Above: At St. Stanislaus in Castle Hayne, an outdoor wooden sign offers direction to those praying the Stations of the Cross.
On a weekday after Mass, it’s not unusual to find Joyce Lemon in the prayer garden. Oftentimes it’s her and the Northern Mockingbirds calling from treetops. In the sandy terrain of Castle Hayne, North Carolina, sweetgum balls dot the ground just beyond the brick path she walks on.
Nearby, red camellias are fading, and, in the ground, the green foliage of bulbs is visible, but the blooms aren’t quite ready to show themselves. Lent is days away. Spring and Easter are near, too. Lemon makes her way over to a wooden stand with a hutch on top. She opens it and carefully removes a leather-bound book nestled near a can of bug spray. The first page is dated Nov. 20, 2018. It reads:
To: St. Stanislaus Church
From: J. Richard Tamisiea
It’s a guest book and Tamisiea, who donated the 14 Stations of the Cross for the garden, wrote an introduction about the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, devotion.
“This Via Crucis trail depicts, through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, his outpouring of love for all mankind,” he wrote. “I hope it helps to instill a deep reverence and appreciation [of what] Christ underwent to give us the gift of salvation.”
At age 86, Tamisiea died in Wilmington in 2024, about six years after gifting the stations, which had been at his home. His obituary told the story of a physician, husband, father, friend, volunteer and cyclist who was “deeply rooted in his Catholic faith from a young age,” adventurous and empathetic.
Lemon had visited the Tamisieas’ house when the stations were there. She’s sure he would have loved the pages of names of people who visited the garden in the last eight years to pray, and he would have smiled at the additional gifts given, including wooden plaques below each of the stations, which was a project led by an altar server and Girl Scout, Maura Olson of St. Stanislaus Parish.
“The original rocky path, shaped in the form of a rosary, has recently been improved with a brick pavement that was a work in progress. Other parishioners, especially Mike Cichy, donate their time in mending the statues and keeping the garden cleared of debris,” Lemon shared. “There is another group from St. Mark headed by Miguel Saldana who comes every two weeks to pray the Stations of the Cross.”
Father Steven DiMassimo, who leads the community at St. Stanislaus, sees the stations as a weekly spiritual pilgrimage Catholics can take with the Lord. On the way of the cross, he added, people can always find themselves with the Lord and find the Lord with them.
“I have turned to praying the stations often in times of suffering to identify myself with Jesus, but also to receive his comfort as he carries the cross with me and for me,” he said. “I will often point people going through a hard time to the stations to let them know that the Lord understands their suffering. Jesus knows the weight I carry because he carried his own cross. Our Lord knows what it is to suffer mistreatment from others. Our Lord knows what it is to offer his life as a sacrifice. Our Lord knows what it is to trust in the Father and do his will even when it means pain and suffering.”
Father Steven said he felt at home the first time he visited the prayer garden at St. Stanislaus because the parish he grew up in, St. Luke in Raleigh, also has outdoor Stations of the Cross in a natural, wooded setting.
While the Stations of the Cross may be prayed alone or with a group any time of year, they become particularly important during Lent, a time in the Catholic Church that calls for fasting, almsgiving and prayer.
Parishes have stations inside church buildings and some, such as St. Stanislaus, have outdoor Stations of the Cross.
Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh has outdoor Stations of the Cross and during Lent all students in the school will take part through their theology classes, said Father Luke Rawicki, L.C.
He said that seeing the reverence students have during the stations is powerful, as is hearing them repeat, in song, the words “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Father Luke believes that students appreciate the meditative moments and realize the importance of the Lenten season by taking part in the Stations of the Cross. He’s even spotted groups of students praying the stations on their own during their lunch breaks.
In Hampstead, at All Saints Parish, Dawn Nelson considers Stations of the Cross an important part of her faith life during Lent. She first learned to pray them about two years ago.
“I think it’s important to walk with Jesus on his journey to the cross.” she said. “However I don’t remember ever being ‘taught’ how to pray stations and was afraid of looking like I didn’t know what I was doing. I set a goal for Lent that first year to commit to joining at my parish to pray the stations during Lent every Friday night.”
This year All Saints is in its new church building, and it will be the first Lent in the larger space, which means more room for community in prayer together.
“I love that we not only get parishioners … but others join in as well,” she said. “It is a wonderful way to journey through Lent.”
Nelson is involved with SoulCore, a program that incorporates the rosary with movement, such as strength building or stretching, and meets through ministries at some parishes in the diocese. For her, it’s about creating community while focusing on prayer.
Nelson said she hosts classes where “prayer is the focus with an invitation for movement” and where each station includes meditation on scripture and prayer.
“When I was exploring the Raleigh Diocese website, I came across SoulCore and started to look into it this summer. I am blessed to have been able to partake in their retreat and discerned that this was the direction to take,” Nelson said.
She added that preparation, which includes Stations of the Cross, for the Easter Vigil is important to her. “Personally, I really love the stillness and quietness of Good Friday as we prepare … the light of Christ is about to break into darkness, reminding us that hope is never lost and Christ’s victory is near.”
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