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Stations invite Catholics into Christ’s passion

By KARA KOCZUR, Globe staff reporter
(Email Kara)

Filing into church on Friday evenings for Stations of the Cross is an age old Lenten practice, one many older generations remember well.

While it’s an ignored devotion for some, it’s not entirely forgotten, as parishes throughout the diocese find ways to incorporate Stations into the 40 days leading up to Easter.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, stations are to help the faithful make a spiritual pilgrimage to the main scenes of Christ’s suffering and death in Jerusalem.

“It’s especially attractive during Lent as we’re getting ready to follow Christ in the way of the cross,” said

David Lopez, Ph.D., chancellor and executive director of the department of formation and ministry for the diocese. “This is an excellent devotion to help us focus on what that really means and how we can grasp that at a deeper and more personal level and gain a commitment to live that out more fully in our regular lives.”

The origin of the stations is traced to Jerusalem, where the “Via Dolorosa,” or “Way of Suffering,” was marked out from early times and visited by pilgrims since the 4th century, states the Catholic Encyclopedia. It is carried out by passing from station to station, reciting certain prayers and meditating on each one along the way.

Lopez predicts the devotion popularized in the 13th or 14th century, thanks to the Franciscans.

“The Franciscans at that time were some of the ones who were pushing the hardest at this idea of a personal devotion to the Passion of Christ,” he said.

Although the devotion was practiced long before, manuals with prayers for the stations weren’t published until the 16th century, the Catholic Encyclopedia stated, and the erection of stations in churches weren’t common until the end of the 17th century.

While the custom is to have 14 stations, Lopez said he has seen variations of that number and of which incidents of Christ’s passion are included in the stations.

Father Steven McLoud, pastor of St. Columbkille Church, Churdan and St. Paul Church, Scranton, said the most touching station to him is when Jesus dies on the cross, the point when he totally surrendered his life for humanity.

“I think that those of us who live in the 21st century, we’re so far removed from the actual event that took place well over 2,000 years ago that sometimes we can have a tendency to almost romanticize the passion of Christ,” he said.

During Lent, traditional stations are prayed before daily Mass once a week at each of his parishes. A shorter form is also prayed before weekend Masses in place of the rosary. Having stations before a weekday Mass improves Mass attendance, Father McLoud said, as people are trying to do something extra for Lent.

“I think the stations are important because they’re a part of our rich heritage, the tradition of the church, which is one of the things that makes the Catholic Church so unique,” he said.

The priest recalls back in 2004, taking a group of parishioners to Carroll for a special screening of the film, “The Passion of the Christ.”

“That weekend we did the stations,” he said, “and I think the people prayed those stations in a much different way because they had just witnessed what was so close to the actual event that took place.”

Witnessing the stations can have an emotional impact on people. At Immaculate Conception parish in Moville, confirmation candidates and the team will portray living stations on March 22. While the lights are off and instrumental music plays, students and adults assume still photo poses of each station. As a few lights come up and focus on the scene, Christ’s voice, played by a student, explains the station. Next the remaining lights are turned on for people to recite the prayers, after which the church goes dark again for the actors to get in their next positions.

The stations allow people to see the human side of the event, said Father Mark Stoll, pastor.

“Instead of just looking at a picture or a statue, they actually see real live human beings portraying people of long ago,” he said. “We want to bring it into the present and let the people experience what it would have been like to watch Jesus go through his last hours of life here on earth."

To help bring it into the present, candidates and adults wear modern dress. For example, the Roman soldiers are dressed in army fatigues and ski masks, Father Stoll said, to resemble terrorists, which is how the Jewish people viewed the soldiers. Simon of Cyrene is dressed in jeans and t-shirt, and at the fourteenth station, when Jesus is laid in the tomb, he is carried out on a stretcher.

While generally the people are very moved by the stations, Father Stoll said, some are a little taken back by the costumes.

“But again with the prayer and experience we want them to be drawn into the present,” he said. “That's what we're doing every time we celebrate the Eucharist – we draw what Jesus did 2,000 years ago into the present moment and that's what the stations do."

For Catholics who find Stations of the Cross to be dry and dull, Father McLoud suggests watching “The Passion of the Christ.” For those whose parishes may not hold stations during Lent or if parishioners can’t make the scheduled time, he recommends watching them on EWTN or picking up a booklet on the stations, perhaps even bringing one to someone who is homebound or in the nursing home and praying it with him or her.

Stations aren’t a requirement during Lent, Lopez said, so parish communities that don’t practice the devotion aren’t doing anything wrong. However, he encourages people to do it. A priest or deacon isn’t necessary for stations to take place, he said. A lay person can even lead them.

“If there are parishes where it’s not taking place, then perhaps someone in the parish would like to help organize it,” he said.

Stations of the Cross, no matter what form they’re prayed, allows Catholics to think about their own lives, Father Stoll said.

"It can really put us in touch with what Christ did for us, to realize the sacrifice that he made for us,” he said. “‘Would we have been like the Roman soldiers?’ or ‘Would we have done what Simon did?’ or whatever character it might have been. It really wants us to reflect on our own lives."