A day after Quebec passed its expanded secularism law banning collective public prayer, hundreds of people walked silently through the streets of Montreal to honour Jesus’s last day on earth, as they do every Good Friday in a procession known as the Way of the Cross.
Both first-time and repeat participants said it would be unfair if such events couldn’t continue under the new law, which stipulates that collective public prayer is only allowed if a permit is obtained from the municipality.
“I think it would be a shame if (this) were to end, because we live in a free society, so I feel like we should be able to,” a woman who preferred to remain anonymous said as the event came to an end. “And if we should, everyone else should too, depending on their own religions. We’re not bothering anyone, and so I feel like it should just be left alone.”
When Jean-François Roberge, the Quebec minister responsible for secularism, tabled Bill 9, he said collective prayers would no longer be allowed in public places because of “provocative actions carried out by individuals under the guise of demonstrations.”
“It is shocking to see people blocking traffic, taking over public space without a permit, without warning, and then turning our streets, parks and public squares into places of worship,” Roberge said in November.
In a video highlighting the passage of the law Thursday, Roberge said Quebec has “clarified its social contact” by specifying that secularism will apply in public places other than in “very rare exceptions.”
Organizers of the Way of the Cross said they’ve always co-ordinated the event with police — who block off streets as the procession moves through the city — but permission was never needed from the city.
“Asking for authorizations won’t be new, we’ve always done it, but it will be more complex, require more time,” Christian Lépine, Archbishop of Montreal, who led Friday’s walk, said following the event.
Acknowledging that the state plays an important role, Lépine is calling for a fair balance between secularism and fundamental freedoms following the passage of Bill 9, saying he wants them to go “hand in hand.”
The state is secular, Lépine said, “but society is plural: Many convictions, many religions, different religions, different philosophies of life.”
“I believe in a secularism that is at the service of freedom for everyone, in respect of each other, in the security and the respect of social peace,” Lépine said. “But there’s another kind of secularity where it’s about: I don’t want to see religion. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to see it, not in the public square. This is more restrictive. I cannot, for myself, go there.”
Under a drizzling sky, participants followed a man holding a large wooden cross from the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel to the Mary Queen of the World Cathedral Friday morning, with stops at other churches in between.
Passersby made the sign of the cross toward the procession as it made its way through the streets.
Outside of St. Patrick’s Basilica, another participant who preferred to stay anonymous called the ban “ridiculous.” He said it’s unclear what effect it will have on the annual Feast of Saint Anne, an outdoor mass in July to honour the mother of Virgin Mary.
“We’ve been doing it for many years now and with this new law, they don’t know if we’re going to be cancelled,” the man said.
He added that he participates in the Way of the Cross for the sense of community, while thanking Jesus for what he did for mankind.
“We’re all strangers, but we’re gathering together for one purpose,” he said.
Michael Kremer, who has attended the Way of the Cross for the past 15 years, including three times in Montreal, said his sense of Bill 9 — which also expands the religious symbols ban — is that it unfairly targets Muslims.
“I don’t think that’s good,” he said. “I don’t approve of that.”
As it pertains to public prayer, Kremer said he finds the law confusing.
“I don’t even know what it means to say that you can’t pray in public,” he said. “They’re talking about manifestations or something like that, but I don’t think they thought this through, to be honest.”
Another man who preferred to remain anonymous, who attended the event for the first time Friday, said he was just there to experience it. Originally from Lebanon, he wouldn’t disclose his religion, saying he thinks it’s “all the same.”
He said he disagrees with the law because events like the Way of the Cross are “part of the culture, and everyone has the right to do whatever they want to do: Christians, atheists, they have the right to do whatever they want to do.”
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