Holy Savior Academy students to stage Living Stations of Cross April 11

SOUTH PLAINFIELD: About 25 eighth-grade students at Holy Savior Academy will present the Living Stations of the Cross on Friday, April 11 at 12:30 p.m. in the Church of the Sacred Heart.

This is the first time the school has portrayed the Living Stations, said Daniel Mahoney, the music teacher at Holy Savior Academy and director of Sacred Music at the church.

Mahoney is working in collaboration with Mrs. Bressler, religion and eighth-grade math teacher, as part of the students’ religion class.

The re-enactment will be portrayed from Mary’s point of view. Mahoney said he selected this version of the Stations of the Cross “because it speaks well to the students. They should be able to relate to it.”

“It has been a Catholic tradition through the centuries to meditate on the way of the Cross so that it becomes our way of life,” a student will tell the audience at the beginning of the program. “Mary, the mother of Jesus, made that first way of the Cross. These stations are called ‘Mary’s Way of the Cross’ and are an attempt to present that viewpoint. We see through Mary’s eyes what Jesus was going through on the way to the Calvary.”

First-grade teacher Mary Hohner will narrate as Mary at the beginning of each of the 15 stations, giving the audience a mother’s perspective.

“It was early Friday morning when I saw my son” Hohner will begin the narration on the first station. “That was the first glimpse I had of him since they took him away.”

Students Christian Cardona will portray Jesus and Emily Duggan, Mary. Principal Melinda Hanlon will offer a prayer at the conclusion of every station.

The students have been rehearsing three times a week during religion class.

The program is open to all. The church is located on the same grounds as the school at 149 South Plainfield Ave., South Plainfield.

Holy Savior Academy is a Catholic school enrolling pre-kindergarten to eighth-graders.