Skip to content

Bishop’s Walk: ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step’

October 25, 2006

By Diana

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

More than 120 people gathered together at Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton on October 15 for a special service held to celebrate the work of The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) and to witness the presentation of $50,000 to PWRDF for its Partnership for Life HIV and AIDS initiative, from the people of the Diocese of Fredericton.

“This is our thanksgiving offering from our diocese,” said Bishop Claude Miller in presenting the cheque. “It is a symbolic gesture from us here in Fredericton to those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS around the world.”

Inspired by Saskatoon Bishop Rod Andrews, who drove a tractor across the Saskatchewan prairies in 2005, Bishop Miller embarked on a walk-a-thon in May 2006 and committed to walking 500 kilometers — the equivalent of the diagonal width of the diocese — before mid-October.

“I made it, I did 530 km” said Bishop Miller. For the past 5 months, Bishop Miller has walked an average of 10 km per day. My wife Sharon was a great support, we partnered together and sponsored each other at 10 cents a kilometer, Sharon Miller walked 707 km.

Many Anglicans in New Brunswick joined Bishop Miller on his walk. A group of children from Perth-Andover were the first to get in the spirit. Another group of children collected $1,800 in pennies. One parish-sponsored group weeded their church gardens and flowerbeds and donated their earnings to PWRDF.

Bishop Miller’s walk heightened awareness around HIV and AIDS issues.” This gift we presented today is something tangible and God will bless it in another way.”Said Bishop Miller.
Betty McNamara and Bishop Miller
Photo: Ana Watts

“We embarked on this journey and achieved our goal of $50,000 — but still there is a lot of misunderstanding around AIDS, stigma is still there, we need to do more–that will be our next step in the journey”said Bishop Miller.

Betty McNamara, long-time PWRDF Diocesan Representative, is compiling a scrap book of the walk, collecting all of the stories and the events that people participated in.

For more information on the Bishop’s Walk, please visit the Diocese of Fredericton’s website.

All News Posts

For media requests please contact Communications Coordinator Janice Biehn at (416) 924-9199;366.

Canada Stories

HIV/AIDS Stories