It was colder than I thought this morning and the wind didn’t help. Being a Chicagoan, I am always disappointed in myself when I haven’t properly attired for the weather. Having a gauge of not only what the conditions are now, but what they might be…’Dats a Shi-CAH-Gee-Guy!’
There were many of us walking into Providence of God, on 18th next to I-94. Walking in and down stairs to the basement rec center where the living stations of the cross had just started. The 42nd Annual Via Crucis in Pilsen. The Pilsen Via Crucis community has been putting on this massive shared pilgrimage and pageant since 1977, with people coming from all over Chicagoland.
I went with my mom—her first time attending the living stations in Pilsen, and my first time since I moved from Pilsen to McKinley Park a few years ago. I had been living a half-block from Harrison Park, where they crucify Jesus every year at the end of this shared journey from Providence of God church at 18th Street and I-94. I remember attending Via Crucis over the years as an observer from spots along the route on 18th street and at Harrison Park, but I had never walked it before.
I was going to write a reported piece from the Via Crucis in Pilsen , but Mauricio Pena from Block Club Chicago and Jenny Casas, Irene Romulo, Malik Alim and Juanpablo Ramirez. from City Bureau put together an article and audio story on the occasion that I couldn’t top. Check out their article and audio mini-doc here.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/04/19/pilsens-via-crucis-brings-people-together-on-good-friday/
Providence of God Church on Good Friday, April 19, 2019. Photo: Tim Hogan