Watch the Living Stations of the Cross from Sierra Leone

By Miss Julia St. Clair, Province Communications Director

(New Rochelle, NY – April 4) – Returned Salesian Lay Missioner John Funk recently finished producing The Living Stations of the Cross, which he filmed with his sister, Mary, and the Mary Help of Christians Parish youth group in Sierra Leone.

"It was really an extraordinary project for me to work on," John reflected. "I was able to think about Christ’s passion during all the hours I spent editing it, which is something I’m grateful for. It was one of the highlights of my service there."

Each year, Mary Help of Christians Parish’s young adult group puts on the living stations. "They practice every day during Lent for two to three hours," John explained. "They start a couple of miles away from the church in a swampy area, and each station is less than a quarter mile apart. Most people in the village are Muslim, and it’s an opportunity for them to see it as it goes by their house. It’s pretty cool!"

Last year, Sylvester Emmanuel Ndanema, the actor who played Jesus, and Joe Karimu, the live play director, took John aside and asked if they could make a movie version of the stations. "Film projects of this kind are uncommon in Sierra Leone, so this was a really big deal for the parish young adult group to undertake," John explained. The scenes were filmed during Monday through Wednesday of Holy Week 2022.

Post-production began in January 2023 and took about 200 hours over three months to edit. "I had to work on it bit by bit around my work commitments," John explained. "It took a lot of time, and some technical aspects were pretty tough. We had no high-powered movie lights, so we decided to film most of the Garden of Gethsemane during the day. I adjusted the RGB color scale, exposure, and shadows in post to make it look like nighttime. It actually looks like moonlight! However, matching that day-for-night footage with the actual nighttime footage that we filmed with torches as our light source was pretty difficult."

John praised the team for all their hard work on the film. "I think the young adults all did a great job acting, and Mary did a fantastic job recording the audio," John shared. "Although Mary did not have a background in film, she served as the sound mixer. She held the microphone in a good place to record every shot while adjusting the audio levels at the same time. She did an amazing job. Also, Patrick Samuels, the assistant director, was a fantastic help. Everyone went all out with making the costumes and carving the spears with machetes. It was really awesome to experience all together."

John advises anyone who will watch the film to remember how much Jesus appreciates it. "Just know that Jesus really appreciates us remembering what He did—and does—for us in His passion. It will make Him very happy."

Fr. Philip Gbao, SDB, Salesian Oratory/Youth Center director at Mary Help of Christians Parish, has announced plans for a showing on Holy Saturday, April 8, at Mary Help of Christians. It is also expected to show at the outstation parishes the Salesians run the following week. Fr. Philip hopes to share it via Whatsapp around Sierra Leone.

To watch The Living Stations of the Cross, click here.

God bless and have a blessed Paschal Triduum and Easter!