Cyril and Sarah are leaving Saturday morning, driving the van to Winnipeg, as it is a rental and needs to be returned. They are driving back in a rental jeep. We will see them again Sunday night. Greg also will be flying out to Toronto Monday morning in order to pick up a new van for us, and drive it back here to Thunder Bay.
We have 4 Masses to do this weekend, which should keep us busy.
July 2 2007 (Monday)
Hi everyone,
On Sunday we finally got a new face come and join us - Tommy from Alberta. We met him after we did our morning Mass talks. He has just graduated from high school, and he is intending to walk with us until Toronto, where he is visiting his grandma before heading down to the States to join the marines. Eventually he wants to become an engineer. He doesn't know this yet, but he'll be walking with us till Ottawa - at least this is what Cyril is telling us!
Now that I think of it, I don't think I ever gave you readers a description of what us walkers are doing in our lives and in the Fall. Okay, so Cyril as you may gather is a writer for the Western Standard, an Albertan journal. He took time off work just to organize and do the walk. He did the walk once previously in 1999, in the States, and since then has been dreaming to do one up here in Canada.
Sarah is going to do her third year of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, which is where Cyril graduated from.
Jeremy is continuing in his Liberal Arts degree at Thomas Aquinas College, also in the States.
Ben graduated in January from the University of Louisiana, and is considering what to do now that he's done.
Finally, Greg has just graduated from Chrisostom College, and will be joining the seminary in Ontario in the fall (St. Peter's).
Anyway, now that we have 7 walkers, three of us can now go on nightshift. Last night, Ben, Jeremy and I were walking. Jeremy and I walked as a pair, and Ben alone. Having 3 people walking helps the transitions go smoother, especially since Jeremy is such a fast walker. What we do is that Jeremy continues walking past the car, while I go wake Ben up. I then proceed to drive Ben (once he is ready) up to where Jeremy is walking. They then switch over. I think Jeremy will be alternating between walking with Ben and walking with me.
Last night we heard a lot of fireworks, as it is Canada day today. The sky would occasionally light up, as with lightning, from the fireworks.
We are now camping out in Dryden, still on our way to Thunder Bay.
Okay, bye for now,
Etienne
On Sunday we finally got a new face come and join us - Tommy from Alberta. We met him after we did our morning Mass talks. He has just graduated from high school, and he is intending to walk with us until Toronto, where he is visiting his grandma before heading down to the States to join the marines. Eventually he wants to become an engineer. He doesn't know this yet, but he'll be walking with us till Ottawa - at least this is what Cyril is telling us!
Now that I think of it, I don't think I ever gave you readers a description of what us walkers are doing in our lives and in the Fall. Okay, so Cyril as you may gather is a writer for the Western Standard, an Albertan journal. He took time off work just to organize and do the walk. He did the walk once previously in 1999, in the States, and since then has been dreaming to do one up here in Canada.
Sarah is going to do her third year of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, which is where Cyril graduated from.
Jeremy is continuing in his Liberal Arts degree at Thomas Aquinas College, also in the States.
Ben graduated in January from the University of Louisiana, and is considering what to do now that he's done.
Finally, Greg has just graduated from Chrisostom College, and will be joining the seminary in Ontario in the fall (St. Peter's).
Anyway, now that we have 7 walkers, three of us can now go on nightshift. Last night, Ben, Jeremy and I were walking. Jeremy and I walked as a pair, and Ben alone. Having 3 people walking helps the transitions go smoother, especially since Jeremy is such a fast walker. What we do is that Jeremy continues walking past the car, while I go wake Ben up. I then proceed to drive Ben (once he is ready) up to where Jeremy is walking. They then switch over. I think Jeremy will be alternating between walking with Ben and walking with me.
Last night we heard a lot of fireworks, as it is Canada day today. The sky would occasionally light up, as with lightning, from the fireworks.
We are now camping out in Dryden, still on our way to Thunder Bay.
Okay, bye for now,
Etienne
Saturday, June 30, 2007
June 30 2007 (Saturday)
Today we prayed outside the Women's Health Centre at the Winnipeg hospital where they do abortions. We had a number of people come out (from CLC and even CWL I think). Maybe a good dozen showed up, other than ourselves, making it the biggest turnout yet since Vancouver. They had all their signs and were picketing the hospital, while we were just praying. We only did it for an hour, however, since we had to get to our Masses (mine was a vigil Mass at 4pm).
June 29 2007 (Friday)
Today we entered into the Canadian Shield! Its strange how quickly the scenery changes from flat prairie land to rocky and hilly woodland. I like it though, it reminds me a bit of BC. It ought to be like this for much of Ontario. Speaking of which, Greg and I got to the Ontarian border this morning. Feels sort of strange, we already reached Ontario 6 weeks into the trip. Officially now, we are half way done the trip - another 6 weeks will get us through Ontario, into Montreal, and back to Ottawa. Four provinces down, two to go.
Tonight I arrived at my host family in Winnipeg - the Desilets family. They are a very active pro-life family (Anna Desilet was manager for Alliance for Life and has been working hard in this field since the 60s). They are also french-speaking.
Tonight I arrived at my host family in Winnipeg - the Desilets family. They are a very active pro-life family (Anna Desilet was manager for Alliance for Life and has been working hard in this field since the 60s). They are also french-speaking.
June 28 2007 (Thursday)
Night-shift went well again last night. 48km as usual. In other news, last night we got to camp out at a campsite past Winnipeg. It is getting a bit too far to drive back to the RV to sleep. But I like camping out, or at least I liked it when we did it in BC before getting the RV. Speaking of the RV, today we took it to the mechanic in Portage La Prairie to see if he could fix the leaking oil tubes. Turns out that there are 5 leaks, among other problems, and that it will cost a little fortune to repair it. We are going to tow it to Winnipeg, and then leave it there as its owners have decided to do away with it - too much trouble to fix. Oh well, Ol' Betsy served us well while she lasted.
Today also I went back to Portage La Prairie with Cyril in order to register for my UBC courses online. Not too much to say about that except that I successfully registered in my allotted 1 hour time limit.
