St. Augustine's Church

Limerick, Co. Limerick

Irish Examiner: Saturday, March 26, 2005

Gospel Takes to the Streets

by Karl Hanlon

Roman solidiers in full costume, weeping women and a "high priest" took the gospel on to the streets yesterday in a unique "walk of pain" around Limerick.

Members of the public joined in the colourful procession, which was organised by the Augustinian church, as part of the Holy Week celebrations.

Fr. Liam Ryan of the Augustinians said the dramatic re-enactiment was a "localised and personalised" version of the traditional Stations of the Cross ceremony on Good Friday.

The procession around the streets of Limerick stopped at eight different "places of pain" in the city where participants paused for reflection.

The first stop in the "walk of pain" was Limerick Prison where people were encouraged to ponder life behind bars for inmates at Easter."We invited people to think about how they feel when they walk past Limerick Prison. If you are a victim of crime you will probably feel angry. But if you are the mother of a prisoner you will feel very differently. We also stopped to think about people like counsellors, teachers and artists who work in prisons in an effort to rehabilitate inmates. We informed gardaí in advance of our walk just in case the authorities though there had been a mass break-out," said Fr. Ryan, who played the role of "high priest."

Other "places of pain" where walkers paused on their procession included the Brother Russell Home, St. Joseph's Psychiatric Hospital and Griffin's Undertakers.

The Augustinians have always aimed to bring a progressive and modern approach to traditional religious celebrations in Limerick.

"We wanted to remind people of the core event of Easter because sometimes it gets side-lined by holidays and shopping," said Fr. Ryan.

As part of their Lenten celebrations, the Augustinians also built a "virtual" prison cell inside their church on O'Connell Street.Churgoers were invited to sit in the cell to experience at first hand how it must feel to be locked up behind bars during Lent.