Day 97, March 22, 2007 Clear crossing the Andes mountains in northern Venezuela. (Photos courtesy Samuel Clear/Walk4One)   In Sam’s own words Visit Sam’s blog at http://walk4one.blogspot.com/

CD: What motivated you to take this approach to promoting and praying for Christian unity in the first place?

CLEAR: Well, I ride a motorbike, so I thought maybe I would ride my bike around the world or do something like that. But in the end, walking gives me an opportunity to meet more people and it also brings more attention to the need to pray for unity. A lot of people have become quite interested in what I’m doing simply on the basis that I’m walking.

CD: How did praying for Christian unity become the focus of your message?

CLEAR: I’m a mechanical engineer, but I worked with Youth Mission Team Australia, a Catholic organization, for the five years prior to starting walking. I’ve been confronted many times by people from non-Catholic churches saying, “You can’t call yourself Christian and be Catholic at the same time.”

Then, for personal faith building, I picked up a book compiled by Patrick Madrid called Surprised by Truth. It contains testimonies from different people about their journey to the Catholic Church. But what hit me was there were two testimonies in a row, one from an evangelical, one from a Pentecostal who had become Catholic. In becoming Catholic, both had lost their friends and family. It really ripped at me. In that moment I caught a glimpse of Christ’s pain at the broken Church. It’s as though we’ve crucified Him again through the breaking of the Church. It was almost devastating for me.

A couple of weeks later, I was kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament before Mass and I basically had it out with God and said, “You’re on your own. The problem’s too big. I can’t fix it.” And then once I’d shut up I just felt God saying, You’re right, you can’t fix it. But I can. I need you to pray. So I started praying for unity. My friends and I started to pray for unity every day at 4:01 p.m. — at 4:01 we prayed for one [Church].

As it started to build it started to take over my life. I resigned from work. I sold everything, and I spent a year planning.

CD: What did you do to prepare?

CLEAR: I basically bought about $400 worth of maps. I figured out my starting point and finishing point, then I drew a line around the world at the quickest route possible. I made a schedule with every single day mapped out. I did some work with the Youth Mission Team, even though I’d resigned. I also set about doing a little fitness training.

CD: What did you do to train?

CLEAR: A bit of everything. I played basketball. I went swimming. I did weights three nights a week. I went for a 40-kilometer walk (approximately 20 miles) every Saturday, and I’d go for a jog maybe once a week.

CD: How did your friends and family react when you told them about this idea?

CLEAR: The first people I spoke to about it were those on my youth mission team. The reaction was a unanimous, “Go for it!” That was a great boost. Mind you, they were all missionaries, so the reaction’s going to be a little bit more that way. Mom and Dad? The first thing Dad said was, “Well you better buy some good gear ‘cause it’s a long way.” He’s been really supportive. I think it’s Mom that’s carried the worry. Dad was concerned about me walking across Russia. He did point out a few times that neither Hitler nor Napoleon was successful in walking across there.

CD: You do seem to have gotten into some precarious situations, based on the stories from your blog. Did you expect that?

CLEAR: Not at all. I was completely ignorant of that part of it, but It’s probably a good thing that I was. I probably would have really had a second thought about doing it if I’d known how many times I was going to end up looking down a gun barrel or having a knife put to me, or having people trying to bash me up.

CD: Does it every discourage you and make you say, “All right, enough of this, I’m going home; I’m going back to my bed in Australia, and I’m locking the door?”

CLEAR: There hasn’t been any time where I wanted to go home. There have been times where I have been pretty scared. In Belarus I was on a quiet country road — no one else around, with forest on both sides — and I caught a glimpse of two men running through the forest, chasing me. Then they just came up to me. One of them kept reaching behind him — whether he had a gun or a knife, I don’t know. I got them both to the ground and that’s how I got away. As I was running I was meditating on the Passion and a Rosary and my reaction. It wasn’t really the same docile reaction that Christ had to his attackers. In those sorts of moments I have to very quickly resort to prayer. I’ve changed a lot since I started walking.