The Orange County Register, April 6th, 2007
Cloaked in black, Lynda Ciriza watches the actor playing Jesus carrying the cross.
When she sees the blood from his crown of thorns drip across his face, she begins singing, “Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day. The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street. But the crowd pressed in to see. A man condemned to die on Calvary.”
As she sings, the Orange resident prays for her students, for her friends, for her family and for herself.
Walking through the Old City Gates of Jerusalem, she and other actors start their procession down the Via Dolorosa – the same path Jesus took centuries ago.
For more than 25 years, the Brea-based Christ in Youth Ministry has re-enacted Jesus’ walk toward Golgotha in the city of Jerusalem, a Catholic tradition celebrated on Good Friday.
As part of the performance, Ciriza has taken the walk five times before. Playing the role of a crowd member, she has followed the actor playing Jesus through the narrow streets stopping at sites believed to have been the same places Jesus stopped before his crucifixion.
She has felt the eyes of love from onlookers, she says.
“It’s beautiful because everyone comes out to watch and join in,” Ciriza said. “The Muslims, the Jews, the Christians, the Catholics – everyone is there witnessing his suffering.”
But this year her role is different. This year, her role brings more responsibility. This year means so much more.
Ciriza was born Roman Catholic. Her parents made sure she went through baptism, first Communion and confirmation.
“But other than that, we weren’t really practicing Catholics,” she says. “We didn’t go to church every Sunday. We only went for holidays.”
She picked up a few traditions simply by watching her mother. She learned the rosary, the use of a string of beads in prayer. She even picked up making the sign of the cross each time they drove by the church.
“I never asked why she did it, but I always remembered it,” she says. “I was a hit-and-miss Catholic.”
At 20, she married Mike Ciriza, and they soon began a family. Both their children were baptized in the Catholic Church.
But Lynda Ciriza abruptly left the church when she was 28, shortly after the death of her brother.
When church officials questioned her brother’s faith, she got angry.
“I decided to leave the church to become a Protestant,” she said.
Mike, who was raised a Catholic, supported his wife’s decision and became a Protestant with her. They jumped from one church to another. When they had another child, she was not baptized. All three of the Ciriza children grew up in the Protestant faith.
Ciriza went back to school and got a degree in theology from Biola University.
“As a Protestant, I really learned to understand ‘the Word,’ ” she says. “I learned to really read the Bible and understand. But there was always this itching feeling.”
During class discussions, she noticed herself defending the Catholic faith. She began questioning why some Protestants didn’t have the devotion to Jesus’ mother, Mary, that is important in Catholicism.
“To me, (Mary) has always been a role model – not just as a woman but as a mother as well,” Ciriza said.
Through a friend, Ciriza learned about Christ in Youth Ministry, a Catholic organization. She was intrigued that they did so much to help people around the world.
They send medical supplies, toys and Bibles to people in Los Angeles’ skid row, to the poor in the Indian city of Calcutta, in Mexico, on the West Bank in Gaza and to orphans in Bethlehem.
Joanne Petronella of Anaheim Hills founded Christ in Youth Ministry. She had been friends with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, had an audience with Pope John Paul II and played the Virgin Mary for 26 straight years in the re-enactment of Christ’s final days.
The Christ in Youth Ministry consists of Protestants and Catholics from all over Southern California. Its members meet twice a week – once for Bible study and once for praise and worship.
“I didn’t know it was a Catholic ministry at first,” Ciriza said. “Because of my experiences with this ministry, I went back to the Catholic Church.”
It wasn’t that easy for her. It took her four years before she felt comfortable enough to attend her first Mass. She entered St. Norbert Parish Church one Sunday with her husband beside her.
“It was an unusual experience,” she says. “I enjoyed the praise and worship at the Protestant churches, and I had to get used to the structure of the Catholic Masses again.”
Five years ago, Ciriza went to Jerusalem for the first time to perform a re-enactment of Christ’s final procession. She wore a green shroud and played the part of a member of the crowd that witnessed Jesus carrying the cross.
The procession is always escorted by the Israeli military police, she says.
“Sometimes there are people who stare at us with eyes like daggers because they don’t agree with what we do,” Ciriza said. “And sometimes, there are people of other faiths that cry when they see us. It’s beautiful because on that one street we do this there are people of all faiths.”
Each year, the ministry dedicates the carrying of the cross to a cause. This year, Korean-American Chris Cha of Cypress will carry the cross hoping that North Korea and South Korea can improve their relations.
“It doesn’t matter who carries the cross,” said Petronella. “Once we put the (stage) blood on him, he transforms.”
This year, Petronella couldn’t play Mary because of hip surgery.
Two months ago, Petronella approached Ciriza.
“Can you play the role of Mary this year?” she asked.
Ciriza was so overwhelmed she couldn’t think of anything else to say except, “Yes.”
“I chose Lynda to do it because she has such a strong faith and dedication to this ministry,” Petronella says.
“I have seen her transform. She is dedicated teaching Bible study and preparing all the food for our ministry to skid row. She is perfect for it.”
In her first walk as Mary, Ciriza chose a long black shroud (Petronella always wore a purple dress) because she believes Mary would wear something simple.
“Joanne is a hard act to follow. She does such a wonderful role playing Mary, and she’s known for it,” Ciriza says. “I just want to give glory to God. I really do.”
Petronella planned to watch Ciriza from a pizzeria along the Via Dolorosa near the Fourth Station of the Cross – where Jesus meets his mother.
A few steps from the Armenian Catholic Church that was built in 1881 and dedicated to Mary, the procession will stop for Ciriza and Cha to re-enact the moment the mother saw her son, wearing a crown of thorns, carrying the cross.
They look at one another. She reaches to touch his face but the Roman soldiers force him to continue down the Via Dolorosa. And she follows him to Calvary.
RELIGIOUS ROLE: Lynda Ciriza of Orange plays Mary in the reenactment of Jesus’ carrying of the cross in Jerusalem today.
