Young adults take the 
Stations of the Cross ‘on tour’ through Lent

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

Young adults in the diocese have resurrected – with a new twist – a way they observed Lent together during COVID. They’re calling it “Young Adult Stations of the Cross on Tour” and inviting peers to meet at a different church each Friday to join in that parish’s scheduled prayers about Christ’s Passion.
The first Friday, last week, even drew a couple people from Rhode Island.
After joining the Stations at St. John Parish in Worcester, Daniel Alsoof commented, “It’s a very beautiful church, very spiritual. I would definitely love to visit again.” He said he’s from St. Margaret Parish in Rumford, Rhode Island, and came with a friend.
That friend, Noah Gemma, said he found out about the Stations through the internet. He identified himself with three Rhode Island parishes: Holy Apostles in Cranston and St. Mary and St. Patrick in Providence.
“This was my first time praying the Stations of the Cross,” he said. He likened it to the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, but appreciated how the Stations gave him the opportunity to use more of himself for the prayers with the change of postures from kneeling to standing and back to kneeling.
“We planned this as a way to get young adults to experience the Stations of the Cross during Lent,” said organizer Daniel Doyle, who is also director of faith formation and youth ministry at St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in Sturbridge.
His fellow tour organizer Angela Richardson, of St. Roch Parish in Oxford, said young adult volleyball games have drawn people from Rhode Island, Connecticut, even someone from New York.
“They’re so desperate for community” that they come from out of state, she said. She thinks young adults would like events geared to them, that there’s a gap between youth ministry and adulthood.
“I sense a need, within myself,” she said. “I think our age group is a crucial age group that’s not being ministered to. I felt this prompting to try to do something.”
She said she invited people to help plan events, and Daniel Doyle and his siblings, Catherine and Michael, joined her.
The Stations tour is the third of the events they planned, which included a game night that drew six or seven people and an Advent Bible study that averaged five participants at a time, Miss Richardson said.
While she couldn’t be at the Stations last Friday, she was pleased to learn that the event drew eight young adults, she said.
“I’d love to get to know more young adults from around the diocese,” she said.
Miss Doyle, of St. Joseph Parish in Charlton, said that when organizers were discussing what young adults could do as a group for Lent “we all immediately thought of the Stations.” They looked up which parishes were praying the Stations.
“I was the one that called the parishes” to verify their schedules, said Miss Richardson, who headed up the tour for six Fridays of Lent. (It does not include Good Friday, when young adults may have obligations at their own parishes.)
Miss Doyle said they chose parishes around the diocese so “people who can’t make it to Worcester” - or wherever else – could join in at a church closer to them, meet other young adults, and perhaps socialize afterwards.
“Please join us if you can and invite anyone you wish!” says an online flyer.
Timothy Messenger, director of the diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, said he publicized this tour for the young adult organizers through Flocknote and social media.
“I’m glad the Stations are happening again for young adults,” said Sara Zglobicki, of St. Columba Parish in Paxton. She said they gathered for Stations of the Cross during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, 2021 and 2022. They used the outdoor Stations at St. Joseph Parish in Charlton and “made our own” Stations outside at St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer and Immaculate Conception Parish in Worcester, she said. Someone held up a picture and words for each Station.
They did not get together last year, she said. She rejoiced that they can do so this year, when social distancing is not such a “global concern.”
Joining different parishes in their prayers is a witness both to the young adults and the parish communities, Miss Zglobicki said; it is a witness to others that young adults would take the time to do this.
Last Friday, Father John F. Madden, St. John’s pastor, asked, before leading the Stations, what group was there. Mr. Doyle told him it was young adults from around the diocese.
“It’s nice to have you here,” responded Father Madden. “Come back anytime.”

– Editor’s note: For more information contact Angela Richardson at asitisinheaven9@hotmail.com or 508-723-4476.