Crosses made of driftwood put on Napier beach

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The sight of the rays of the rising sun on Holy Saturday hitting the crosses made of driftwood on Marine Parade beach in Napier was a powerful reminder of the Ecumenical Way of the Cross walk held the previous day (April 14).

Catholic Parish of Napier (CPoN) youth coordinator Chris Marwick, who is also chaplain of St John’s College, said some 30 people participated in this year’s walk on Good Friday.

 The walkers with their creations on Marine Parade beach.

The walkers with their creations on Marine Parade beach.

About two-thirds of the participants were young people. “[It was] a great morning of expressing our faith,” said Mr Marwick. “[We] had a mix of high school and primary school kids, most of whom were from our Catholic schools in Napier.”

The walk started at St Patrick’s Catholic church and processed through the town.

It stopped at various locations in Napier including Trinity Methodist church and St Paul’s Presbyterian church.

The last stop was at Waiapu Anglican Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.

“The youth then headed up to the beach on Marine Parade and made up crosses out of driftwood [and] stones and I took a bunch of palm leaves off
the palm branches used outside our churches on Palm Sunday and made palm crosses,” he said.

The striking sight attracted a lot of people, including tourists, who stopped and talked to the youth about their creation.

“It’s an awesome witness as we [did] it right beside the new ‘pier’ that was built a few years ago,” said Mr Marwick. “We finished it off with fish n chips!”

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Rowena Orejana

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