Today also I went back to Portage La Prairie with Cyril in order to register for my UBC courses online. Not too much to say about that except that I successfully registered in my allotted 1 hour time limit.
June 27 2007 (Wednsday)
Today it is Ben's birthday! He is now 23 years old. We had a little celebration for him - we had some of his favorite food (seafood) and chocolate cake. Oh, and we had birthday hats. It was quite the little celebration in the RV.
By the way, we are now nearly in Winnipeg. We are staying there this weekend, and will again have another 6 parishes to talk to. We also have 3 host families, so the walkers will be split this weekend.
By the way, we are now nearly in Winnipeg. We are staying there this weekend, and will again have another 6 parishes to talk to. We also have 3 host families, so the walkers will be split this weekend.
June 26 2007 (Tuesday)
Today we had an interesting experience. As Cyril had to use the van to go out to Winnipeg, and the others had to start walking before 11am, we weren't able to attend the 11am Mass at Good Shepard church in Portage La Prairie. The only alternative was the Ukrainian rite Mass at 9am, at the Assumption parish. So we all went to the Ukrainian rite Mass! By the way, Cyril's dad is a Ukrainian priest (they are allowed to marry in the Eastern rite), so Cyril knew what to expect and had even memorized some of the responses. But for some of us, at least for me, it was pretty new. One of the starkest difference came in receiving the Eucharist - they receive the Body and Blood together on a spoon. But I liked the Mass, and the church was very beautiful (beautiful iconography of Mary).
Not to much other news. We are still in the parking lot at Portage, and Greg and I have our day planned out already: sleep.
Not to much other news. We are still in the parking lot at Portage, and Greg and I have our day planned out already: sleep.
June 25 2007 (Monday)
We've been having a bit of crazy weather lately. I don't know if any of you heard, but Ellie was hit by a tornado which did a lot of damage. We weren't walking when this happened (thankfully), but we are still feeling its effects. Greg and I are on night-shift now, and last night we were forced to stop walking because a thunder storm had hit us. So we waited out the storm (safety first!) and then proceeded to finish off the night walking.
We returned to the RV at Portage La Prairie in the morning, were we are again parked out in a parking lot. The RV, unfortunately, is now on its last legs. It has started leaking oil like a sive, so we don't know how much longer we can keep it going. We will be in the parking lot at least a few more days however.
We returned to the RV at Portage La Prairie in the morning, were we are again parked out in a parking lot. The RV, unfortunately, is now on its last legs. It has started leaking oil like a sive, so we don't know how much longer we can keep it going. We will be in the parking lot at least a few more days however.
June 24 2007 (Sunday)
Today I only gave one talk at Blessed Sacrament at 10am in the morning. Afterwards, Jeremy and I typed up all the prayer intentions that we had received (as is our custom) and then proceeded to leave early to drive back to where we last finished walking. It was a good 4 hour drive, plus the time zone difference (one hour), so we got back walking pretty late (11pm). On the way there, our RV broke down. We were going to have it towed, but the guy we called to tow it said he knew what the problem was (burst oil tube, or something like that), and he fixed it. So we are thankful that we can keep the RV to sleep in.
June 23 2007 (Saturday)
Today we prayed outside of the Regina general hospital, where they perform abortions. We got there at about 2pm, and stayed till 4pm. We encountered a bit of opposition today. Initially, we were on the front sidewalk facing the street, but soon after we began two officers told us we couldn't stand there, so we had to stand in the street along the curb. Furthermore, we were across the street from some apartments, and at one point during the first hour some guy threw a couple of eggs at us. Thankfully, he didn't manage to get any of us. I think it was the same guy who later cranked up his music very loud so we couldn't hear ourselves. In any case, we also got some positive response, as some people from off the street decided just to join us. We also got to discuss the issues with some people afterwards who were wondering what we were doing outside of a hospital.
Afterwards, I was dropped off at Blessed Sacrament, a really nice church with very beautiful music. I look forward to going there again tomorrow. Bye for now,
Etienne
Afterwards, I was dropped off at Blessed Sacrament, a really nice church with very beautiful music. I look forward to going there again tomorrow. Bye for now,
Etienne
Saturday, June 23, 2007
June 22 2007 (Friday)
Today was pretty much the first real day off we've had this trip, because as I said we didn't walk today, and we didn't have any parishes to speak to. But I sort of wished we were walking, because we spent a good part of the day just driving back to Regina, and waiting in the van since we couldn't get to the house till 4pm (which is when we were allowed in). Oh well, tomorrow should be more interesting - we are praying outside the Regina General Hospital. Also, we have 6 parishes to talk to this weekend (that's the most we've had yet), which means that each one of us will have our own parish to talk to. My parish shall be Blessed Sacrament. So I will give my own little talk tomorrow and Sunday, as I have already done many times already. The speech that Cyril gave us is pretty straightforward - we just tell the parishoners what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Then we ask for 3 things: for people's prayer intentions, for donations, and for people to become more active in the pro-life movement. This weekend I think I'm going to emphasize what Mother Theresa said, that "if people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration, abortion would be ended". Bye for now,
Etienne
Etienne
June 20 2007 (Wednsday)
Today I awoke to find myself in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, parked in a field. We are still on our way to Winnipeg - today I saw a sign that said we were 396 km from there. That's only about four days away. However, this weekend we are driving back to Regina to talk to parishes since it is the closest big city in the area. Bye for now,
Etienne
Etienne
June 19 2007 (Tuesday)
Hi all,
Today was a pretty ordinary day. We got up, went to Mass in Regina, then left to go walking. We did a good 50 km today.
Today we received some good news from our walk leader, Cyril. Firstly, it appears as though Cyril made a mistake in his calculations for the trip. He had assumed the walk was going to last 11 weeks, and had planned the walk schedule accordingly. However, this walk goes from May 19 to August 11, which is twelve weeks. This means that, instantly, we are now one week ahead of schedule. Thanks to this, we will be taking it easy this week - nightshift on Thursday and dayshift on Friday are canceled. I hope we will be able to use this time wisely doing more pro-life things. Second piece of good newsis that the central walk RV got fixed, which means that we will get our rightful RV sent up very shortly. That means replacing old Betty with a beautiful new RV. Third piece of good news is that this weekend somebody is lending us their house, while they are out of town. That's always nicer than the alternative - sleeping in the RV and van. Hopefully things keep going well. Bye for now,
Etienne
Today was a pretty ordinary day. We got up, went to Mass in Regina, then left to go walking. We did a good 50 km today.
