The group of young activists that walked through Fort Morgan early this week are quite literally spreading their pro-life message across the United States.
Wearing shirts that state “Pro Life” in bold lettering, the 18- to 30-year-old participants are walking from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. There they will join two other groups of cross-country walkers for a pro-life rally.
One of the additional groups started the walk in Seattle and the other in Los Angeles, said Josh Spears, leader of the walk from San Francisco. Each of the groups started walking on May 23 and plan to arrive in Washington around Aug. 14, he said.
Along the roughly 3,000-mile walk, Spears said, participants visit with people about the pro-life movement.
“The thing that’s shocked me the most is how pro-life America is,” he said.
On Monday, the group walked from the Loveland area to Saint Helena’s Catholic Church in Fort Morgan. The next morning they attended Catholic Mass, Spears said, which is how they begin each day.
Every weekend, he said, the participants speak in a different parish, where they talk about their efforts and ask for prayers, financial support and involvement in the pro-life movement.
The group planned to reach Sterling by Tuesday night.
The efforts of all three groups are coordinated by the nonprofit organization Crossroads, Spears said.
After being inspired by Pope John Paul II during a homily in 1993, Spears said, a group of students from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, completed the first Crossroads walk across America.
During the Catholic World Youth Day, he said, the Pope encouraged young people to boldly spread the gospel of Christ.
“He told them to use their useful energy to change the culture of death we’re living in to a culture of life,” he said. “…What better way than to walk across the country?”
The cross-country walk to Washington, D.C., is now an annual summer event, Spears said.
Included in the group that passed through Fort Morgan were residents of Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, California and Kentucky, Spears said. The number of participants in the group fluctuates between about eight and 12, he said, as some people come and go to meet their school and work responsibilities.
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