LOCAL
Wednesday, april 24, 2019
HerMisTOnHerald.COM • A9
Hermiston Catholics mark Good Friday with reenactment
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
A story that has been passed
down over more than two millennia
continued its journey through time
on Friday in Hermiston.
Hundreds of area Catholics
marked one of the religion’s most
holy days with Way of the Cross, a
reenactment of the hours leading up
to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in
33 A.D.
“This is the biggest day of our
faith,” said Maria Carrillo.
She said she spends Good Fri-
day each year at Way of the Cross
to remind herself of the suffering of
Jesus on the cross, the “great sym-
bol of our faith.” The holy day, she
said, gives her a “sense of being.”
Without her faith she would feel
hollow.
“This keeps that alive for future
generations,” she said.
Jess Carrillo, who walked the
stations with Maria, said the event
was a good way to put day to day
cares in perspective with religious
beliefs.
The Bible recounts Jesus being
born in a stable in Bethlehem in
the Middle East 2,000 years ago,
as angels testified he was the Son
of God come to atone for the sins
of all humankind so all could have
the opportunity to live in God’s
presence someday. His followers
detailed his teachings in the New
Testament and spoke of miracles he
performed.
A week before his death, which
Catholics and other Christian faiths
observe as the “Holy Week” lead-
ing up to Easter Sunday, he entered
Jerusalem in triumph amid adoring
followers. Jewish leaders who were
threatened by his support success-
fully conspired to have him put to
death by the ruling Romans, how-
ever, on a day now observed as
“Good Friday.”
Our Lady of Angels Catholic
Church puts on Way of the Cross
each year on Good Friday. The pas-
sion play starts out at the trial of
Jesus on grounds of blasphemy.
On Friday an actor playing Pontius
Pilate, a Roman governor, asked
the crowd gathered in the church’s
parking lot if he should release
Jesus in accordance with a Passover
City approves
resolution for
new skate park
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
staff photo by e.J. Harris
Actors recreate the crucifixion of Jesus during the Way of the Cross on Friday in Butte Park in Hermiston.
tradition. Actors at the front urged
him to release the murderer Barab-
bas instead, and Jesus was sen-
tenced to death.
As a procession of hundreds fol-
lowed the actors through Hermis-
ton, Yazmin and Juan Mariscao fol-
lowed along quietly.
Yazmin said she has been an
actor in the pageant before — one
of the “weeping women” who
mourn Jesus’ impending death —
and that experience helped her bet-
ter understand the significance of
Good Friday.
“It’s all about respect,” she said.
“This day means a lot.”
Juan also described the event as
respectful.
“This is a day of respect when
we remember the death of God,” he
said. “It is a really important day for
us.”
The crowd often stood silent
watching the stations of the cross
progress, as the actor playing Jesus
stumbled multiple times with his
heavy cross, saw his mother and
was helped by his disciples.
“Jesus falls,” Father Daniel
Maxwell narrated in English and
Spanish. “All of us who walk, could
fall. We also fall because of our
own weaknesses, from our fragility,
for not knowing how to resist. But,
after a mistake, if someone lends us
a hand, we can once again rise.”
As the crowd made their way
up the side of the Hermiston Butte,
where actors would portray the
actual crucifixion, Alvaro Alva-
rez said the short, hot hike through
town and up the dusty butte helped
him reflect on Jesus’ suffering.
“This little walk we go through
is nothing compared to what he
went through,” Alvarez said.
According to biblical and other
historical sources, the Romans
drove heavy spikes through the
hands and feet of Jesus and two
thieves and hung them from
wooden crosses until their bodies
gave out. The practice, known as
crucifixion, was a Roman method
of capital punishment.
On Friday the actors showed
Jesus’ crucifixion, his death and
his burial. They did not portray the
account of his resurrection on the
third day, which the church cel-
ebrated on Sunday during Easter
services.
Afterward Vincent Trevino, who
has coordinated the event for sev-
eral years, urged the crowd to attend
services at the church that evening
and on Sunday. He thanked the
youths that had served as actors and
thanked the crowd for their exam-
ple of faith for the teens and chil-
dren present.
Father Maxwell said the service
Friday night, called Veneration of
the Cross, would allow participants
to approach the cross and “use it to
identify their own suffering with
that of Christ.”
He said that Way of the Cross
keeps growing each year as more
Catholics in the region travel to the
event.
“They don’t have something in
the area like this,” he said.
See additional photographs
A15
The city of Hermiston is
hoping to see a new skate
park in town next summer.
On Monday the city
council approved a reso-
lution allowing the city to
apply for grant funding for a
“teen adventure park” across
South First Place from
the fire station and police
station.
Last week the city and
representatives of skate park
design company California
Skateparks visited Hermis-
ton High School to show off
designs that included skate
elements, a pump track for
bikes, shade, stadium seat-
ing, restrooms, a parkour
area, swing set a climbing
boulder and more.
Parks and recreation
director Larry Fetter said the
plan was to build the park in
two phases, with all of the
skate park elements in phase
one and the rest of the park
built the next year.
He plans to apply for a
$252,000 grant from Oregon
Recreation and Park Dis-
trict, with a $252,000 match
from the city and complete
the first phase of the park
by summer 2020. A second
phase could be completed
the next year, funded 100
percent by a mix of state and
federal grants.
Teens who saw the plans
last Thursday provided
mostly positive feedback.
Several said they thought it
seemed like it would be a
fun place to hang out even
for non-skaters, and might
encourage more students
to embrace the sport in the
future.
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