By S.L. Hansen
for the Register
On Good Friday, several families from the Cathedral of the Risen Christ Parish in Lincoln presented a living stations of the cross – for the fifth year in a row.
Hundreds of visitors walked beside young people who portrayed Christ’s Passion as the stations were presented four times on the quarter hours between 5 and 6 p.m.
Emily Villa, who is one of the organizers, said this now-annual event was born during the pandemic lockdown of 2020.
“There was no liturgy we could attend for Holy Week,” she remembered. “Our family was feeling that lack of liturgy and trying to decide how we could celebrate Holy Week.”
Having experienced several moving living stations through the years, Villa thought that might be the answer.
She mentioned the idea of an outdoor living stations of the cross to her friend Julie Myron, and was astonished to learn the Myron family had the same idea.
“She said, ‘My husband and the boys are cutting a tree down out in the woods right now, to be a crucifix.’”
Villa smiled. “It just felt like inspiration from the Holy Spirit.”
After that, things came together rapidly. With permission from the parish, 10 families cooperated to set up the stations on Cathedral grounds. The idea was that viewers could walk from station to station, observing while maintaining social distance for safety.
The Myron family constructed the crucifix and several crowns made of hawthorn twigs for the various people portraying Christ to wear. Costumes used for All Saints Day or other events came out of basements and a Cathedral School storage closet. Props were scavenged from various households or made from scratch.
Now that social distancing restrictions are a thing of the past, the young people portraying Jesus, the Blessed Mother, chief priests, soldiers, and other characters can move through the various settings while the crowd of onlookers walk alongside.
At the end of the first year, participants had more ideas for a second year… and then a third. Now with three of her children involved with theatre at Pius X High School, Villa relies on them to recruit most of the cast, with students from Cathedral School and adult parishioners taking on some of the parts.
A few things have changed as some families have “aged out” or moved away. The family who used to handle station 14 had rigged up a tent to be the tomb. Now, Bishop James Conley graciously allows the diocesan Chancery Office to serve as the empty tomb, with a tableau set up along his front window.
Villa said who plays which role is “a little bit personal preference” although they must use younger teen boys for the role of Jesus, because of the crucifixion scene. Onlookers were stunned into silence as the men portraying Roman soldiers hoisted up the cross with a teen boy depicting our bleeding and suffering Savior.
The young men who have portrayed Christ through the years have spoken about the rough wood scraping their backs, the thorny crowns pressing on their heads, and the brute strength it takes to stay virtually motionless on the cross.
Brayden Arnagost, a Cathedral parishioner and junior at Pius X, also portrayed Jesus this year. He said he was honored to portray Christ and found a deeper appreciation for the Lord’s suffering for our sins.
“The pain and especially getting hung up on the cross was super hard,” he said. “I can’t imagine how it truly was for Him.”
This year, one of the two boys rotating in that role was one of Villa’s own sons, Kephas.
“My stomach is churning watching my son get theatrically crucified,” Villa said, which she said made her think, “How did Mary feel? It helped me to enter into it in a more prayerful way.”
When she couldn’t take it any more, Villa whispered to her husband Mike, who had the role of Joseph of Arimathea, “Get him down… He’s shaking up there.”
Luis Tapia of Christo Rey Parish and a senior at Pius X, volunteered to take on the role of Judas when he realized nobody really wanted it.
“I know that [Judas] probably felt remorse for what he’d done, and I gained that feeling playing that part, feeling the remorse that I gave this person away for meaningless things of this world,” he said. “It kind of hit me walking through all the stations of the cross.”
The living stations of the cross is a profound way to observe the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday. Villa indicated that the group will return in 2025 between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
Photos by S.L. Hansen
