March for Life students stranded in the snow – built a snow altar and have Mass

Stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, students from Nebraska and Iowa who’d traveled to DC for the March for life – whole story at the the link.

At about 9:30 p.m. Friday, the buses lurched to a stop at mile marker 133, and the group had to become comfortable for awhile — because there they stayed for the next 23 hours. More buses with others from across the country were stuck with them, including a group from Nebraska.

An accident had stopped traffic up the road, Behm said, and in the hours it took to clear up, the snow rendered the buses immobile.

Thankfully, the buses has toilets — until those filled up, Behm said.

About half a mile down the road, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation station was equipped with bathrooms and food. The students were able to make use of them — by walking there and back — as the hours wore on.

As Saturday morning came, Behm said members of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis approached his group about performing Mass.

“It wasn’t even my idea, but I’m the one blowing up on Twitter and Facebook now,” Behm said with a laugh.

Equipped with his travel Mass kit, an altar of snow was built as hundreds congregated outside in the cold.

“I just happened to be there, the wrong place at the right time,” Behm said.