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.

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).

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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