John Burns played Jesus during a presentation of the Stations of the Cross at Sacred Heart Church in Waltham on Friday.
(John J. Crookes photo)

Local youth portray Passion of Christ
By Christopher Rocchio / Daily News Staff
Monday, April 17, 2006

Parishioners at Sacred Heart are constantly surrounded by the Stations of the Cross, which are depicted on the stain-glass windows that line the church's circular walls. On Good Friday, members of the parish's youth group followed the words of Saint Ignatius and put themselves in scenes of the Passion of Christ through Sacred Heart's annual "Living Stations of the Cross." "It brings the script of the passion to life," said Director Kelly Kroll. "It allows both the actors and the audience to see the main story they base their faith on from the viewpoints of different people."

The Stations of the Cross are a series of images representing certain scenes from the Passion of Christ, and their objective is to help parishioners embark on a spiritual pilgrimage through Jesus' suffering and death. There are 14 stations, which begin with Jesus being condemned to death and end with his body being laid in a tomb. Last Friday afternoon more than a dozen youth parishioners from Sacred Heart, ranging from those in middle school to young adults, participated in the "Living Stations of the Cross." Sacred Heart's Pastor Friar Dennis Wheatley presided over the service, which had the youth acting out all of the stations included in the passion.

Props for the passion included a crown of thorns, large wooden cross and a lavender cloth. After each station was acted out, a member of the scene would interpret what their character in the passion was feeling and relay it to the congregation. "It's powerful for the kids to have an impact on other peoples' prayer life," said Kroll. "We're giving them ownership of their own faith, which allows them to help others." Although she currently lives in Dorchester, Kroll grew-up in Waltham and was a member of Scared Heart's parish during her youth. About 10 years ago, she was a sophomore at Waltham High School when she became involved in the "Living Stations of the Cross." "A lot of my friends, as well as myself, were heavily involved in theater, and we thought this would be a nice way of blending our spiritual life with something we enjoy doing," said Kroll. "It's a nice, different approach to prayer."

She continued to be involved with the youth group, and is now the director of the "Living Stations of the Cross," which is traditionally performed every Good Friday. "It's a great tradition, and I'm happy to see it's continuing," said Kroll. "It's one of my favorite times of year to come back to the Waltham community and help with the production." She said all of the youth involved with the "Living Stations of the Cross," which was also organized by Sacred Heart youth ministry coordinator Laura Scalese, had a fun time rehearsing, eating pizza and sharing their faith. Because there is such a wide variety of ages involved with the performance, Kroll said everybody benefits.

"We're all interacting on different levels, sharing the experience of working on the passion and our own methods of prayer," said Kroll. "We're also bringing in people from the community, so this is a good way to share our faith and talk to people about what we believe and why we believe in it."