LIFE Runners will ‘pierce the culture of death’ with the witness of their message ‘REMEMBER the Unborn’ while running and walking all around the world.
(LifeSiteNews) August 7, 2024— Pro-lifers will span the continental U.S. in a massive cross-shaped relay this fall as part of an apostolate to inspire pregnant mothers to choose life for their unborn children.
Runners and walkers will kick off from the east and west coasts as well as North Dakota and Texas in September, triggering a relay of 5K legs carefully timed to converge on Kansas City in Roe Park on October 19. Meanwhile, other pro-lifers will run, walk, or simply wear their witness – a LIFE Runners t-shirt that reminds onlookers to “REMEMBER the Unborn” – in their own neighborhoods, on their own time, from September 6 to October 19.
The power of the A-Cross America Relay is twofold: LIFE Runners pray for the unborn and their mothers, including in front of abortion mills, and the witness of their message aims to stir abortion-minded mothers to a change of heart for their children.
The message’s power is explained in a study by Students for Life, which found that “78% of post-abortion women said if just one person had offered support or if they viewed a supportive sign, they would have chosen life,” as Dr. Pat Castle, founder of LIFE Runners and former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, previously shared with LifeSiteNews.
Maximizing this public pro-life witness is the impetus behind this year’s changes to the launching point locations for the relay. Castle explained to LifeSiteNews that on the West Coast, where LIFE Runners have traditionally started from the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, this year’s grand kickoff will begin with prayer at the Planned Parenthood in San Francisco and then walk a mile to Union Square, which Castle called the city’s equivalent to Times Square: a bustling, secular square packed with people – an ideal place to share the pro-life message.
Similarly, in New York, instead of beginning from the Brooklyn Bridge, LIFE Runners will kick off with prayer at Manhattan’s Planned Parenthood and walk with their “REMEMBER the Unborn” banner to the Father Duffy statue in Times Square, where they will “pierce the culture of death” with their pro-life message, in Castle’s words.
In the southern U.S., the “REMEMBER the Unborn” banner will border the University of Texas in Austin, witnessing to a demographic in which abortions are heavily concentrated: college-age students. Castle shared that 40% of abortions are committed by college-age women.
The north kickoff arm will begin this year in front of the Cathedral of St. Mary in Fargo, North Dakota, from which LIFE Runners will walk to a Minnesota Planned Parenthood 4.3 miles away, where they will close in prayer.
Castle stressed in a Thursday interview with LifeSiteNews that without prayer their pro-life efforts are “meaningless.”
“Without it, we’re not going to complete the largest spanning pro-life event in the world… Without it, it’s not going to be sustaining or healing,” said Castle, who previously told LifeSiteNews that prayer “is often enough for a mom to not turn in to that abortion facility.”
