The Living Way of the Cross: South Chicago’s long-standing Good Friday celebration is full of emotion

Susan Mota said that while growing up in South Chicago, she didn’t care at first about Good Friday traditions.

She was forced into costumes and made to walk in the community’s annual Good Friday procession. At 9 years old, she recalled, she would rather have just hidden in her closet.

“Then when I played Mary Magdalene, my perspective on the whole day shifted,” said Mota, who is now 23. “She was the rebel. She didn’t care.”

Playing Mary Magdalene, a saint who Scripture says was a follower of Jesus, was what connected Mota to her faith and to the community of Immaculate Conception and St. Michael Parish at a young age.

“Just thinking about it brings me chills. It means something more to me,” Mota said Friday, looking at the young girls who hula-hooped and ran around on the blue-checkered basement floor of Immaculate Conception after this year’s procession.

Mota now works at Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School. Her mother, Sandra Mota, organizes the Via Crucis Viviente every year. Via Crucis Viviente, which translates to “Living Way of the Cross,” encompasses 14 episodes in Jesus’ life leading to his crucifixion and burial.

The community has held an annual Good Friday procession since 1977, and Sandra Mota has helped for the past 20 years. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, Mota said that the community eagerly waits every year for Good Friday. People take off from work. They cook big meals to celebrate.

“To me, it’s not a play. It’s an event. And it makes me stronger every year,” she said.

While Pilsen’s Good Friday procession typically attracts thousands, South Chicago’s crowd was tight-knit — closer to hundreds. Kids wore helmets and red capes, and stood on the top of a semitruck covered with a brown sheet. A hush came over the crowd as the reenactment started.

When Jesus was whipped and fake blood covered the back of his shirt, kids looked at each other wide-eyed. “Is he bleeding?” they said, turning to one another.

The procession began at Our Lady Of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 3200 E. 91st St., and moved to Immaculate Conception and St. Michael Catholic Church, 2944 E. 88th St.

The Rev. Pius Kokose, 55, is the pastor of Immaculate Conception. He’s been a priest for almost 25 years, and said Holy Week is always one of his favorite weeks of the year.

He said he mostly serves migrant communities — from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and Colombia. Many people in this neighborhood come to Chicago with deep roots in Catholicism.

“The practice of their faith gives them hope. Especially migrant communities. They go through different types of suffering,” he said.

Kokose is from Ghana, but he spent 10 years living in Paraguay. He speaks six languages, including Spanish. On Friday there was a liturgy in English at 3 p.m. and one in Spanish at 7 p.m..

“Jesus, you are beginning your suffering and walk,” a young girl spoke into a microphone. “So do the people who migrate to this country. They walk long hours and days to get here. How many of them lose their lives on the way, looking for a better life?”

Sandra Mota said many people cry during Jesus’ crucifixion.

Gabriela Zavala, 56, walked along the procession, proudly watching her 16-year-old son, who was dressed up.

“There is a lot of violence, and a lot of young people,” Zavala said. “This tradition is very important because it helps our young people to be close to God.”

Ivan Lopez, 27, who has been involved with the youth group at Immaculate Conception for the past 10 years, works at a juvenile detention center. Seeing the youths come together gives him hope. Kids learn communication skills and how to take care of each other, he said. They feel like they’re part of something.

“It helps me sleep at night. It helps me stay connected to them. I learn from them, too,” Lopez said.

Zavala said Good Friday is a day of color, of family togetherness. For migrant families in South Chicago, it’s a chance to celebrate and reflect.

Susan Mota said she uses it as an opportunity to pray for all communities who are suffering.

“There’s so many immigrants,” she said. “And we only know so much about what they suffered through to get here. It’s just another prayer for them.”