THE Stations of the Cross is an ancient Lenten religious service which entails pilgrims following a route of 14 halts depicting images of Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion. And last Friday found members of Ilkley’s Sacred Heart RC Church and a group from the neighbouring Anglican Church of St Margaret’s sharing an ancient tradition at Myddelton Lodge’s Calvary.

This gesture of friendship between the two parties will be repeated in April when the hosts that day will welcome their Catholic friends to the Church on the Hill.

Monsignor Kieran Heskin, of the Sacred Heart Church,said: “Long before the Reformation created the 16th Century A.D. split between the Reformation churches in Northern Europe and the Papacy in Rome, there was the great 10th Century B.C. split between the Northern Kingdom in Israel and the Davidic dynasty in the South, in Jerusalem.

“Centuries followed during which separate shrines and theologies developed in the North and the South. Finally when the Bible came to be written both traditions were not only preserved but frequently intertwined so that it is often difficult to separate them.

“Something similar has happened in recent times between our churches. This is particularly evident in Ilkley, where there is exceptional friendship and pastoral co-operation between the churches.

“My bookshelves contain the work of scholars from all our denominations. My mind has been enriched by their ideas. And I Thank God that we have come so far and so quickly.”

Canon Philip Gray, of St Margaret’s, said: “We are very fortunate to have the open and public Stations of the Cross in Ilkley. Christians have walked the Way of the Cross for hundreds of years imitating the ‘Via Dolorosa’ in Jerusalem, reflecting on the love Jesus showed on that journey, as he took the path to the cross.

“For around the last ten years Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Ilkley have been able to share this Lenten worship each week in preparation for Easter and it is an outward visible sign of the way in which our churches have been able to come closer in recent years. It is a real privilege to share this devotion together.”