By Steve Jalsevac
April 09, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – 50 Students with the Youth Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada put on a powerful Way of the Cross through the streets of downtown Peterborough on Good Friday.
Observers agreed the acting of the students was impressive, with every one of them seeming to live and lose themselves in their roles, rather than act them, throughout the over 3 hour long event.
Anne Sheridan, a local resident who attended the Passion Play for the first time this year, told LifeSiteNews that, “Apart from Mel Gibson’s ‘Passion of the Christ’ I have never seen an enactment of the Passion like what I saw yesterday. I was very, very impressed.”
“It was very authentic,” she said. “I thought that Christ dying on the steps of Immaculate Conception Church was very, very real. It almost brought me to tears. In fact, several times in the course of the walk I was brought to tears. By Jesus meeting his mother…I can only imagine what that must have been like.”
The first time the Peterborough Catholic youth undertook this effort was in 2005 and The Way of the Cross has since become an annual event. It was the youth themselves who suggested at that time that they attempt to perform something like a public Passion Play.
The script for the 14 scenes or “Stations of the Cross,” enacted and prayed at points along the several mile route through the heart of the city of Peterborough, was written by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. The Way of the Cross was accompanied by a choir who sang at the conclusion of each station. As well, the other-worldly music from the movie “The Passion” was broadcast from a truck as the procession moved through the streets of the city and significantly added to the drama of the students’ renactment of the events of Christ’s suffering and death.
Annie Clark, who is visiting Peterborough from her hometown in Pennsylvania, told LSN that she was especially moved by how reverent the young actors were. “I was really impressed with how reverent the kids were,” she said. “They took it really seriously. They really got into it and they did an excellent job.” She said she noticed that some of the girls who were playing the women of Jerusalem were actually weeping as they followed Christ to the place of the His crucifixion.
The performances of the mostly high school age boys and girls were so convincing that many others, like Anne Sheridan, were moved to tears and everyone moved to somber reflection on the events of 2000 years ago.
Peterborough bishop Nicola Di Angelis accompanied the youth and offered prayers and strong words of praise for the dedication and example of the participating youth. Fr. Norbert Glasmacher, Director of Vocations, Evangelization, and Youth Office for the diocese directed the students and coordinated the large scale effort, complete with elaborate period costumes for all participants.
Anne Sheridan concluded her interview with LSN saying that, thanks to the Passion Play, “I had the best good Friday I’ve had for a very long time, because I was able to walk in the steps of Christ.”
