Contemplating crosses to bear on Good Friday

LAtimes.com ^ | Mar. 22, 2008 | Paloma Esquivel,

[AuntB]

The worshipers had gathered to mark the 14 Stations of the Cross, which portray Jesus Christ's final journey from condemnation to burial. Two drummers softly kept a slow beat as six men in violet shirts carried a large white cross over their shoulders.

All around them, men and women marched in white shirts that read "Keep Families Together." Other marchers held signs saying "Stop the Raids." Three young people held a large canvas banner with the words "Justice for Immigrants."

The Stations of the Cross, an annual ritual enacted on Good Friday, is a solemn contemplation about the death of Jesus. At times it metamorphoses into a meditation on modern-day suffering, from poverty to violence.

In Los Angeles, where immigrants have become a dominant presence in the Catholic Church, Friday's reenactment was a show of solidarity with illegal immigrants and their families. It was just one part of a larger movement to address immigration issues within the Catholic Church -- from the practical to the theological, organizers said.

Experts say immigrants are responsible for counterbalancing the otherwise declining membership in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church. They are twice as likely as native-born Americans to identify with the church, with one in three adult Catholics being Latino, according to a recent study.

In response, church leaders are working on myriad issues affecting immigrants, such as language barriers......St. Anne's serves about 1,500 families, 70% of whom are Latino, Gutierrez said. Many parishioners are undocumented, he added.

As the procession Friday made its way up Temple Street to the Federal Building, a few employees and passersby stopped to watch. Among the marchers were workers arrested in the Van Nuys raid.

[AuntB]

Arrested in the Van Nuys raid? And today they're marching in the streets......yeah, REAL persecution there! Grab the barf bags!

[Appleby]

Be not deceived. God is not mocked.