An uncle of a young pro-life advocate killed by a car during his pro-life walk across America is flying to the U.S. to take his nephew’s place and complete the remainder of the journey.U.K. resident Paul Brilliant will attend his nephew Andrew Kentigern Moore’s July 31 funeral in Concord, Calif. and then meet the pro-life group Crossroads in Steubenville, Ohio to help complete their walk from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.
Brilliant “really wants to represent Andrew's family and be with the group as they make it to Washington, D.C.,” Crossroads president James Nolan said July 25.
Moore was praying the Rosary and walking alongside a highway near Indianapolis early on July 20 when he was hit by a car and killed.
Investigators found no fault with the driver and Moore might have accidentally stepped onto the roadway.
The 20-year-old was a student at Thomas Aquinas College and was considering joining the priesthood.
His group had walked about 2,200 miles from San Francisco and had 600 miles remaining before reaching Washington, D.C.
The other volunteer walkers have decided to finish their walk in honor of Moore and his pro-life dedication.
“We are not surprised by their decision to continue,” Nolan said. “These are some of the most amazing and dedicated young people I've ever met.”
The Crossroads travelers will suspend their nighttime walking for the rest of the summer.
Caleb Glaser, the leader of the central route which Moore walked, said the group still considers Moore part of the team.
“We believe that he will be walking those miles in spirit with us,” he said.
The treks will finish in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 11 with a noontime rally and memorial at the U.S. Capitol.
Walk participants speak to parish groups to encourage pro-life activism. They stop at local abortion clinics to pray, to hold peaceful protests, and to counsel those who enter.
The Maryland-based Crossroads has held pro-life walks across America for 18 years.
It holds four simultaneous pro-life walks across the country to witness to the sanctity of human life and to win converts to protecting life from conception until natural death.
Its website is http://www.crossroadswalk.org