Palm Sunday Peace

Manuela Vera folded the leaves of her palm frond into a tiny cross and gave it to her 9-year-old daughter, Melissa, before the two joined a massive Palm Sunday march to spread a simple message of peace to the neighborhood.

“We want the gang members to know that we care about them,” Vera, 35, said. “And that we want them to stop.”

Christian liturgy and Catholic tradition calls for a procession on Palm Sunday in remembrance of Jesus’ return to Jerusalem. On that day, his followers are believed to have laid palm fronds and branches in his path as a gesture of respect.

The Palm Sunday procession organized by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church--joined by Episcopalians and Presbyterians from nearby churches--paid homage to that tradition by taking to the streets, but with a twist: calling for an end to violence in the downtown Santa Ana neighborhood.

“We thought we needed to do something visible and vocal to reclaim the neighborhood and these streets for good and peaceful purposes,” said Father Christopher Smith, pastor at St. Joseph’s. “I think it’s a pretty powerful thing for people in this neighborhood to see, to be reminded that the churches are here for them.”

The number of gang-related crimes has waned in Santa Ana and elsewhere in Orange County since it peaked in the early 1990s, but the lure of gangs and drugs is always on the minds of people who live in this impoverished neighborhood.

Hernan Escobar, 32, recalled that gunshots used to ring through the neighborhood on a daily basis when he first moved to Santa Ana in 1992. Though he feels safer in his home than ever, he said there is always a need to be vigilant so that crime will not take over the streets again.

“There is still violence. There is still work to be done,” Escobar said. “I like to think this helps.”

Smith too remembers that time and the ugly things his parishioners witnessed on streets outside their homes--drug deals, robberies and gang shootings. He witnessed the death of a 2-year-old in a drive-by shooting five years ago across Minter Street from the church.

Since then, Smith and other local clergy have done their part to end violence in Santa Ana by trying to turn gang members off violence and bring them back to the church through gang intervention programs, after-school programs, and this walk.

The singing of 500 voices in Spanish and English drew hundreds of spectators onto lawns, porches and balconies.

Bishop Michael Driscoll from the Diocese of Orange led the way, spattering the asphalt with holy water. He was followed by Smith, in bright red vestments, who carried a large golden ceremonial cross. Two priests from the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Brad Karelius and Diane Jardine-Bruce, waved censers of burning incense suspended on long chains.

The procession of followers, most of whom waved graceful palm fronds while they sang along with the strolling guitarists, extended for an entire city block.

Although the event was organized by the pastor of the Catholic church, dozens of regulars at the Episcopalian, Methodist and Presbyterian churches in downtown Santa Ana also attended. Fueled by the desire to foster positive change in the face of gross adversity, the downtown churches have banded together, in both religious and secular affairs, and forged a close, cooperative relationship.

“Our mission is the same. We all want the same thing even though we are all different,” Smith said. “We want the people to have a good experience with the church.”

One participant, a regular at the First Presbyterian Church down the street, described the experience as “uplifting.”

“It’s so meaningful . . . especially when we know what goes on after the sun goes down,” said Walt Fredrickson, a Newport Beach resident.