Residents trace Stations of the Cross
By JEFFREY SAULTON
POSTED: March 22, 2008
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Sponsored by the Downtown Ministerial Alliance, the procession began at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church with the first two stations.
From there a crowd of about 100 moved to other locations for two readings at each church that traced the events as Christ went from Pontius Pilate to His death on the cross at Golgotha in Jerusalem.
Volunteers carried the cross from one church to another, beginning shortly after noon.
In order they went to First Baptist Church, Calvary Temple Evangelistic Church, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Logan Memorial United Methodist Church, Trinity Episcopal Church and then to the plaza between the Parkersburg Municipal Building and the Wood County Judicial Annex. Also participating in the program was the Salvation Army.
Pastors and laity of each church led the participants in the readings at each church.
Sherry West, a parishioner at St. Francis Xavier, said the alliance has sponsored the program for nine years. She said the event crossed denominational lines.
“It attracts people of all denominations,” she said. “There were people here who were not from the churches here but from all across the community.”
West said the event drew people from across the area, including one family from Gilmer County.
Kenneth and Sue Osborn of Glenville said they have been coming to the Stations of the Cross for several years.
“Our daughters live here and they started coming first and they started telling us about it,” Sue Osborn said. “So we started coming down here to go and to be with them.”
In the Stations of the Cross there are 14 stations. They are: first, Jesus is condemned to death; second, Jesus takes up his cross; third, Jesus falls the first time; fourth, Jesus meets his afflicted mother; fifth, the cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene; sixth, a woman wipes the face of Jesus; seventh, Jesus falls a second time; eighth, Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem; ninth, Jesus falls a third time; 10th, Jesus is stripped of his garments; 11th, Jesus is nailed to the cross; 12th, Jesus dies on the cross;13th, the body of Jesus is placed in the arms of his mother, and the 14th, Jesus is laid in the tomb.
