Witnessing Christ’s Passion

PATERSON  This Lent, people have been taking a prayerful walk right beside Jesus while he suffers his Passion and Death on the Cross as they pass by the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here along Grand Street. Passersby can almost touch Christ as he takes up his Cross, falls on his way to Calvary, and dies, nailed to the Cross, as dramatized by a tall wooden crucifix on the corner of Main and Grand streets at the end of St. John’s new outdoor Stations of the Cross.

Since March 4, the Stations of the Cross have caught the eye of people on Grand Street — from St. John’s faithful and area residents to commuters and local homeless — and invited them to experience Jesus’ suffering and death as depicted in a diverse series of dramatic images displayed at the 14 Stations. Passersby can view them on vinyl posters at each Station and the wooden cross, which stretch from the Bishop Rodimer Center up to the corner of Main and Grand streets in front of the cathedral, while they pray. Pilgrims can get help by calling up a special audio track of Scripture readings, prayers, and mediations for each Station in English or Spanish on their smart phones, using a QR [Quick Response] code.

“We want everybody to experience the beauty and spirituality of the Stations of the Cross outdoors in Pater­son,” said Msgr. Geno Sylva, St. John’s rector and diocesan vicar for special projects. He is inviting people from all around the Diocese and elsewhere to visit St. John’s to make a pilgrimage to the outdoor Stations of the Cross — a first in cathedral history. “The various works of art that bring to life Christ’s Passion are by a variety of artists, such as Salvador Dali, from various time periods and countries, and are in different styles. It is all designed to be more inclusive of our diverse community and to touch the spirituality in each person in a different way,” he said.

Creating the Stations of the Cross became a community effort at St. John’s, which realized that it would not be able to present its annual outdoor Passion Play on Good Friday on Main Street — complete with actors and dramatic costumes — for a second year, due to COVID­-19 restrictions. The Knights of Columbus, parish staff, and select parishioners helped in choosing the artwork, getting it printed on vinyl, building and erecting the Stations and Cross and writing, recording, and editing the audio, Msgr. Sylva said.

The 16-foot-tall Cross overlooks the corner of Main and Grand streets on what Msgr. Sylva calls the “Block of Mercy” — St. John’s campus, which offers hope and spiritual and physical care to people in the surrounding neighborhood, stung by poverty, crime, and substance abuse. The Cross was built by Jorge “George” Medina, a parishioner and Knight, with employees from the construction company he owns.

“With the Cross, people can see what the Church is all about. They talk to God. They know that someone is always looking out for them,” said Medina, who led his workers in cutting the logs for the Cross, notching them and making the sign on top that reads “INRI,” which stands for “Jesus, King of the Jews” in Latin. “The Cross shows poor and homeless people that there is hope — another option other than the street,” he said.

At the First Station, Jesus is Condemned to Death, pilgrims see an image from St. Ignatius Loyola Church in New York City. Painted in a classic style almost in tile, it shows Jesus shackled by Roman guards in the court as Pontius Pilate looms nearby.

Onlookers can scan a QR code on a sign at the First Station with the photo app on their smart phones to unlock a 33-minute audio track in Spanish or English on YouTube. St. John’s adapted the Way of the Cross service on Good Friday 2019 by Pope Francis to the circumstances in Paterson and with the pandemic, said Msgr. Sylva, who joined parishioners from various backgrounds to recite the revised text.

“We begin this pilgrimage, this spiritual journey, not alone but carrying with you in your heart, on your mind, and in your soul the other members of St. John’s community, who need hope, healing, and to be carried. For we carry on another ever closer to the Cross of Christ beneath which we bask in the shadow of Christ’s divine mercy,” Msgr. Sylva says.

For the First Station, Msgr. Sylva reads, Christ’s declaration, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Then, a meditation proclaims that the Blessed Virgin Mary “will follow you [Jesus] on the road to Calvary and share in the most tragic and painful moment of your life and her own.” Afterward, pilgrims can pray that public officials hear the cry of the poor and for unemployed people.

The Stations that follow present diverse art from masters such as John Pelling [born 1930] for the Third Station, Jesus Falls for the First Time, with a piece that hangs in St. Thomas the Apostle Church in London, it is painted in basic forms and bold colors, almost like a completed page from a coloring book. The Fifth Station, Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross, is depicted by a painting that shows a Black Jesus carrying the Cross with all-Black onlookers. It reflects where the painting is displayed: St. Augustine Cathedral in Kenya.

Last week, the Knights built frames for the vinyl posters of each Station, drove them into the ground and mounted the posters. Selecting the images for the Stations were Ivannia Vega-McTighe, St. John’s family faith formation director, who has a background in religious art, and Fabio Castellano, the cathedral’s digital manager, who designed the posters and had them printed, created the QR code and edited the audio track.

“With the Stations, we can pray that the Church of Paterson offers hope to people, who are suffering in this pandemic time, because they are sick, can’t go to school or work and can’t see loved ones in the hospital; for those, who have died of COVID-19; and for immigrants, who are looking for a better life,” Castellano said. “We can accompany one another in faith and love in Christ,” he said.