Good Friday..

I find covering religion uncomfortable because it feels intrusive. It's usually challenging, as well, especially with Catholic ceremonies that I'm used to from growing up in the faith... it's not among the more active religious services when you compare it with, say, those of the Christian Pentecostals or those of the Islamic or Hindu faiths. Aside from communion, Catholic services are fairly stationary and individual.

Good Friday, though, is something of an exception. On this day, Catholics memorialize the crucifixion of Jesus with a multi-part Gospel reading and reverencing of the cross.

I guess the lesson learned here was to throw away your decades of visual memories of this day and enter into it anew as someone who's never witnessed it. With that outlook, I got a couple photos that I was at least content with.

Clergy and laity process with the cross during Good Friday service at St. Joseph Parish in Appleton, Wis., Friday, March 21, 2008.

Kelly Gonzales, left, and daughter Angela of Appleton pray together during the
Veneration of the Cross.