Today we received some good news from our walk leader, Cyril. Firstly, it appears as though Cyril made a mistake in his calculations for the trip. He had assumed the walk was going to last 11 weeks, and had planned the walk schedule accordingly. However, this walk goes from May 19 to August 11, which is twelve weeks. This means that, instantly, we are now one week ahead of schedule. Thanks to this, we will be taking it easy this week - nightshift on Thursday and dayshift on Friday are canceled. I hope we will be able to use this time wisely doing more pro-life things. Second piece of good newsis that the central walk RV got fixed, which means that we will get our rightful RV sent up very shortly. That means replacing old Betty with a beautiful new RV. Third piece of good news is that this weekend somebody is lending us their house, while they are out of town. That's always nicer than the alternative - sleeping in the RV and van. Hopefully things keep going well. Bye for now,
Etienne
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
June 18 2007 (Monday)
Today we were back on the road walking, and made our way all the way to Regina. We started making some bad time last week, so have been stepping it up a bit lately. Both night-shift on Sunday and us daywalkers today managed to get in 60 km each. Jeremy and I were walking together, and we decided to job the distances to make good time.
We encountered some supportive people today. A couple in a van stopped to see how Jeremy and I were doing as we ran in our big yellow ponchos. We explained to them what we were doing and they gave us a donation. At another occation, as we walked through the town of Regina, we met a couple of aboriginals our age and we walked with them a good 10 minutes, discussing what we were doing, among other things. Their fist question to us was, "What's pro-life?". We gladly explained it to them.
Right now we are parked outside Holy Rosary Cathedral. We are set to go to Mass tomorrow morning and will be off to make another 48km tomorrow. Until later,
Etienne
We encountered some supportive people today. A couple in a van stopped to see how Jeremy and I were doing as we ran in our big yellow ponchos. We explained to them what we were doing and they gave us a donation. At another occation, as we walked through the town of Regina, we met a couple of aboriginals our age and we walked with them a good 10 minutes, discussing what we were doing, among other things. Their fist question to us was, "What's pro-life?". We gladly explained it to them.
Right now we are parked outside Holy Rosary Cathedral. We are set to go to Mass tomorrow morning and will be off to make another 48km tomorrow. Until later,
Etienne
June 17 2007 (Sunday)
Happy Father's day everyone. I hope all of you got to spend some time with family and especially your dads today. Today, we certainly got to celebrate as we joined our host family's (Greg's family) in a big family get together BBQ. It was great getting to know the Roth family - they are such a strong pro-life family.
Tonight we made our way down to Moose Jaw in order to continue our way East to Winnipeg. On our way out there, Saskatoon just got hit by such a downpour of rain! We just missed it, but so many streets got flooded, we saw it in the newspapers the next day. Thankfully the RV held up. Bye for now,
Etienne
Tonight we made our way down to Moose Jaw in order to continue our way East to Winnipeg. On our way out there, Saskatoon just got hit by such a downpour of rain! We just missed it, but so many streets got flooded, we saw it in the newspapers the next day. Thankfully the RV held up. Bye for now,
Etienne
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Saturday June 16
Hi all,
A little bit of an update: today, Saturday, we kept ourselves busy. In the morning, we left to pray outside the Saskatoon hospital where they perform abortions. We stood on the sidewalk just outside the hospital. Things went well, although we didn't receive as much attention as we did last week outside the abortion clinic in Calgary (not too many people drove by). Afterwards, we went to meet with Bishop Albert at 2:30. We basically told him what we were doing - he was very supportive. Supposedly he had seen us already walking as he was driving late at night, so we already had our introduction... Anyway, later on we just went to gave a talk at St. Ann's parish, where we were well received.
Well, I want to give you some stories from the road to keep you all entertained... so in this spirit I will recount one particular night a couple nights ago. On Wednsday night this week I had an interesting experience. I had just dropped off the other walker, Ben, and had driven 8 km ahead, and then settled down in my little bed (now that we have the van as a support vehicle, we have the option of putting down some of the seats and laying the sleeping bag out on the floor). Before you knew it I was out. Then some 1 hour later, I woke up in a panic, confused about where exactly I was and I was thinking that I had not driven up 8km for Ben. I then proceeded to get dressed and turned on the van and started driving down the road as quickly as I could. A few kilometers went by and I slowly realized that I had already driven up, and furthermore, that I had only been asleep for an hour! I drove back and went back to sleep. Later on that night I also had some interesting dreams... dreams like that the other walkers all walked on ahead without me while I was resting, and dreams of crowds of pro-choice people getting angry and kicking me out of school. Boy, some weird stuff happens at night! These stories are actually not uncommon - Ben told me that another girl had done the same exact thing I had done on another walk. I think it has something to do with forgetting what one does directly before going to sleep - leading one to believe that they havn't driven up 8 km. Thus, waking up in the night shift can be very interesting. Sometimes, you need the help of the other walker to point you in the direction which you are supposed to walk, having forgotten which way you parked the van. All this just adds to the fun of nightshift!
Thanks for reading my blog and I will update as soon as possible.
For life,
Etienne
A little bit of an update: today, Saturday, we kept ourselves busy. In the morning, we left to pray outside the Saskatoon hospital where they perform abortions. We stood on the sidewalk just outside the hospital. Things went well, although we didn't receive as much attention as we did last week outside the abortion clinic in Calgary (not too many people drove by). Afterwards, we went to meet with Bishop Albert at 2:30. We basically told him what we were doing - he was very supportive. Supposedly he had seen us already walking as he was driving late at night, so we already had our introduction... Anyway, later on we just went to gave a talk at St. Ann's parish, where we were well received.
