Easter Sunday for many Catholics was March 31 with joyous and solemn occasions observed in Glenview and Northbrook for the religious holiday. Greek Orthodox Easter is May 5, extending the Easter message for many during spring.
At (OLPH) Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Glenview (1775 Grove St.), the church’s youth ministry presented its annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross inside the church on March 29.
Children reenacted key moments of events leading to the death of Jesus Christ. They wore simple costumes and proceeded from station to station inside the church.
Center, at the altar, Zoe Sundstrom of Glenview, youth ministry coordinator, encourages children moments before the program begins of the Stations of the Cross at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Glenview on Good Friday, March 29, 2024. (Karie Angell Luc/for the Pioneer Press)
“Every year, the kids, the teens, the youth of our parish just step up and make it absolutely beautiful,” said Zoe Sundstrom of Glenview, the parish’s coordinator of youth ministry.
Thomas Jachtorowycz, 17, a Glenbrook South High School junior from Glenview, had the role of Jesus which included the wearing of a head crown of realistic looking thorns.
“It really brings me closer to God,” Jachtorowycz said about the personal choice to volunteer to portray Jesus. “He (Jesus) went through torment just for being himself.”
As Jesus, Thomas Jachtorowycz, 17, a Glenbrook South High School junior from Glenview, walks the Stations of the Cross at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Glenview on Good Friday, March 29, 2024. In blue is Mary, the Blessed Mother, Evie Philbrick, 11, a fifth-grader from Glenview. (Karie Angell Luc/for the Pioneer Press)
To anyone, “Accept Jesus as your Lord and savior,” Jachtorowycz said.
The Blessed Mother was interpreted by Evie Philbrick, 11, a fifth-grader from Glenview who said representing Mary was, “a blessing” and “important.
“I think she (Mary) went through a lot to see her son being beaten and nailed to the cross,” Evie said.
“To see that in real life to your own son would be really horrible.”
Pews in the church showed a strong attendance. Those witnessing the morning performance included people who had no children in the cast and wanted to be a part of something they were seeing for the first time performed by youth and not by adults.
People approach the altar to the cross after the Stations of the Cross at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Glenview on Good Friday, March 29, 2024. (Karie Angell Luc/for the Pioneer Press)
Attendees could sing along to the program. After the 14 stations, they could come to the altar to pray to the cross that Jesus had just carried around the stations of the church. Many were seen kneeling.
Joanne and Bill Nelson of Glenview thought about what the Blessed Mother had to endure watching her son Jesus suffer on Good Friday.
Showing emotion with a trembling voice, Joanne Nelson said Good Friday for Mary was, “the worst day of her life.”
Bill Nelson said, “She (Mary) understood she had to endure it.”
Parent Erin Bretts had children performing in the program and indicated feeling, “so proud” with a hopeful takeaway for youth, “that they just are able to put themselves in the shoes of Jesus and to feel the time frame of what he went through for us.”
From left, parent Erin Bretts of Glenview affixes the headwear of daughter Maddie Bretts, 11, a fifth-grader. Maddie will portray a woman from Jerusalem during the Stations of the Cross at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Glenview on Good Friday, March 29, 2024. (Karie Angell Luc/for the Pioneer Press)
Rev. Jeremiah Boland, OLPH pastor, said the Stations of the Cross teach about light overcoming darkness.
“It’s a universal yearning to find light in darkness,” Boland said, “whether it’s the Christian Gospel or the Jewish story of Passover, the Indian community has many festivals surrounding light and darkness, certainly the Buddha, you know, are teachings about embracing the light, this is one of those themes that transcends religious boundaries.”
Boland said it would be, “such a power if we can continue to build on those things of a common religious heritage of seeking the light.
“And boy, right now,” Boland said, “no matter what continent you are on in this world, there is the desperate search for light because of the darkness of war, and poverty, and injustice and persecution.
“That’s something we can all unite in.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
