Route 40 Tour / Spring 2006

• I gave a talk at the Newman Center on the campus of Northern Arizona State University in Flagstaff.  I explained that the day before, Michael Vollmer, who is the director of the Newman Center, had said to me that people in the Third World have annual incomes that range from a couple hundred to a thousand dollars.  And they often subsist on one meager meal a day.  I said the gospel message cries out for us to sacrifice way more in this country, so those in the Third World can have at least the basics in food, medicine, shelter...
•    I talked at an Immigration Rally in Flagstaff.  I said our administration would push for amnesty for illegal immigrants -- and family reunification.  In an interview with Phoenix's Channel 3 News after the talk, I said we had walked the streets of Juarez, Mexico, and seen the poverty.  And it was my belief most of these people come to America -- because their children are hungry.  How can we turn our backs?
•    We visited the memorial at the Oklahoma City bombing site.  (They had just recently commemorated the 11th anniversary of the bombing.)  There are black walls on either side of what used to be the Federal Building, two open doors -- and empty space where the rest of the building used to stand.  The minimalism is quite striking.  What's even more impacting is a life size statue of Jesus just across the streets, His back turned and His head in His hands.  The caption:  "And Jesus wept."
•    In Brinkley, Arkansas, we visited the Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park Museum.  On Oct. 27, 1815, the land survey for the Louisiana Purchase began at a point in the woods 22 miles south of here.  After the survey, America would buy 830,000 square miles (spanning what would become 14 states) for less than 3 cents an acre ($15 million) from France.  In the museum was a statement at the time from Gen. Horatio Gates to President Thomas Jefferson:  "Let the land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a song."  ...But was it's France's to sell.  Was it ours to buy?  What about the Native Americans?
•    I gave a talk to a full school assembly (including some adults) at St. Mary's Church in Jackson, Tennessee (pop. 40,000).  I had our Sarah, 10, and Joseph, 8, stand by my side.  I explained that no matter what a person's age, they can make a great impact on society.  For instance, I said Joseph and Sarah recently stood in solidarity with a group of people in San Bernardino, California, who were praying the Rosary in front of an abortion clinic.  In North Dakota, Sarah stood on a sidewalk in front of an abortion clinic, pleading with pregnant women not to go in -- alongside a group of "Collegians for Life" students from Morehead State University.  I said to the students that you are never too young to try to change things.  Never.