Well, I want to give you some stories from the road to keep you all entertained... so in this spirit I will recount one particular night a couple nights ago. On Wednsday night this week I had an interesting experience. I had just dropped off the other walker, Ben, and had driven 8 km ahead, and then settled down in my little bed (now that we have the van as a support vehicle, we have the option of putting down some of the seats and laying the sleeping bag out on the floor). Before you knew it I was out. Then some 1 hour later, I woke up in a panic, confused about where exactly I was and I was thinking that I had not driven up 8km for Ben. I then proceeded to get dressed and turned on the van and started driving down the road as quickly as I could. A few kilometers went by and I slowly realized that I had already driven up, and furthermore, that I had only been asleep for an hour! I drove back and went back to sleep. Later on that night I also had some interesting dreams... dreams like that the other walkers all walked on ahead without me while I was resting, and dreams of crowds of pro-choice people getting angry and kicking me out of school. Boy, some weird stuff happens at night! These stories are actually not uncommon - Ben told me that another girl had done the same exact thing I had done on another walk. I think it has something to do with forgetting what one does directly before going to sleep - leading one to believe that they havn't driven up 8 km. Thus, waking up in the night shift can be very interesting. Sometimes, you need the help of the other walker to point you in the direction which you are supposed to walk, having forgotten which way you parked the van. All this just adds to the fun of nightshift!
Thanks for reading my blog and I will update as soon as possible.
For life,
Etienne
Friday, June 15, 2007
Week IV
Hi all,
As you may have noticed, it has been two weeks now since I last updated the blog. It has been a real challenge to get time to update and to get access to the internet. But I plan to start a pen-diary, writing a short thing every day, and to simply type it into the computer at the end of the week.
In any case, I shall give you eager readers an account of the last two weeks and all the adventures we've had...
Last weekend we arrived in Calgary. Highlights of the weekend include praying outside the Kensington abortion clinic. We stayed there from
12pm-2pm on Saturday. Of course, being an abortion clinic, there were very stringent rules as to where we could stand and for how long. We had to actually stay at the playground park across the street from the abortion clinic. The clinic was hard to see from where we were standing. Only 4 of us at any time was allowed along the fence near the road, while the rest of us had to stand in the middle of the field. A sizeable group of about 20 came out along with us, so our presence there was definitely noticeable. Those in the field prayed the first two hours of a prayer book, while those at the fence prayed the rosary. We rotated the 4 people every time they finished a rosary. We got some negative reactions, as well as some positive reactions. Nothing too big happened though. Among those who came out were Cyril's (our walk leader's) brother and his brother's wife, along with Jeremy's mum. Praying outside of clinics will be a regular occurance for us, as tomorrow again we are doing a similar thing outside of a hospital that does abortions here in Saskatoon.
Oh, did I forget to mention? We're in Saskatoon! It's amazing that one week from Calgary and already we have walked past the city of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. We are in our third province, and by next week we shall be in Manitoba. We seem to be moving on quite quickly. For the past two weeks I have been on night shift - from 9pm to about 9am every night from Sunday to Thursday, I have been walking in the dark with nothing but a flashlight and rosary in hand. It has been very exciting! Night walking, while at times tiring, has huge perks. One who night walks gets to walk alone, first of all, which is nice if you're like me and you like your moments of peace. As a night walker you get to walk in the silence of the night, under the stars, just you and your thoughts. It is much easier to pray as many rosaries as you can in 5 or 6 hours of walking when there is nobody else there to walk and talk with. Praying is, however, definitely a challenge in the late hours of the night. First of all, the cold of the night makes you just want to focus on walking and nothing else - so it takes a bit of an extra push to start praying. Another obstacle is the lack of sleep - it is extremely difficult to meditate upon the mysteries of the rosary when your mind is weary and sleep-deprived. Sometimes one has to make due by praying without meditating. In these cases all you can do is keep the intention in mind and pay attention to words of the Hail Mary's. Another benefit is that, while walking at night can be taxing, you utilize your time much more efficiently than day walkers - either your walking and praying or you are sleeping in the car waiting for the other walker 8 km ahead. This means that during the day you have more time to do other things like read or whatever (but evidently not to write up blogs!) It has been a challenge also to go to daily Mass, and its the truth that night walkers get to go more often than day walkers simply because we aren't walking during the day-time. Thus, as many of you can imagine, the chance to go to one extra Mass is worth night-walking the entire three months.
In other news... we now have an RV that was donated to us by Jeremy's dad. He had bought it for $4000, and it is a 1976 model. So you can imagine that we are a bit weary about its capabilities. We were actually supposed to have a new RV sent up to us from the States by the beginning of the walk, but something (I know not what) happening such that the Central Walk in the States has actually been using it. We are still expecting to get it sent to us eventually, but in the meantime, Ol' Betty (as we so endearingly call her) is proving to be quite useful. Whereas before we received the RV last week the night walkers had to pack and uppack camp every two days, now we have a mobile sleeping place. This means that we can just sleep on the road (or in parking lots, as the case have been). It also means that we can walk for longer hours, since we don't have to spend so much time traveling to and from where we begin and end our walks. We have even decorated Ol' Betty with some prolife messages such as "Crossroads Pro-Life" and "Pro-Life Walk Across Canada" and "Protect Love Respect Life from Conception until Natural Death". Hopefully I can post pictures of her on this blog sooner than later.
Today was a very restful day - Ben and I (Ben is the other guy who night-walked with me this week) basically rode into Saskatoon with the RV and had time to go to the cathedral for a few hours, praying and going to Mass. After Mass, a women tapped me on the shoulder and was impressed by what we were doing (we were wearing our pro-life shifts at Mass, as is our custom). She gave me a picture of her at Medjugorje, where in the background was what looked like a most beautiful and realistic statue of Mary. The thing is, however, that she says the statue wasn't there when she was there, but that it appeared in the photograph after it developed. For those of you who don't know, Medjugorje is a now famous pilgrimage site where since (I believe) the early 80s some children (now adults) have been receiving messages from Mary. The woman at Mass also gave us a rosary from Medjugorje, and donated money. She also made an annoucement after Mass and so many others also donated money to us on the spot. We wished to stay at the cathedral longer, but we had to rush out because our time had expired on the parking meter. However, when we got to the RV we found that somebody had put in an hour worth of coinage into the parking meter for us, so that we returned to the cathedral. We have a lot of little stories like this, this is just a sample.
