Wilkinsburg's Good Friday Walk

Walking Wilkinsburg on Good Friday: "A Way of the Cross...A Way of Compassion"

"Wilkinsburg's Good Friday Walk" is different. While Christian communities throughout the world commemorate the pain of Jesus' death on this day, few connect it with society's actual suffering today. Wilkinsburg does it differently.

For people familiar with the traditional practice, there are 14 stations or stops that commemorate Jesus suffering stories in the New Testament. Wilkinsburg reminds us that the society's suffering continues today.

The first station, starting at the St. James Sanctuary, commemorates Jesus being condemned to death and puts into perspective the evils inflicted by today's wars and State sanctioned violence. Other stations correlate the plight of the homeless, the hopeless, and the hungry to different stages of Jesus' physical and emotional torture.

Rob Conroy, President of the Thomas Merton Center and Pittsburgh Cease-Fire, led the reflection on the twelfth station, "Jesus Dies on the Cross". He related it to the deprivation and pain inflicted by gun violence and capital punishment we still have with us today. Rob says one does not have to be a particularly religious person to appreciate the procession. He has always held the commemoration of Good Friday in high esteem and he understands the value of ritual done well.

For those of us who ponder why God might have come into this world, the Wilkinsburg walk is a powerful reminder that he shares our suffering and, just maybe, to remind us how we continue to inflict pain on each other.

The Walk was organized by the Pittsburgh Chapter of Pax Christi, with inter-faith cooperation. It concluded at the Christian Church Sanctuary where Pastor Janet Hellner-Burris helped us consider an added fifteenth station celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, hope for Wilkinsburg and hope for all of us.

A “walk” and a “message” to remember.