More than 70 people from several Warrnambool churches attended the ceremony that began at Cannon Hill and made eight stops, or Stations of the Cross, on its route through the Lake Pertobe area.

The stations commemorated Jesus’s path to the cross, his crucifixion and burial, with excerpts from the scriptures read at the various stations. 

Father Matthew Crane, from the Christ Church Anglican Church, said the ceremony offered people the opportunity to bear public witness to Jesus’s crucifixion and to pray for the people of Warrnambool.

The ceremony helped to remind people that Easter was not just about chocolate eggs and public holidays, Father Crane said.

He said the cross used in the ceremony represented Jesus and was carried along the way by people from different denominations.

Father Crane said the number of stations was cut to eight from the traditional 14 to reduce the ceremony’s duration to a time period that was appealing to more people.

Reverend Malcolm Frazer, from the Warrnambool Uniting Church, said the ceremony gave people an opportunity for meditation and to reflect on how Jesus’s journey to the cross intersected with the journey of Christian faith in contemporary times.

“The very act of walking our faith with others is an enrichment to us all, as well as positive encouragement for harmony and respect within our society,” Reverend Frazer said.

Yesterday’s ceremony will be followed tomorrow by a 7am sunrise service, again at Cannon Hill.