Easter Ceremonies: Names of north's dead to be read out

Today will see the 10th anniversary of a special ceremony at Dublin’s Unitarian Church on St Stephen’s Green. The names of more than 3,500 people who died as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland will be read from the pulpit.

This year, the ceremony will be preceded by a live broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM at 11am of a performance by the Vanbrugh String Quartet of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ. Mark Strand’s Poem After the Seven last Words will be read by actor Denis Conway.

The reading of the names of the dead begins at noon and continues until 3pm, with occasional interruptions for prayer by Rev Bill Darlison. Admission is free and all are welcome.

People may drop in or out at will, but those attending the quartet performance should be seated by 10.55am.

Meanwhile a Way of The Cross, in the form of street drama, will begin on the steps of the Church of Ireland St Werburgh’s Church at 10.30am in Dublin city centre today. It will weave its way through the alleys, streets and laneways in the area of St Werburgh’s, ending with a dramatic crucifixion in the grounds of Dublin Castle, probably an hour later. A cast and crew of 20 actors and volunteers have been rehearsing for weeks to present this, their first dramatic retelling of the trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus of Nazareth.

Those involved include a mixture of church members and professional actors, directed by Ruth Pe Palileo who recently received a PhD from the Samuel Beckett Centre school of drama at Trinity College Dublin.

The event is being co-ordinated and produced by Rev David McDonnell, curate of the Christ Church Cathedral group of parishes.

Today at 12.30pm, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin will lead the eighth annual Way of the Cross in the Phoenix Park.

Organised by the Communion and Liberation movement, it will leave the Wellington Monument at 12.30pm sharp and proceed to the papal cross.

Each year many thousands of people take part in similar processions worldwide, also organised by Communion and Liberation on all five continents. Founded in 1954, the movement has a presence in more than 70 countries.