Tonight, we are staying at Greg's parents place. It is nice - we will get to sleep in beds and get home-cooked meals. I am really looking forward to this weekend.
Anyway, dinner shall be ready soon, so I must go. Thanks for taking an interest in my blog. Until next time,
Etienne
As you may have noticed, it has been two weeks now since I last updated the blog. It has been a real challenge to get time to update and to get access to the internet. But I plan to start a pen-diary, writing a short thing every day, and to simply type it into the computer at the end of the week.
In any case, I shall give you eager readers an account of the last two weeks and all the adventures we've had...
Last weekend we arrived in Calgary. Highlights of the weekend include praying outside the Kensington abortion clinic. We stayed there from
12pm-2pm on Saturday. Of course, being an abortion clinic, there were very stringent rules as to where we could stand and for how long. We had to actually stay at the playground park across the street from the abortion clinic. The clinic was hard to see from where we were standing. Only 4 of us at any time was allowed along the fence near the road, while the rest of us had to stand in the middle of the field. A sizeable group of about 20 came out along with us, so our presence there was definitely noticeable. Those in the field prayed the first two hours of a prayer book, while those at the fence prayed the rosary. We rotated the 4 people every time they finished a rosary. We got some negative reactions, as well as some positive reactions. Nothing too big happened though. Among those who came out were Cyril's (our walk leader's) brother and his brother's wife, along with Jeremy's mum. Praying outside of clinics will be a regular occurance for us, as tomorrow again we are doing a similar thing outside of a hospital that does abortions here in Saskatoon.Oh, did I forget to mention? We're in Saskatoon! It's amazing that one week from Calgary and already we have walked past the city of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. We are in our third province, and by next week we shall be in Manitoba. We seem to be moving on quite quickly. For the past two weeks I have been on night shift - from 9pm to about 9am every night from Sunday to Thursday, I have been walking in the dark with nothing but a flashlight and rosary in hand. It has been very exciting! Night walking, while at times tiring, has huge perks. One who night walks gets to walk alone, first of all, which is nice if you're like me and you like your moments of peace. As a night walker you get to walk in the silence of the night, under the stars, just you and your thoughts. It is much easier to pray as many rosaries as you can in 5 or 6 hours of walking when there is nobody else there to walk and talk with. Praying is, however, definitely a challenge in the late hours of the night. First of all, the cold of the night makes you just want to focus on walking and nothing else - so it takes a bit of an extra push to start praying. Another obstacle is the lack of sleep - it is extremely difficult to meditate upon the mysteries of the rosary when your mind is weary and sleep-deprived. Sometimes one has to make due by praying without meditating. In these cases all you can do is keep the intention in mind and pay attention to words of the Hail Mary's. Another benefit is that, while walking at night can be taxing, you utilize your time much more efficiently than day walkers - either your walking and praying or you are sleeping in the car waiting for the other walker 8 km ahead. This means that during the day you have more time to do other things like read or whatever (but evidently not to write up blogs!) It has been a challenge also to go to daily Mass, and its the truth that night walkers get to go more often than day walkers simply because we aren't walking during the day-time. Thus, as many of you can imagine, the chance to go to one extra Mass is worth night-walking the entire three months.
In other news... we now have an RV that was donated to us by Jeremy's dad. He had bought it for $4000, and it is a 1976 model. So you can imagine that we are a bit weary about its capabilities. We were actually supposed to have a new RV sent up to us from the States by the beginning of the walk, but something (I know not what) happening such that the Central Walk in the States has actually been using it. We are still expecting to get it sent to us eventually, but in the meantime, Ol' Betty (as we so endearingly call her) is proving to be quite useful. Whereas before we received the RV last week the night walkers had to pack and uppack camp every two days, now we have a mobile sleeping place. This means that we can just sleep on the road (or in parking lots, as the case have been). It also means that we can walk for longer hours, since we don't have to spend so much time traveling to and from where we begin and end our walks. We have even decorated Ol' Betty with some prolife messages such as "Crossroads Pro-Life" and "Pro-Life Walk Across Canada" and "Protect Love Respect Life from Conception until Natural Death". Hopefully I can post pictures of her on this blog sooner than later.
Today was a very restful day - Ben and I (Ben is the other guy who night-walked with me this week) basically rode into Saskatoon with the RV and had time to go to the cathedral for a few hours, praying and going to Mass. After Mass, a women tapped me on the shoulder and was impressed by what we were doing (we were wearing our pro-life shifts at Mass, as is our custom). She gave me a picture of her at Medjugorje, where in the background was what looked like a most beautiful and realistic statue of Mary. The thing is, however, that she says the statue wasn't there when she was there, but that it appeared in the photograph after it developed. For those of you who don't know, Medjugorje is a now famous pilgrimage site where since (I believe) the early 80s some children (now adults) have been receiving messages from Mary. The woman at Mass also gave us a rosary from Medjugorje, and donated money. She also made an annoucement after Mass and so many others also donated money to us on the spot. We wished to stay at the cathedral longer, but we had to rush out because our time had expired on the parking meter. However, when we got to the RV we found that somebody had put in an hour worth of coinage into the parking meter for us, so that we returned to the cathedral. We have a lot of little stories like this, this is just a sample.
Tonight, we are staying at Greg's parents place. It is nice - we will get to sleep in beds and get home-cooked meals. I am really looking forward to this weekend.
Anyway, dinner shall be ready soon, so I must go. Thanks for taking an interest in my blog. Until next time,
Etienne
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Week II
Greetings from Creston!
