Stations of the Cross ceremony helps mark Easter weekend at Elon

Dozens of Christians remembered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a Good Friday gathering that has become a staple of Easter Weekend at Elon University.

Led by Father Peter Tremblay, Elon’s associate chaplain for Catholic Life, with assistance from students and staff in the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, campus members made their way through 14 stations around the perimeter of Fonville Fountain in front of Alamance Building. Each station marks an event in the final days and hours of Jesus Christ, beginning with his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane and ending with his death and burial. 

“Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world,” the crowd said in unison at each station. “Lord Jesus, help us walk in your steps.”

Tremblay explained that moving through the stations of the cross on Good Friday is “one of the most ancient Christian traditions we have.” It stems from the practice of early Christian pilgrims who would travel to the Holy Land and walk the ways of Jesus as he went from Jerusalem to the Mount of the Skull, Golgotha, where he was crucified. As making that trek became more difficult, the practice evolved into a stations of the cross ceremony that can take place within a church or any public gathering space. 

“They would commemorate the way of the cross,” Tremblay said. “We continue this 2,000-year tradition this afternoon, remembering what Jesus did for us.”

​At each station on Friday, a reader offered a selection of scripture that helped those in attendance recount the close of Christ’s life, followed by a joint prayer for help in drawing wisdom and compassion from Christ’s life and sacrifices. Tremblay said after the event that on a personal level, walking the stations of the cross is another tradition, particularly in the Catholic faith, that is rooted in the physical practice of one’s faith. 

“To actually, in a meaningful way, walk around a public place, to carry the cross, to say the words, to hear the scripture, to do it physically — it feels more thorough,” Tremblay said. “It feels in some sense far more meaningful than sitting in a comfortable chair in a room in my home and just going through the motions in my mind. I love that about the Catholic faith, that there is this tremendous affection for physical experiences of religion.”

Along with Friday’s Stations of the Cross event, Elon’s Catholic Campus Ministry will hold an Easter mass at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 16, in McKinnon Hall.  

Elon University’s main campus is closed Monday, April 17, following the Easter Sunday holiday.