November 18, 2008

Guest: Brendan Flannery, co-Director of Crossroads
Featured Saint of the Day: Dedication of St. Peter and Paul

Today, Deacon Rick and Jenny spoke with Brendan Flannery the co-Director of Crossroads. Crossroads is a movement that was started in 1995 by several students from Franciscan University. These students had been to World Youth Day in 1993, when it was in Denver, and took Pope John Paul II's challenge of taking the word of God into the streets literally. Crossroads walks with the intentions of the Pro-Life movement in mind and the walks in America end in Washington, DC for a Pro-Life Rally.

There are three different walks through America and one in Canada. The Northern Walk is from Seattle, Washington to Washington, DC. The Central Walk is from San Francisco, California to Washington, DC. The Southern Walk is from Los Angeles , California to Washington, DC. Each summer there is a group of about 50 young people ages 18-30 who participate in these walks. The groups walk monday through friday and on the weekends they pray at Abortion Clinics as well as visit Youth Groups and different Parishes across the coutnry.

In a story that Brendan shared with us, the group on the Southern Walk was in El Paso, Texas. They had been praying at an abortion clinic and later that weekend were at a church. A man approached them and asked if they had been the group at the clinic. When they told him that they were, he said that he had seen them because he was taking his daughter in for an abortion. Through their witness, both he and his daughter knew that they couldn't go through with it. The father took his daughter that day to the hospital to get a check-up and sonogram. The man found out that he was the proud grandfather of twins. While many of the fruits this pilgrimage bears aren't seen by the walkers, they know that God puts all things to His use.

For more information on Crossroads or to get inovled you can go to their website:
www.crossroadswalk.org