Dale Wright, Fr Joe Taylor and Les Billings at St Brendan’s church.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
The Catholic Church has many traditions, which Shepparton’s St Brendan’s upholds, but there’s one that the local parish has done uniquely for more than three decades that sets it apart from the rest.
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For 36 years, St Brendan’s Parish has produced a live show depicting the Stations of the Cross, a 14-step Catholic devotion commemorating the final day of Jesus Christ’s life on Earth.
The concept was brought to life by local photographer, devout Catholic and church organist Dale Wright, who produces the show that plays at the Knight St church on Good Friday each year.
“Dale is phenomenal, just extraordinary. His energy, his passion, his faith, his prayerfulness, he’s also a very real human character, he’s an extraordinary man,” parish priest Father Joe Taylor said.
This year’s script, which varies slightly each year, was written by Notre Dame College teacher Les Billings, who has been the scriptwriter for the past 10 years, and has been involved in various roles for a further 10 years prior.
A scene from the Stations of the Cross.
“While the action and the scenes are very similar each year, we try to put something in the actual presentation that challenges people to think about what’s going on,” Mr Billings said.
“It’s the same story — it’s the most important story to our Christian faith — so the story itself doesn’t change. Christ goes through 14 stations, we do 13, and the last one we carry him out of the church.
“Each time we do it, we try to think of a different angle to come from.”
Mr Billings said he started writing the script about six months before Good Friday each year, with practice sessions for the cast beginning five weeks before the final presentation.
This year’s cast included 11, made up of newcomers and returning ‘actors’, some of whom had travelled significant distances to partake in their much-loved tradition again, before an audience of around 350 people, which was made up of parishioners and the general public.
“We freeze each station anywhere from one minute to five minutes while a song is played, so just the whole congregation is just looking at the station,” Mr Billings said.
“It’s a very powerful experience for me every time we do it because I know what we’re trying to set up and to see it under lights with all the congregation behind you and everybody singing, it’s a very reflective, very spiritual place to be.
“It’s always been a very uplifting experience to see it come to fruition.”
“It’s a very reflective, very spiritual place to be.”
Fr Taylor said the whole production was “very reverent”.
“At the beginning, Dale says, ‘Please don’t clap at anyone or anything, even though it’s great, this is a prayer for reflective time’, and that just keeps it on track and on focus,” he said.
“It just has a magnetism for lots of people ... it’s just so lovely to see that connectedness with the Stations of the Cross, so we reflect on Jesus’ sufferings, but we also connect our own to it at times and it gives us hope and strength.”
Fr Taylor said he once made an “extraordinary” pilgrimage to Jerusalem to visit the actual Stations of the Cross, but a big percentage of the world can’t make it there.
Those in attendance are encouraged to reflect on Jesus’ sufferings.
Every Catholic church has the 14 Stations depicted around its walls, where people come in and move from one to the other symbolically each Good Friday.
“To portray the stations like this live and so professionally is pretty rare in this country,” Fr Taylor said.
“So long as Dale is there — and he’ll be there for a long time yet, I think — it will certainly go well into the future.”
The Stations of the Cross are brought to life at the church.
At the end of the live production, all present lit a tealight candle for someone they loved or had lost, which Fr Taylor said was also a “very moving” moment at the Good Friday spectacle.
Mr Billings said thanks to suggestions from parishioners, he had three Stations written for next year’s production already, but invited other interested and aspiring scriptwriters to put their hands up.
“I just love the story and I love seeing it in that form,” Mr Billings said.
“If somebody wants to write a script and take over from me, then I’m more than happy for them to jump in and do it because it’s very uplifting for me just to be involved.
