Good Friday
On Good Friday, Guatemalan sawdust carpets bring together Maya community
By Aleja Hertzler-McCain — March 30, 2024
WASHINGTON (RNS) — 'The painstaking art of the creative work of the group Guate-Maya is a tremendous blessing every Good Friday,' the Rev. Emilio Biosca Agüero said.
In Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians observe scaled-down Good Friday rituals
By Julia Frankel — March 29, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — The city's streets were noticeably devoid of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank, who normally flock to the Holy City for the Easter festivities. Since Oct. 7, Palestinian worshippers have needed special permission to cross checkpoints into Jerusalem.
Good Friday and the ‘discipline of staying’
By Adam Bucko — April 7, 2023
(RNS) — To grasp Good Friday is to let go of our self-agency and lay our strengths at the foot of the cross.
Choosing the irrational sanity of Ash Wednesday
By Jacob Lupfer — February 21, 2023
(RNS) — Ash Wednesday is almost universally underrated in its power to redeem.
Episcopal Church mulls changes to Holy Week readings seen as antisemitic
By Emily McFarlan Miller — April 14, 2022
(RNS) — As Holy Week arcs toward Easter and world leaders have decried a resurgence of antisemitism, the Episcopal Church is mulling changes to its lectionary readings.
Ukraine upset by Vatican inviting Russian to carry Good Friday cross
By Frances D'emilio — April 13, 2022
(RNS) — “You have to understand one thing” about the pope, said the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest in Rome who is close to Francis, on Wednesday. “He's a pastor, not a politician.”
Catholic actors Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson to tell story of boxer turned priest
By Claire Giangravé — January 27, 2022
(RNS) — ‘The church has been through so much,’ Wahlberg told the Rev. Stuart Long’s former bishop. ‘I would like to do something beautiful for the church.’
During Way of the Cross, Pope Francis put children at the center
By Claire Giangravé — April 2, 2021
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The Via Crucis underlined once more the profound transformation the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Catholic Church and the world.
On this Good Friday, let us reflect on the 7 last words of George Floyd
By John Thomas III — April 2, 2021
(RNS) — This year’s Good Friday is especially poignant for African Americans as it comes in the middle of the trial of police officer Derek Chauvin for the gruesome killing of George Floyd.
Christians mark Good Friday amid lingering virus woes
By Joseph Krauss — April 2, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) — "Things are open, but cautiously and gradually," said Wadie Abunassar, an adviser to church leaders in the Holy Land.
Why parts of Good Friday worship have been controversial
By Joanne M. Pierce — March 31, 2021
(The Conversation) — Prayers for Jews and veneration of the cross are often misunderstood as anti-Semitic or racist.
Pope Francis shines a light on prisoners during Good Friday’s unusual Via Crucis
By Claire Giangravé — April 10, 2020
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — This year the procession took place in St. Peter's Square and without the presence of the faithful. Only a few, including Pope Francis, were present as lights placed at several stations of the large square guided their steps.
Christians across traditions call for a Good Friday fast in response to pandemic
By Alejandra Molina — April 10, 2020
(RNS) — Catholics normally fast on the last Friday before Easter. This year Presbyterians, Latter-day Saints, Jews and others are planning to join them.
Going deeper with Mormon fasting
By Jana Riess — April 10, 2020
A lot of Mormon fasting is taken up with fasting *for* something—a particular end, a better life. What would it look like to go deeper?
As a pandemic peaks at Christianity’s Easter climax, churches adapt online
By Alejandra Molina and Emily McFarlan Miller — April 9, 2020
(RNS) — Social distancing measures have caused radical dislocations for a holiday that is at once one of the most mystical and most hands-on in world religion.
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