Crosses-to-Bear -- Really
By LEANNE GENDREAU and DOUG GREENE
Updated 8:52 AM EDT, Wed, Apr 8, 2009
Two Sacred Heart University students in Fairfield have heavy crosses to bear. Literally.
Sam Dowd and Paul Carrier hauled 50-pound, 8-by-4-foot crosses on a two-day, 24-mile trek during Holy Week. Their journey ended just before 11 a.m. Tuesday at to St. Mary's Church in New Haven.
They left campus Monday, in pouring rain, with the crosses slung over their shoulders to recreate the journey Christians believe Jesus took to his crucifixion, according to the Connecticut Post. The rains made the crosses even heavier, they said.
"It was really, really hard. Shoes filled up with water. It felt like I was walking in a swamp," Dowd said.
.Along the way, people have honked and pointed at them. When they stopped to grab food at a restaurant, they were told they could leave the crosses outside or bring them inside and someone would find room for them, the Post reports.
At 7:45 a.m. Tuesday they left Holy Infant in Orange to get to the church where the Rev. Michael McGivney established the Knights of Columbus in 1882.
Why there? Because Dowd and Carrier are both are members of the fraternal group at Sacred Heart.
Dowd says it's a physical struggle, but nothing compared with the pain Jesus suffered.
"It was a physical struggle every step of the way. You can talk about having a cross to bear, but to be able to experience the physical pain of it and realize the enormity of what Jesus suffered is another thing," he told the Post.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut
First Published: Apr 7, 2009 8:08 AM EDT
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