Since last week the Crossroads group has traveled further into the Interior. From Summerland (which we went to just to sleep for the weekend), we walked through Midway, Greenwood, Grand Forks and Castlegar. We are still in the mountains, having gone through Blueberry Pass and Kootenay Pass this week. We have a final stretch to do, and should get to Alberta by Tuesday. Passing through BC was wonderful, it is so beautiful here in the Interior. The mountain ranges and wildlife (bearts, goats, deer, coyotes, etc.) are superbe. Although I've lived in BC all my life, I have only really stayed in the Lower Mainland. The Interior feels quite different - the weather, at least in the past two weeks, has been very warm (30-35). No rain. This, I think, has been beneficial, since we have had to deal with many troubles already trying to start the walk and getting used to the strain, so that rain might have proven a bit much. We have had two guys (out of the 6 of us) out of commission this week (One for the entire week, the other for part of it) due to blistering feet. Cyril's leg leg is so swollen he cannot walk on it. However, we can still manage by walking alone during the day-shifts rather than in pairs. It would take three of us to fall in order to really cause problems! In any case, we have the weekend here in Creston to heal up, and are giving talks at Creston and Cranbrook Parishes this weekend.
Over the last week we have met many people on the road. There are some days that go by when I get to talk to somebody on the side of the road on just about every shift. People don't normally stop their cars to say hi, but just when there are people working on the side of the road or construction people, we often get their attention. A lot of waves and honks of support have also been coming from drivers. The support has far outweighed the negative reactions this week. It is really great to see that there are a lot of pro-life people driving by, supporting us. My hope, however, is that our message reaches to the majority of people (in my opinion) who have never given the issue of abortion tremendous thought. Those people who, on seeing us, do not have such a solidified opinion as to instantly honk in support or to curse in anger. Those people, rather, who wonder why we are out there and what it is we are fighting for without knowing whether to honk for or against us. It is the large majority of people who drive by without making their presence known...
I best be off now, for we our group is meeting up at 2:00 in order to plan the talks we are giving tonight at the evening Masses. I hope to have a chance to write to you again next week, hopefully with some more pictures of our trip. For life,
Etienne
Since last week the Crossroads group has traveled further into the Interior. From Summerland (which we went to just to sleep for the weekend), we walked through Midway, Greenwood, Grand Forks and Castlegar. We are still in the mountains, having gone through Blueberry Pass and Kootenay Pass this week. We have a final stretch to do, and should get to Alberta by Tuesday. Passing through BC was wonderful, it is so beautiful here in the Interior. The mountain ranges and wildlife (bearts, goats, deer, coyotes, etc.) are superbe. Although I've lived in BC all my life, I have only really stayed in the Lower Mainland. The Interior feels quite different - the weather, at least in the past two weeks, has been very warm (30-35). No rain. This, I think, has been beneficial, since we have had to deal with many troubles already trying to start the walk and getting used to the strain, so that rain might have proven a bit much. We have had two guys (out of the 6 of us) out of commission this week (One for the entire week, the other for part of it) due to blistering feet. Cyril's leg leg is so swollen he cannot walk on it. However, we can still manage by walking alone during the day-shifts rather than in pairs. It would take three of us to fall in order to really cause problems! In any case, we have the weekend here in Creston to heal up, and are giving talks at Creston and Cranbrook Parishes this weekend.
Over the last week we have met many people on the road. There are some days that go by when I get to talk to somebody on the side of the road on just about every shift. People don't normally stop their cars to say hi, but just when there are people working on the side of the road or construction people, we often get their attention. A lot of waves and honks of support have also been coming from drivers. The support has far outweighed the negative reactions this week. It is really great to see that there are a lot of pro-life people driving by, supporting us. My hope, however, is that our message reaches to the majority of people (in my opinion) who have never given the issue of abortion tremendous thought. Those people who, on seeing us, do not have such a solidified opinion as to instantly honk in support or to curse in anger. Those people, rather, who wonder why we are out there and what it is we are fighting for without knowing whether to honk for or against us. It is the large majority of people who drive by without making their presence known...
I best be off now, for we our group is meeting up at 2:00 in order to plan the talks we are giving tonight at the evening Masses. I hope to have a chance to write to you again next week, hopefully with some more pictures of our trip. For life,
Etienne
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Week 1
Hi all,
We left early Monday morning from Stanley Park, and since then we have been walking day and night until Friday evening, when we arrived here at Summerland. We went through Vancouver, Coquitlam, Hope, Princeton and Ossoyoos. Since then, I have had two day shifts, and two night shifts. The night shifts are particularly interesting - going from 10pm at night to 6am in the morning. Along the way I got to experience the generosity of well-intentioned individuals who stopped to give us rides as we walked late at night.
Greetings from Summerland! First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who came out to walk with us on Saturday around Stanley Park. We had a sizeable group come out, and gave great witness to the pro-life cause. We prayed the rosary and walked to Prospect Point and back. Only two Crossroads walkers were able to make it out - Jeremy and I - while the rest of the gang came out near the end of the walk (they had to be picked up at the airport).
We are 5 permanent walkers - Cyril, Greg, Ben, Sarah,and myself - as well as a temporary walker, Jeremy,who is with us until Calgary. Jeremy doesn't know it yet but he is going to walk the whole way... :) We also have a certain Marlon with us for a few days. In the picture above, we are, in order from left to right, me (Etienne), Greg, Sarah, Jeremy, Marlon, Cyril and Ben. As you can plainly see, we are sporting our pro-life shirts. These are the shirts we wear practically24/7 - we are walking billboards.
Since Saturday, we stayed in Vancouver, sleeping at St. Mary's parish, and gave talks at all the local parishes. It was by far the busiest part of the trip thus far! Each person went to their own assigned parish, and would attend all the Saturday and Sunday Masses there. I myself went to Blessed Sacrament, a french parish,since I am the only french-speaker on the trip. We attended Mass, gave a talk at the end of the Mass, went to the back after Mass and handed out stickers and flyers,accepted donations, and also accepted prayer intentions. I was struck by the generosity of people at every church we went to, both in their donations and in their prayers for us.
We left early Monday morning from Stanley Park, and since then we have been walking day and night until Friday evening, when we arrived here at Summerland. We went through Vancouver, Coquitlam, Hope, Princeton and Ossoyoos. Since then, I have had two day shifts, and two night shifts. The night shifts are particularly interesting - going from 10pm at night to 6am in the morning. Along the way I got to experience the generosity of well-intentioned individuals who stopped to give us rides as we walked late at night.
Normally, we sleep at campgroups during the week. However, this weekend we were fortunate to have a host family receive us and feed us. Tonight, we take off again and are going to be making our ways across the Rockies. Who knows what awaits us there!
