By Alfonso Aguilar
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 3/31/05)

This year, many parishioners at dozens of diocesan parishes reenacted the Passion amid a light but steady rain on Good Friday.

"The number of parishes with vivid representation of the Via Crucis is growing yearly, including our Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington," said Antonio Pérez-Alcalá, youth director of the diocesan Spanish Apostolate.

The cathedral’s Way of the Cross was organized by Hispanic youths under the leadership of the Spanish Apostolate and drew nearly 150 participants, according to Pérez-Alcalá.

All Saints Parish in Manassas, Our Lady of Angles Parish in Woodbridge, Queen of the Apostles Parish in Alexandria, Nativity Parish in Burke and St. William of York Parish in Stafford, among other diocesan parishes, brought the Passion to life, according to the Spanish Apostolate’s newsletter "Boletín Parroquial."

Some parishes gathered hundreds, but parishes like St. Anthony of Padua in Falls Church and Holy Family in Dale City had a combined total of 10,000 participants.

"The fervor of our people in this particular commemoration is a very distinctive symbol of Hispanics in the life of the Cchurch," said Father José Eugenio Hoyos, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Dale City, where more than 6,000 people attended the activities during Holy Week. A group from El Salvador performed a liturgical dance during the Sunday Resurrection Mass.

Sister Agustina Temprano from St. Anthony of Padua Parish agrees that the way Hispanics remember the death of Jesus Christ "is very unique. We inherited this tradition from Spain, and now it is something we honor inside the Church and on the streets as a way of evangelization."

Good Shepherd Parish in Alexandria also commemorated Good Friday with hundreds of participants, among then Father Jesús Navarrete and Pedro Mendoza in the role of Jesus. The Via Crucis was held outside the parish, as in previous years, and was followed by a Mass.

"It is not only that now many parishes have the reenactment of the Way of Cross," said Pérez-Alcalá. "Every year a Cuban family in Oakton celebrate the Way of the Cross in the back yard. Nearly 100 persons participated in this neighborhood tradition."