By Dennis Kellogg
Director of Communications
Father Tony Schukei used his bike to get around while he was in college. In the past few years, he’s become more adventurous, enjoying some longer rides.
This summer, though, he went the distance to use his bicycling to advocate for unborn babies and pregnancy centers that serve mothers and families in challenging situations.
Father Schukei participated for the first time in the Biking for Babies ride from Rochester, Minn. to St. Louis. The ride in July covered around 600 miles in six days.
“It’s one of the gifts that God gave me,” Father Schukei said. “I can just sit on a bike and spin around on it for a long time. It just seemed like a beautiful way to use that gift.”
Biking for Babies was started in 2009 by two men in Illinois who wanted to do more for the pro-life cause. Since then, the organization has raised more than a million dollars in donations to help support more than 100 pregnancy resource centers.
“Today, it’s really about forming missionary disciples,” Father Schukei said. “People who are riding on their national ride that they do every year, which is the Super Bowl of their events, fundraise to help support pregnancy centers and advocate and show all the great things that those centers do for young women.”
The national ride begins in eight different starting points across the nation. Five of the routes converge in St. Louis. About 80 young adult riders, or missionaries, from 18 to 39 years old, form teams to bike the different routes, usually riding about 100 miles each day. Each team also has a support crew that follows them to provide water and help with other needs along the roads.
Father Schukei started thinking about taking part in the Biking for Babies ride after talking with a friend from seminary who now works for the organization.
“He mentioned… every once in a while they have a priest on a team being able to ride with these riders on their physical journey, but he always says it’s beautiful when a priest can accompany them on that spiritual journey, too. So that was his way of kind of putting a seed in my head.”
It was while traveling along rural roads outside David City, though, when he realized it was something he really wanted to do.
“I just remember I was on a bike ride on gravel roads and I could see the steeple of St. Mary Church where I’m assigned, 3 or 4 miles off and I was like, ‘biking is beautiful….’ There was just something about that day and I saw the bell tower and thought, ‘I got to tell (his friend) Chris, I’m going to try and make this happen,’” Father Schukei said.
He said it was a challenge to get physically ready and build endurance.
“I worked hard. My days off, I would go on long bike rides. Then if there was a slower day, I might sneak in a bike ride in the morning or one in the evening, just to get miles in,” Father Schukei said. “It was a little bit of a chore, but it paid off because I was adequately prepared for the ride.”
The riders stayed with host families in communities along the way. Many were often up by 4 a.m. and on their bikes around 5 a.m. They would then spend the day riding, taking only a couple of short breaks during the day.
The riders all wore matching bright yellow jerseys with “Biking for Babies” written in blue lettering on the front. Father Schukei said that gave them the opportunity to talk with people in some of the communities they passed through.
“You’re stopped at a stop sign in a rural town and somebody’s like, ‘What are you guys doing?’ So it certainly was a great way to express just by the visual, your jersey, what is the mission of Biking for Babies.”
Father Schukei said he also drew inspiration from his fellow riders who he got to know along the route. He said four of the men on his team were young fathers.
“It was really cool for them to say, ‘I’m biking for babies, like, in a sense, my babies, too.’ They knew they were fortunate enough to have adequate care for their children and it was so cool to see them say, ‘I want somebody else to have that adequate care, even if they’re in a tough spot in life.’”
Father Schukei was one of three priests joining one of the eight different rides across the country this year.
“The first day, one of my teammates asked me, ‘Father, what are you going to wear on this ride?’ And I joked with him, ‘I’m going to wear my cassock.” He’s like, “Really?’ (I said) ‘I don’t think that would work. I think it would get caught in the chain,’” Father Schukei said. “But I think they were just encouraged that it’s nice to have a priest, showing the whole spread of the Mystical Body of Christ and all vocations being present to this cause.”
He was able to provide spiritual guidance and encouragement during the ride, including celebrating Mass for the group.
“A 600-mile bike ride is a logistical challenge,” said Jack Gebert, Father Schukei’s teammate and route leader who is in his third year with the Biking for Babies ride. “We don’t always get to go to Mass every day during the ride. And so to be able to do that this year absolutely helped people to have deep moments of reflection, moments of intimacy with God. It was a huge help to have him there.”
Gebert said there were other reasons, too, all the riders appreciated having Father Schukei along for the ride, calling him “an extremely valuable member of our team.”
“He crushed it,” Gebert said. “He did so incredibly well. I don’t think the man complained once all week…. He was always upbeat, always helping the team members to have a positive outlook, positive attitude, a smile on their face.”
The riders seek donations as part of their commitment to the Biking for Babies ride. Father Schukei raised more than $5,000 that will now go to benefit pregnancy resource centers.
Father Schukei said the week was a great experience. It allowed him to raise money and awareness for the unborn and the pregnancy resource centers. He said, though, even if you aren’t able to go on a 600-mile bike ride to support the pro-life cause, there is something you can do.
“The power of prayer is important. Remembering that our prayers can lift people up,” he said. “The second thing … do you have a pregnancy resource center in the area where you live? Have I ever reached out just to find out what do they offer so I can be a beacon of knowledge to somebody saying, ‘You can go and get this test done here.’ Allowing their resources to be exposed to other people I think is a big thing.”
This year’s Biking for Babies ride may be behind him, but Father Schukei said there might be another one for him down the road.
“I would love to do it again. Knowing that it’s a long bike ride, it didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would,” he said. “I would love that opportunity again to use the gifts that I have to join them to a good cause like this.”
To watch a video of our entire interview with Father Tony Schukei on his Biking for Babies experience, go to our Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube channel.
Courtesy photos
