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The Catholic Leader Covers Crossroads #Australia #ProLife Walk

The Catholic Leader

http://www.catholicleader.com.au/news.php/top-stories/prolife-youth-take-to-the-roads-to-spread-the-message-of-life_83585

 

A GROUP of young people are devoting their Christmas break to a pro-life walk from Brisbane to Melbourne.
The 10 people, aged 18 to 30 years, have volunteered for the Crossroads pilgrimage that will involve walking from Brisbane to Melbourne in four weeks.

Fr Hilary Flynn, a priest of the Cairns diocese who is a Crossroads supporter and has completed the pilgrimage overseas, said the aim was for young, pro-life Catholics to spread the culture of life, in response to the call of Pope John Paul II.

This is the first Crossroads pilgrimage to be held in Australia.

The group left Brisbane on December 17, and the pilgrimage will end with Mass and a pro-life rally in Melbourne on January 12.

The Crossroads website said the Mass and rally would be the launch-pad for a campaign to overturn Section 8 of Victoria’s abortion laws.

On their way to Melbourne, the group will stop in Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra, and many towns in between.

The Crossroads website said the group would be “trained to speak in parishes, witness respectfully at abortion clinics and communicate with the media”.

Fr Flynn said Crossroads began in 1995 when a group of students from Stuebenville Franciscan University, Ohio, United States, “wondered could they walk 5000km in a hundred days as a prayer to God for the pro-life cause? Would they be allowed by the police? Could they physically do it? Could they emotionally do it? They did it, to their surprise”.

He said since then, he had joined in three more Crossroads pilgrimages and one around Ireland in June this year.

“This is a call for prayer for these brave youth doing this in Australia for their first time here,” Fr Flynn said.

“Prayer is needed for their basic safety, co-operation by the police and road legislators, peace for their parents at home and a successful outcome over these four weeks.

“May Crossroads Australia be one of the building bricks for the building of the kingdom during this Year of Grace.

“So I encourage you to please pray for them and for pro-life Australia before and after Christmas.”