DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — For many participating in the Way of the Cross over the Brooklyn Bridge on Good Friday, the procession wasn’t simply a tradition — it meant taking steps toward Christ.
“It’s important for me to participate because I can take what I believe, turn it into reality, and live it. To take this abstract claim about what Good Friday is and turn it into something tangible,” said Nicholas Arcati, a Staten Island resident and member of Communion and Liberation, the Catholic lay movement that has organized the procession since 1996. “This is what we live for.”
Hundreds of Catholics and Greek Orthodox Christians came together at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James on April 3 to begin the pilgrimage into Lower Manhattan with the first Station of the Cross.
Bishop Robert Brennan, who was there to greet them with Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, reflected on the significance of this time of year.
“It is a time of tremendous grace,” Bishop Brennan said. “We are living in a world that’s longing for peace, longing for unity, and for us Christians, it’s what you remember when our Holy Father keeps telling us, in the one Christ, we are all one when we’re looking for all of those other things.”
For Archbishop Hicks, the experience was his first as archbishop of New York.
“This is my first time [to Brooklyn], and to do so in the spirit of unity and of prayer and togetherness, it’s the perfect setting,” Archbishop Hicks said. “We are reminded that we not only walk with each other … but Jesus is walking with us.”
Archbishop Hicks said a record number of people are joining the Catholic Church this year, adding that it’s much like the bystanders on the bridge that joined the procession.
“We want to see an increase in that,” he said. “Jesus is the way to truth in life and salvation.”
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Tian Wu is among those preparing to enter the Church this year, set to be baptized during the Easter Vigil in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Walking the Way of the Cross helped her better understand the meaning of Christ’s death and the new life she will soon enter.
“I’ve participated in Easter Mass before, but I didn’t fully understand what was happening,” she said. “This year, I was introduced to the true meaning — the resurrection of Jesus and new life. It’s a very nice feeling.”
For Jenna Abazia, the public witness of faith on Good Friday is part of a much deeper return to Christ. After years away from the Church and struggling with addiction, she said she turned back to God at her lowest point and found a sense of peace she hadn’t known before.
“I realized he was always there,” she said. “It was me that was turning my back.”
Now an usher at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James and preparing to become a lector, Abazia said she feels called to live her faith openly to inspire others.
“People need to know that we haven’t forgotten what Jesus has done for us,” she said. “Sometimes, someone else’s testimony can be the thing that helps another person come back.”
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Bishop Brennan gave three more Gospel reflections during the pilgrimage, which continued through Lower Manhattan and ended at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine.
After being welcomed by Bishop Nektarios of Diokleia, national chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Bishop Brennan thanked all in attendance for their public display of faith.
“Your witness to the people of New York on both sides of the river is a powerful sign of your faith in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen,” he said. “For 30 years, this [procession] has given us the privilege to walk with Christ in a tangible and palpable way.”
Good Friday observances continued in the Diocese of Brooklyn with the Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James.
