Living passion: ecumenical Good Friday and a walk for social justice

Catholic New Times, May 9, 2004 by Brian Burch

April 9th, Good Friday, was the 26th time that Christians of a number of denominations have come together in downtown Toronto. They gather together to find those who live under the shadow of the cross and bring their sufferings forward to be reflected upon and responded to in light of a radical understanding of the path that lead to Calgary.

This is always a joyous and sombre project. For many, it is one of the few times when barriers of faith or distance come down in order for people to share a common vision of justice and compassion to war, hunger, suffering and fear. Equally, seeing the passion of Christ linked intimately to the victims of war, bound up with those whose bodies and spirit have been damaged as a result of the actions of our co-believers, the necessity of effective compassion becomes all too clear.

The themes and number of stations vary from year to year. This year there were five locations: St. Lawrence Market North, St. James Cathedral, Metropolitan United Church, Dundas Square and Church of the Holy Trinity.

At St. Lawrence Market, people were confronted with displays outlining the problems of today, from urban violence to ecological destruction and from war to racism to anti-Semitism. The formal gathering began with songs of hope and challenge. Stuart Coles, an elder in the Toronto justice movement, spoke of the history of St. Lawrence Market expressing an alternative to the corporate mercantile world represented by the Eaton Centre. The Market began as a place where local farmers sold their goods directly to people, creating a direct relationship between producer and consumer. Councillor Joe Mihevc, himself one of the early organizers of the Walk, spoke passionately of his work as a city councillor seeking to respond to the problems of homelessness, in a time of competing demands. People then walked to the gazebo near St. James Cathedral. Here, panels painted by Thomas Runciman greeted participants with a wall of barriers to housing. A dialogue with the crowd, led by CNT columnist Joelle Morgan and Anglican Bishop Timothy Findlay, led to a transformation of the barriers to a gateway of opportunity for the homeless.

The walk continued to the steps of Metropolitan United Church. Here, David MacDonald, former federal cabinet minister currently working with the United Church on aboriginal issues, addressed the harm done to the aboriginal communities of Canada through church-run residential schools. The possibility of healing and reconciliation was explored, but walkers were reminded that the churches have a lot of work go do before the evils done in the name of Christ have been overcome.

From Metropolitan United, the journey continued to Dundas Square. Here participants in, and supporters of Christian Peacemaker Teams provided a dramatization of one of the overlooked problems of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq: thousands of detainees. The effects on the families and friends of those held without charges are hidden behind news of bombings and sniper attacks. This stop was the most public of the stations and it gathered in passers-by who shared in the witness of this brutal face of war.

The participants then walked to the church of the Holy Trinity, through a passage way dividing parts of the Eaton Centre. It is a narrow passageway, more of a gateway to the unknown than an open path. Entering the church of the Holy Trinity, walkers' first experience was the aroma of soup prepared by Jim Houston--a reviving scent.

The church sanctuary proper was quickly filled with participants. Leading this station was Rev. Dan Heap, who led the participants in a litany of resistance developed by Christian Peacemaker Teams in Columbia. We were asked to commit ourselves, as people of faith, not to comply with those that wish to do evil in our name.

Afterwards, bread and soup was shared, a return to the original community meals of the earliest days of the Christian faith. Walking around the sanctuary, one speaks with those living on the streets-and those living in well-to-do Rosedale; hold a young infant or listen to the reminiscences of Ted Schmidt, Fintan Kilbride and Dwyer Sullivan three of the founders of the walk, who have attended all 26 of these annual events. Here, in a full church sanctuary, we realize that we are a community that can and does demand that the sharing of the cross includes sharing the work of ending violence, hatred, hunger, isolation, fear and hopelessness.

There are constants in the Good Friday walk. A committed but changing group of individuals come together to share ideas on how to live out radical justice and revolutionary peacemaking in shifting times. People from different backgrounds seek to find common ground on issues and develop presentations using diverse talents. This is all done under the shadow of the cross--the overwhelming reminder of what humanity can do to one who seeks to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of Jubilee.

Brian Burch is a housing activist in Toronto.