It was day four of their walk across the country, they’d walked 37 miles that day, Jon Leonetti was too tired to talk and Jesse Weiler’s head was lowered, his eyes fixed on the ground. Just then Leonetti saw an SUV headed straight for his friend. With what strength he had, he gave a broken scream, and they both jumped out of the way.

As Leonetti got up from the life-saving leap into the dirt, the first thing he heard Weiler say was simply, “Let’s go.”

“He knew that this was what we were getting ourselves into,” said Leonetti. “He knew we’d come across many situations like that, and we did.”

Leonetti and Weiler shared stories of many of their experiences, both challenging and rewarding, during a talk given in Pedata Hall at St. Joan of Arc Parish, Marlton, July 30. The talk was the final stop on the young men’s five-month walk across America, which concluded in Ocean City.

Earlier in the day, members of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and cast members of Realfaith TV greeted the walkers as they crossed the Ben Franklin Bridge into New Jersey. Leonetti and Weiler also sat down for an interview with Realfaith TV prior to their talk in St. Joan of Arc.

Leonetti and Weiler first met at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, where Leonetti studied philosophy and Weiler majored in media studies. But they really didn’t share the same road until the ones they walked upon together in their desire to take a unique approach to evangelization.

Since March 1, the two young Catholics have walked 1,781 miles each, alternating in four- to six-hour walking shifts per day, to complete their 3,562 mile trek. Along the way they visited churches and schools where they gave talks about the need for prayer to Catholic youth.

When Jackie Veasy of St. Joan of Arc Parish learned that the two would be stopping in Marlton on their trip, she emailed the pair to invite them to speak at the parish. Although she didn’t know what to expect from their talk, Veasy said she was very impressed by the presentation.

“They were phenomenal,” she said. “They had such a good message about living your prayer life and how it is a journey, just like walking across the country. You have your ups and downs and your struggles but you just keep going and you continue to pray and depend on God.”

People walk across the country for all sorts of causes, said Leonetti, who is also a host of a Catholic radio program in Iowa called Martyrs of the Third Millennium. As they united walking with spirituality, they discovered how the physical world is filled with symbols of the spiritual journey, much like those found in John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress. Yet not all those they encountered were inspired by the idea of walking across the country for prayer.

“So we’re walking across America. Some people were really unimpressed by that,” said Weiler. “And that’s okay. Other people were like ‘Cool. What are you walking for?’ And we’d say ‘prayer’, and they’d be like ‘okay’ and then walk away.”

Still others would consider the walkers’ commitment and the source of it, and that would lead them to think twice about Leonetti and Weiler’s cause.

“The stories that Jon and Jesse shared about their walk reflect the joys and hardships in any person’s life,” said Megan Rosidivito of Divine Mercy Parish, Trenton, who attended the talk. “I learned in a new way what it means to pick up and move forward even when you feel that you can’t go on.”

“The one theme that has really stuck with me has been the idea of weakness,” said Tim Kirk of Resurrection Parish, Delran. “Walking across the country did not show Jon and Jesse how strong they were, but how weak they were and how dependent on God they actually are.”

The two men’s decision to embark on the journey and their commitment to completing their walk, even after Leonetti dislocated his knee while walking in Arizona, have inspired people from coast-to-coast. Matthew Greeley, diocesan director of youth and young adult ministries, said that Leonetti and Weiler are a positive example to all Catholics, young and old.

“The idea of the walk was something that spoke to them, that seemed doable and attainable for them,” said Greeley. “The message I take away from their initiative and creativity is that we are all constantly invited to do the same; to take to the road in the direction we feel called by God. 

“It may not be in the form of walking, but taking baby steps in our lives to show what our faith means to us can be contagious and life-giving to others.”

Even more powerful were the lessons Leonetti and Weiler learned from people they met along the trip. One of the stories Leonetti shared was about a local who spotted the walkers on the side of the road and invited them to his ranch nearby. It was risky to say yes, Leonetti explained, but he soon learned that this pale and thin rancher was dying of cancer, and in the last few years of his life he’s been helping recently released prisoners re-enter society by inviting them to live and work on his ranch.

“Your calling is to look out into the world and find a need,” said Leonetti, paraphrasing St. Thomas Aquinas. The need Leonetti and Weiler saw was “prayer, especially for young people, and an intimate relationship with God.”