Anyways, I hope this description gives you the readers a fair impression of what we're all about. As many of you know, there are many ways to spread the pro-life message. On campus at UBC, our pro-life group (Lifeline) uses GAP displays, which use graphic images to show the horrendous truths of abortion. GAP displays are an awesome way to show people what abortion is and to convert hearts and minds to pro-life. This summer, we are taking a different, but I think very good, approach. We are walking along roads and highways with prolife shirts, true, but most importantly, we are praying and sacrificing along the way. We are meant to pray the Rosary many times every day, along with daily Mass, and chaplets of Divine Mercy, morning and evening prayer, and also to sacrifice sleep and aches and fatigue and food, and basically to live this summer for the unborn. We have to follow Mother Teresa's advice and "give till it hurts". There are always more ways to live our lives for love, doing every ordinary thing in an extraordinary way. Hopefully with the unborn as our sole focus this summer, we will be able to do this in an exceptional way. This is why we need other's prayers as well - so that our apostolate may be fruitful.
Anyway, we are going to be leaving soon, so I best be off. I hope the best for all of you and will keep you all in my prayers.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Initial Pro-Life Walk around Stanley Park
Hi all,
This morning I posted my first post that would kick-off this blog, and since then I've received a request for information on the initial pro-life walk around Stanley Park. So I thought it wise to post the initial email I sent out a few months ago to various pro-life groups here (this is also good to read if you want to know more about our organization, called Crossroads):
Hi all,
As the semester is coming to a close and as those last papers/exams are due/coming up, I'm sure your all thinking already about how your going to spend the summer. Well, whether your working or studying, we'd like to invite you out to a college pro-life walk that is taking place on Saturday, May 19, 2007, around Stanley Park. The walk around Stanley Park is open to all, and is an excellent opportunity to bear witness to the pro-life cause in Vancouver. For a group of Canadian college-age students, this walk around Stanley Park is the commencement of a 3-month walk across Canada (sponsored by a group called Crossroads). If you havn't heard of them, don't be surprised - this is the first year that they're doing the walk in Canada (it's existed in the US since 1995). We would like as many people to join us for this first 8 km of our journey, so please come out to bear witness to the pro-life message with your fellow students!
The walk across Stanley Park will follow this schedule:
-optional Mass at 12:10 in Holy Rosary Cathedral, 646 Richards St. Vancouver, BC.
-meet with fellow pro-lifers outside the Cathedral at 12:45. Pack a lunch if you havn't had lunch yet
-at 1:30, after everyone has arrived/eaten, we leave for Stanley Park. For those without cars, we will be taking a 10 minute bus-ride, so bring bus fare! We will take the 19 bus to the Vancouver Rowing Club (the beginning of the seawall path).
-we start the walk at about 2:00pm, and walk, walk, walk for life! (if you have a pro-life shirt, bring it!)
-the walk will actually not go around Stanley Park, as the Northern seawall is still closed due to the windstorm from several months ago. Thus, we will walk all the way to Prospect Point along the Eastern seawall, and then turn back and return to where we started. The whole walk should be about 8 km.
-after having finished the walk, and having given great witness to the pro-life message, we say our goodbyes. The Crossroads group stays in Vancouver that evening and Sunday. They are off to Abbotsford on Monday as their first stop in their walk across Canada.
For more information about Crossroads, please check out the website at www.crossroadswalk.org or email contact@crossroadswalk.org . If you are interested in participating in the program, there is still time to apply.
Hope to see you all there on the 19th, rain or shine.
This morning I posted my first post that would kick-off this blog, and since then I've received a request for information on the initial pro-life walk around Stanley Park. So I thought it wise to post the initial email I sent out a few months ago to various pro-life groups here (this is also good to read if you want to know more about our organization, called Crossroads):
Hi all,
As the semester is coming to a close and as those last papers/exams are due/coming up, I'm sure your all thinking already about how your going to spend the summer. Well, whether your working or studying, we'd like to invite you out to a college pro-life walk that is taking place on Saturday, May 19, 2007, around Stanley Park. The walk around Stanley Park is open to all, and is an excellent opportunity to bear witness to the pro-life cause in Vancouver. For a group of Canadian college-age students, this walk around Stanley Park is the commencement of a 3-month walk across Canada (sponsored by a group called Crossroads). If you havn't heard of them, don't be surprised - this is the first year that they're doing the walk in Canada (it's existed in the US since 1995). We would like as many people to join us for this first 8 km of our journey, so please come out to bear witness to the pro-life message with your fellow students!
The walk across Stanley Park will follow this schedule:
-optional Mass at 12:10 in Holy Rosary Cathedral, 646 Richards St. Vancouver, BC.
-meet with fellow pro-lifers outside the Cathedral at 12:45. Pack a lunch if you havn't had lunch yet
-at 1:30, after everyone has arrived/eaten, we leave for Stanley Park. For those without cars, we will be taking a 10 minute bus-ride, so bring bus fare! We will take the 19 bus to the Vancouver Rowing Club (the beginning of the seawall path).
-we start the walk at about 2:00pm, and walk, walk, walk for life! (if you have a pro-life shirt, bring it!)
-the walk will actually not go around Stanley Park, as the Northern seawall is still closed due to the windstorm from several months ago. Thus, we will walk all the way to Prospect Point along the Eastern seawall, and then turn back and return to where we started. The whole walk should be about 8 km.
-after having finished the walk, and having given great witness to the pro-life message, we say our goodbyes. The Crossroads group stays in Vancouver that evening and Sunday. They are off to Abbotsford on Monday as their first stop in their walk across Canada.
For more information about Crossroads, please check out the website at www.crossroadswalk.org or email contact@crossroadswalk.org . If you are interested in participating in the program, there is still time to apply.
Hope to see you all there on the 19th, rain or shine.
A Pro-Life Debut
Hi all,
This is entry number one of what I hope to be many more. The purpose of this blog is to update you, my friends, on the walk across Canada that is being done by myself and by a group of other college-age students. In this blog I will tell you guys about things that have happened to us on the road, people that we have met and talked to, and experiences that we have experienced. I will also include reflections on topics related to abortion and on the trip itself. But without much further ado, I think I’ll begin by telling you guys why I am doing this walk and what I hope it will achieve.
