Youths Tell Story of Redemption

On Good Friday, teenagers from two Compton Catholic churches took their message to the streets, where many had lost family and friends to drugs, gangs and shootings.

In a procession that stretched over 12 blocks, the teenage actors depicted the last hours in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Their play was a story of death and redemption -- both often found in this neighborhood.

In the last six years, the play has been performed mostly by adults from Our Lady of Victory Church and Sacred Heart Church. This year was different. After the fatal shooting of a member of the churches’ youth group, the young parishioners took over the performance in an attempt to help change the neighborhood.

Willie Atienzo, 24, was only a few blocks from the churches, his friends said, when gang members in January mistook him for a member of a rival gang.

“They shot him 10 times -- in the back, in the legs,” said his friend Jimmy Ponce, 25, who portrayed a Roman centurion in the play.

Father Stan Bosch, pastor of both churches, said a child recently was shot outside a school across the street. In the church parking lot, a bullet five years ago nearly missed a girl starring in the Christmas play.

“We just want to tell the youth out there that there’s another way,” Bosch said. “We’re trying to get them off the streets and into the church.”

The Stations of the Cross play started with the trial of Jesus at the church, followed by the procession of Roman soldiers and followers of Jesus to the Wilson Park for a reenactment of the Crucifixion.

The tall, thin parishioner portraying Jesus said he understood redemption. Two years ago, he was shot on these streets. “They shot me here, here and here,” said Bulmond Sandoval, 23, pointing out long scars on his chest, stomach and left leg. “I was fighting with other people. One of them pulled a gun. But it’s all in the past. That’s why Jesus’ story is so great; he lets you start over.”

In his narration during the play, Bosch asked the crowd, “How many of you have had sons and daughters fallen on these streets? How many have had brothers and sisters killed?.... Jesus was in solidarity with you and me.”

Although their message was somber, the cast of more than 25 church members needed a sense of humor along with hard work to pull off their two-hour play.

“It’s hard to do a character -- you know what I mean?” said Sergio Briseno, 19, who played a loud, Spanish-speaking Pontius Pilate with a goatee. “I bet Pilate never had to go to work, go to rehearsals and memorize lines at the same time.”

Even after two months of weekly rehearsals, not all the bugs had been worked out by last week. Shortly before the play, performance anxiety struck the girls who were supposed to play weeping women.

“We really need to cry,” worried Fabiola Paredes, 14. They had practiced their crying for the last two months, but real tears never came in dress rehearsals.

“We thought about using onions,” said Heidi Lozano, 14, “and about teardrops, but it’s so much better if it comes naturally.”

The rehearsals paid off.

Sandoval’s Jesus stumbled and fell at all the right places. And in the end, Fabiola and the crying women managed to produce tears.

“Thankfully, there was a dog nearby,” she said, explaining her fear of dogs. “I started crying, and girls who saw me started crying. That was all we wanted to do today -- move the people who watched us.”