New route for Way of the Cross procession this Friday in Calgary
This year's event will take place between St. Mary's University campus and Father Lacombe Care Centre, north of Midnapore
Published Mar 25, 2024 • 1 minute read
Calgary’s Roman Catholics will have to travel to a new location this year to take part in the local diocese’s annual Good Friday Way of the Cross procession.
The outdoor walk depicting Jesus Christ’s passion and Crucifixion is again forgoing its typical location in the streets around St. Mary’s Cathedral in Mission. This year’s event will take place Friday at 9 a.m. between St. Mary’s University campus and Father Lacombe Care Centre, north of Midnapore in the city’s southeast.
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“Having it at St. Mary’s will allow us to still witness this important faith event in the Christian celebration of holy week,” said Calgary Bishop William McGrattan.
This year’s walk is the first organized by the Catholic diocese since the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the annual event between 2020 and 2022. Our Lady of Fatima parish planned the 2023 iteration of the event, which took place near the southeast community of Dover.
The procession is scheduled to take place over the course of an hour, with prayers and Bible verses read along the way to mark each of the 14 stations of the cross, from Christ’s condemnation to his entombment.
Thousands attended events in previous years when it was in Mission. Last year’s event at Our Lady of Fatima saw roughly 250 attendees.
McGrattan said the location change for both this year and last year is the result of the church not reaching out to the city in time to secure permits for its usual spot. The diocese hopes to have the procession back in central Calgary next year.
“We are going to start to plan earlier and hopefully return this devotion to the inner city of Calgary next year,” said McGrattan. “We will start to work with the city much sooner than we have this past year.”
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