As people gather around, Father Bryan of St. Philip’s Catholic Church says a prayer before they begin their journey. This is the first year that the church will do a 90-mile walk.

“I talked to the diocese at Crookston and they said, lwhy don’t you test it out and see how it goes, make sure everybody is safe and that we can handle a 90-mile walk,’” said David Liedl, the Walk for Vocations Organizer.

In total, there are about 12 members of the church walking, but only six of them will finish the whole trip. St. Philip’s Catholic Church members started their walk from Sacred Heart Church in Wilton early this morning and will end their 5-day pilgrimage at the Cathedral in Crookston.

“20 years ago in the diocese of Duluth, my father-in-law, who’s now a deacon, did a similar thing. They went from Pequot Lakes all the way to Duluth and they just talked about just sort of was a spiritual journey it was and how the benefits throughout the area. And so we’re like, I don’t know maybe it would be something that would be fun to do here, so my wife Cassie kind of encouraged me,” Liedl said.

Organizers say on average they’ll be walking 20 miles a day, and the idea is to raise awareness and promote new vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

“Father Bryan and I started planning this like six or seven months ago, so it’s been a lot of details and work,” Liedl said.

The groups 90-mile Walk for Vocations journey started at Wilton.  From Wilton they’ll head over to Bagley, Fosston, Mentor, and then their last destination will be Crookston. At each of their stops, they’ll be staying in one of the Catholic churches in the area each day.

“We’re hoping really, what comes of this is that people continue to pray for vocations, but also continue to discern that in their own life, if there’s a call for them to serve others, whether that’s through religious life or through the priesthood,” Liedl said. “We kind of feel that the fruits of this journey maybe won’t be seen for 15 or 20 years, but hopefully the seeds will kind of be planted, that’s the goal.”

There will be a mass in Crookston on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. to conclude their 90-mile walk.

By — Malaak Khattab

News Reporter