Patricia Orta has been going to Way of the Cross processions in Pilsen since she was about 10 years old.
At the time it didn’t make much sense to her, but now as a mother of a 24-year-old, she finds special meaning in the way Mary looks up at her dying son on the cross.
During the immigration enforcement actions in Chicago last year she also feared for her son.
“When ICE was coming at first I was like — oh my God, my son is brown, and my son drives now, you know?“ said Orta, 50, who grew up in Pilsen and now works as a middle school teacher there. “I was worried for him and worried for my students.”
Hundreds of people attended the Via Crucis in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Good Friday, straining their necks to catch a glimpse of the actor portraying Jesus in the final moments before his execution. Children too short to see the stage stood on their tip-toes to watch Kevin Reyes, the actor who played the part of Jesus, being whipped.
They gasped at the sight of fake blood. The procession opened with a young boy waving a Mexican flag.
The Way of the Cross or via crucis procession is a largely Catholic tradition held the Friday before Easter, known as Good Friday, where Jesus’ crucifixion is commemorated in 14 stations from the moment he is condemned to death to when he is laid in the tomb.
Pope Leo XIV will personally carry the wooden cross through all 14 stations at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, according to The Associated Press, marking the first time in decades that a pope carries the cross to every station.
But as the procession in Pilsen made its way down 18th Street and toward Harrison Park where the reenacted crucifixion took place, fears of federal immigration enforcement still loomed large.
Whistles with “know your rights” pamphlets tucked safely in a plastic baggie were handed out like Halloween candy — “Can I have one?” somebody asked.
Another whispered “ICE, ICE” after her companion asked about the mysterious bag.
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Thousands of immigrants were detained and many were deported during the months-long mass deportation campaign in Chicago last fall known as Operation Midway Blitz.
Jennie Motto Mesterharm, who joined a rapid response team to help protect her neighbors in the predominantly Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood, walked the procession with her 4-year-old daughter Magdalena named after Mary Magdalene, a character from the Christian bible.
She found this year’s procession especially powerful.
“In light of everything that’s happened in the last year,” said Motto Mesterharm. “It’s been really moving to see the reenactment especially by a Hispanic community and to be here with my daughter.”
Blanca Moreno and her mother Maria have been coming to the Pilsen Via Crucis specifically since 1988, shortly after Maria left Monterrey, Mexico, for the cold winters of Chicago.
Maria, 65, used to attend the processions in Monterrey that she says are nearly identical to the ones in Pilsen, which is why she enjoys sharing the tradition with her daughter.
“It’s like tradition now,” said Moreno, 45, and who lives in Pilsen. “I request a day off from work to spend the day with my mom.”
Moreno had heard there would be fewer people coming to the procession in Pilsen this time because of immigration enforcement fears, but was pleased to see the streets packed.
The pair said they would be grabbing a bite to eat at Taqueria El Mezquite in Pilsen after the procession to spend quality mother-daughter time.