Local Pilgrimage: “The Streets of Jerusalem in Manchester”

submitted by St. Mary’s 

Beginning this Friday, March 3, and on each of the following five Fridays of Lent, Fr. Bosco and the people of St. Mary, Manchester warmly invite all who are interested to join us at St. Mary’s parish at 7 pm to “journey” through Jerusalem’s fourteen Stations of the Cross in prayer. People of all faiths and beliefs (or unbeliefs) are welcome.

During the first centuries of Christianity, pilgrims going to Jerusalem developed the pious practice of going to and praying at fourteen different places (or stations) along the route Jesus carried the cross to His crucifixion. The Stations of the Cross remind us of the stations in Jerusalem. A set of prayers is prayed at each one of them. Anyone can thereby make a “pilgrimage” along the Stations of the Cross right here in Manchester, a pilgrimage that exactly follows the same one a person could make if he or she were in Jerusalem itself.

We hope you will join us in our pilgrimage through “the streets of Jerusalem” as we, in our own way, follow Christ on His sorrowful way (Via Dolorosa) from Pilate’s judgment seat to His burial site in the tomb.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.