Students Reenact Easter Story as Rite of Passage

For years, Vincent Korth watched from the pews as eighth-graders before him reenacted the final hours of Christ’s life.

This year, it was Vincent’s turn to don the white robe, his turn to buckle under the weight of the cross, his turn to be watched.

He and his 34 classmates at South Pasadena’s Holy Family School have spent Lenten Fridays putting a modern twist on a centuries-old tradition, in the form of the Living Stations of the Cross.

In most churches, the Stations of the Cross are depicted in small sanctuary shrines, paintings or sculptures.

At Holy Family, bringing the Passion to life is a revered tradition of more than 30 years, an Easter rite of passage for the highest grade in the parish school.

“It kind of gets you into the spirit of Lent,” Vincent said.

The details of how the tradition started are hazy. But it originated with two women, one a teacher in the school, and was passed down from teacher to teacher, said Chris Bengford, the religion instructor who has assumed the mantle of director for the last seven years.

Holy Family students, like Vincent, wait years for the chance to wear shawls of red, blue and hot pink to play Jesus, Mary or Joseph of Arimathea. They and parishioners say the living stations teach the Easter story more vividly than images, especially for the younger members of the congregation.

“It’s very spiritual because we’re considering what our God -- Jesus -- did for us,” said Garret Valerio, who played Joseph this year. “As we’re doing it, we’re learning about our religion.”

“It helps us realize what Jesus went through and actually what happened that day,” said Catherine Romberger, one of the readers who narrated Jesus’ final hours. “We’ve had people tell us, but seeing it brings emotion to it.”

And so on Friday, Catherine stepped up to the pulpit in a purple choir robe to voice the part of the tree that would become a cross.

She described her journey from the forest, into a city flooded with people preparing for Passover. She recounted the shouts of “Crucify him!” coming from the masses.

As strains of Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon” filled the sanctuary, her classmates took to the red-carpeted platform. Vincent stood, barefoot and head down, before Pontius Pilate. Seated in a chair with a red cushion, the Roman judge pointed an accusing finger at the prisoner. Two guards in black tunics flanked them. Everyone froze in place.

“The first station: Jesus is condemned to death,” said Tad Balfour, one of the readers. “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.”

“Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world,” the congregation replied, their voices spreading throughout the packed hall.

Then the notes of the canon set the young actors in motion again, as they shifted to the next station.

The roles had been assigned by lot. Each student was given a popsicle stick with a number. Those interested in playing a particular character threw their numbered sticks into the pool. If Bengford drew theirs, they got the part.

But whether they were part of the drama or reading from the pulpit, all eighth-graders participated. They prepared by watching a video of a previous year’s Good Friday performance.

“This really gives you time to pray and just be mellow and think about Jesus,” Vincent said of the stations.

His focus clearly paid off, as he quietly glided through each scene, his movements smooth and sure. For the 11th station -- where Jesus is nailed to the cross -- he balanced himself on top of the wooden cross, laid out at an angle on the platform stairs. A guard knelt on either side of him, with an arm drawn back as if about to strike a blow.

At this station, Colin Tanigawa read the part of the tree. “Now it is time to really bring us together,” he said. “He is pierced with sharp iron, and so am I.”

For the eighth-graders, the ceremony was their moment to shine -- and bond. The Friday performances were among their last activities together before graduating from Holy Family this year, Catherine said.

The exact beginnings of the Stations of the Cross are unclear. Fourth-century writings suggest that just a few generations after Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, early Christians visited churches and shrines built over significant sites along the road to his crucifixion, said Msgr. James P. Moroney, executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops liturgy office.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Christian faithful traveled to the Holy Land to visit those sites along what became known as the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Groups would stop at each spot to meditate about the suffering and sacrifice of their savior, he said.

Churches also symbolically brought the Via Dolorosa to parishioners who couldn’t make the journey, erecting shrines to commemorate those moments in Jesus’ final hours, said Father Thomas Rausch, a theological studies professor at Loyola Marymount University.

Rausch and Tamberg said the South Pasadena tradition echoes the famous Passion play in Oberammergau, Germany, which draws viewers from around the world.

And the Franciscans still lead hundreds of pilgrims along the Way of Sorrows today, Moroney said.

At Holy Family, the living stations move adults as well as children.

“It’s just moving to see the reverence on the kids’ faces,” said Patti Pascale, whose children are first- and third-graders at the parish school. “You see the human face of our faith. When you read it and see pictures of it, it’s only one-dimensional.”

For Rene Korth, this year’s performance brought joy and sadness. She eagerly snapped one photograph after another of Vincent -- who is also student body president and a baseball shortstop -- during and after his performance as Jesus.

But it was also the last time she would see one of her children in the ceremony. Her daughter, Giana, now a high school senior, read the 13th station when she attended the school.

“I’m very tearful about it,” Korth said. But, she added, she will be sitting in the pews this time next year, ready for another journey down the Way of Sorrows.