Today,
arguably the holiest day of the year, as my custom now for the last five years,
I participated in the annual Way of the Cross over the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s a sort of mini Stations of the Cross
procession, we only do five stations, but the distanced walked is about two and
three quarter miles. It starts in
Brooklyn at the St. James Cathedral-Basilica, and then the pilgrimage ensues by
crossing over the Brooklyn Bridge, stops at Manhattan’s City Hall, stops at the
World Trade Center, and concludes at lower Manhattan’s St. Peter’s Church. It’s organized by local chapter of the Communion and Liberation Movement, which is a Catholic religious organization of
religious and lay members. Fr. Richard Veras seems to be the primary
coordinator, though I don’t know if that is his role. Fr. Veras was the pastor at my parish, St.
Rita’s on Staten Island, for a number of years but has moved on. He has published a number of books and is a
monthly contributor to Magnificat
magazine.
The
form of the events has not changed in the five years. I detailed them in my 2014 entry, which you
can read here.
I
didn’t take a lot of pictures this year.
It was overcast. But here’s one
picture of the procession ahead of me on the Brooklyn Bridge.
You
can see how far long pilgrimage of people ahead of me, and I was toward the
front. The local news lists us in the
hundreds, but it seems more to my non-expert eye.
I
was able to film one of the pieces sung by the wonderful—and I do mean
wonderful with no exaggeration—Communion and Liberation choir. At the St. James Cathedral, they sing “Go to
Dark Gethsemane.” Let me preface, for
some reason my camera just would not focus on the choir. The video is blurred but I did capture the
singing.
We passed a little garden as you come off the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side and the tulips were in bloom.
And
of course we passed the new Liberty Tower at the World Trade Center. I don’t know what that weird sculpture is out
in front, but who understands modern art?
Finally
we made the news. Here’s a video clip.
I hope you had a blessed Good Friday.
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