Stations of the Cross brings hundreds to St. John of God Parish in Central Islip and Holy Rood cemetery in Westbury

Ciro Granado used to walk three miles one-way from his home in El Salvador to the city center of San Miguel for Good Friday processions marking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Then he and his family would walk three miles back.

On Friday, he found himself at another procession in Central Islip, surrounded by more than 500 people who came for a live reenactment of Jesus’ final hours. The reenactment of the "Via Crucis," or Stations of the Cross, at St. John of God Parish featured people dressed as Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate, Mary Magdalene and, of course, Jesus.

The parishioner playing Jesus carried a large cross through the streets around the parish, yelled with pain as he was "whipped" and mocked by the soldiers, and finally "died" on a cross erected in front of the church.

Then the soldiers carried him to a "cave" parishioners had constructed and rolled a large "stone" in front of the opening — similar to events described in the bible. The faithful believe that Jesus rose from the dead three days later, on Easter Sunday.

The Rev. Daniel Rivera, pastor of the parish, said Good Friday was one of the most important days of the year for Long Island’s growing Catholic Hispanic community. Many are accustomed to major religious events in their home countries where just about everything shuts down on Holy Thursday — Jesus’s last day alive as he celebrates the Last Supper — and Good Friday, when he dies.

Granado, 64, said that in San Miguel almost no one works on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, including public bus drivers. That’s why he had to walk.

But it’s a religious event he would not miss. "Jesus died for us," he said in Spanish. "We have to respect his teachings."

Ronnie Seder, 68, said he came with his wife, Maria, 56, an immigrant from Honduras, to the two-hour bilingual event in Central Islip from their home in Smithtown.

"I think it’s great," he said. The Hispanic Catholics are "very faithful."

Rivera used the event to relate Jesus’s crucifixion to modern-day issues, many involving immigrants. At some of the 14 stops along the Stations of the Cross commemorating Jesus’s journey to his death, Rivera gave brief homilies. They touched on everything from unscrupulous lawyers who take advantage of immigrants seeking legal status to hardworking mothers who are not always appreciated by their children.

"How many families have been given the promise that they will regularize their immigration status?" Rivera told the crowd through a loudspeaker. "And in the end, a false promise."

Central Islip was not the only place that mounted a Good Friday procession. At the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, about 300 people joined a procession as they walked through the cemetery for the Stations of the Cross.

The event was especially appropriate there because Holy Rood means the cross on which Jesus dies, said Richard Bie, president and CEO of Catholic Cemeteries of Long Island. Many who attended have loved ones buried at Holy Rood, he said.

Good Friday "is a big day in the Catholic community," he said.