Good Friday procession marks 30th year

Crucifiers lead a past year’s Way of the Cross procession across the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Francesca N. Tate/Brooklyn Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — THE ANNUAL WAY OF THE CROSS, which Communion and Liberation sponsor every year on Good Friday, takes place across the Brooklyn Bridge Friday morning, April 3, announced a press release.

Christians observe Good Friday, the culmination of Holy Week, by praying and fasting to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for humankind’s atonement of sins and redemption.

The procession begins at St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Brooklyn at 10 a.m. and ends at the Orthodox Shrine of St. Nicholas at the World Trade Center at 1:30 pm. As the entire event is a rite of worship, it is free and open to the public. The Way of the Cross will include Gospel passages, choral music and selected readings to contemplate the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Presiding prelates are Brooklyn Diocesan Bishop Robert J. Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn; New York Archdiocesan Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks; and Bishop Nektarios of Diokleia of the Greek Orthodox Church of America.

This year the Brooklyn Bridge Way of the Cross marks its 30th anniversary. Then-Bishop Thomas V. Daily in 1996 gave his blessing on the event after civil authorities approved the group’s request to do the procession. That first year began with 30 participants and has grown to almost 3,000 people in recent years.

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