This summer I am walking across Canada for life. That is, I am walking across Canada to spread the message that currently in Canada there is a silent minority that is not only being oppressed, but whose lives are actually being taken away from them before they even have the chance to experience life. I am talking of course about the unborn. Currently in Canada there are no laws that restrict abortion procedures – abortions can take place up to nine months of pregnancy. Abortion is also legal in the States (since 1973) and in countless other countries in the world. What is the net effect of this legalized abortion? Since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision (sic) in 1973 that legalized abortion, approximately 57 million fetuses have been aborted in North America. Also, about 1 billion (that is, 1,000,000,000) fetuses have been aborted world-wide since this time. Some countries have abortion rates higher than 1 in 2 – that is, every second child conceived is aborted. Now what does this all amount to? What do these dizzyingly high numbers mean? Well, it means that more than ever before, the world has declared a war on life. The world has declared war on life because it has decided to attack life where it begins – in the womb. We commonly hear of deceitful arguments in favor of abortion under the guise of words such as “pro-choice”. But to those among us who buy their clamor for “choice” I ask, what is it exactly that these women are choosing? Is abortion an innocent procedure that does nothing more than remove a clump of cells from the womb? Or does abortion effectively destroy a human life in the earliest stages of development? This is the crucial question, which requires an equally crucial answer – that indeed life in the womb is as valuable and sacred as life outside the womb, regardless of its environment, degree of dependency, level of development or size. At a time when the most defenseless in our society are incapable of defending themselves, when those without a voice literally cannot speak for themselves, pro-lifers must come together and fight, as it were, to defend the dignity and value of human life. We cannot be content with simply not believing in abortion, but must (in our case literally) take to the streets and cry out in a loud voice “abortion destroys human life!” We must defend and promote a culture of life in an effort to fight the culture of death, a culture which blurs the line between good and evil until all becomes a dreary gray.
Thus it is in this spirit that I take to the roads and the highways, keeping in mind those immortal words spoken by the great Pope John Paul II: “do not be afraid”. We will not be afraid, equipped as we are with the true conviction that life is worth defending and protecting. We will not be afraid to defend life where it is being attacked and to fight against the forces which seek to rob the unborn of their value and dignity as human beings.
Now, there are only three days left till we are off. For those who haven’t heard: we are starting off with an initial walk around Stanley Park this Saturday, and we invite all who wish to come out and support and walk with us for that initial 8 km. Send me an email at a_etienne_o@yahoo.ca if you are interested and haven’t yet received information on the initial walk. You can also use this email if at any time you’d like to contact me on the road personally. Now, for the sake of brevity, I will end this post here. I hope that you will take something away from these posts over the next 3 months, and that you will be encouraged also to speak out against abortion whenever the occasion arises. God bless.
For life,
Etienne
This is entry number one of what I hope to be many more. The purpose of this blog is to update you, my friends, on the walk across Canada that is being done by myself and by a group of other college-age students. In this blog I will tell you guys about things that have happened to us on the road, people that we have met and talked to, and experiences that we have experienced. I will also include reflections on topics related to abortion and on the trip itself. But without much further ado, I think I’ll begin by telling you guys why I am doing this walk and what I hope it will achieve.
This summer I am walking across Canada for life. That is, I am walking across Canada to spread the message that currently in Canada there is a silent minority that is not only being oppressed, but whose lives are actually being taken away from them before they even have the chance to experience life. I am talking of course about the unborn. Currently in Canada there are no laws that restrict abortion procedures – abortions can take place up to nine months of pregnancy. Abortion is also legal in the States (since 1973) and in countless other countries in the world. What is the net effect of this legalized abortion? Since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision (sic) in 1973 that legalized abortion, approximately 57 million fetuses have been aborted in North America. Also, about 1 billion (that is, 1,000,000,000) fetuses have been aborted world-wide since this time. Some countries have abortion rates higher than 1 in 2 – that is, every second child conceived is aborted. Now what does this all amount to? What do these dizzyingly high numbers mean? Well, it means that more than ever before, the world has declared a war on life. The world has declared war on life because it has decided to attack life where it begins – in the womb. We commonly hear of deceitful arguments in favor of abortion under the guise of words such as “pro-choice”. But to those among us who buy their clamor for “choice” I ask, what is it exactly that these women are choosing? Is abortion an innocent procedure that does nothing more than remove a clump of cells from the womb? Or does abortion effectively destroy a human life in the earliest stages of development? This is the crucial question, which requires an equally crucial answer – that indeed life in the womb is as valuable and sacred as life outside the womb, regardless of its environment, degree of dependency, level of development or size. At a time when the most defenseless in our society are incapable of defending themselves, when those without a voice literally cannot speak for themselves, pro-lifers must come together and fight, as it were, to defend the dignity and value of human life. We cannot be content with simply not believing in abortion, but must (in our case literally) take to the streets and cry out in a loud voice “abortion destroys human life!” We must defend and promote a culture of life in an effort to fight the culture of death, a culture which blurs the line between good and evil until all becomes a dreary gray.
Thus it is in this spirit that I take to the roads and the highways, keeping in mind those immortal words spoken by the great Pope John Paul II: “do not be afraid”. We will not be afraid, equipped as we are with the true conviction that life is worth defending and protecting. We will not be afraid to defend life where it is being attacked and to fight against the forces which seek to rob the unborn of their value and dignity as human beings.
Now, there are only three days left till we are off. For those who haven’t heard: we are starting off with an initial walk around Stanley Park this Saturday, and we invite all who wish to come out and support and walk with us for that initial 8 km. Send me an email at a_etienne_o@yahoo.ca if you are interested and haven’t yet received information on the initial walk. You can also use this email if at any time you’d like to contact me on the road personally. Now, for the sake of brevity, I will end this post here. I hope that you will take something away from these posts over the next 3 months, and that you will be encouraged also to speak out against abortion whenever the occasion arises. God bless.
For life,
Etienne
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