Recovering drug addicts played the 12 Apostles in an imaginative parish enactment of Christ's crucifixion on a GAA field in Co Mayo yesterday.
The colourful production at Tooreen, near Ballyhaunis, was bathed in sunshine and hundreds of people applauded at the conclusion.
Young men from all over the world, who formerly had a drugs habit but are now being rehabilitated on a small farm which the Cenacolo Community purchased near Knock, were invited by the curate in Tooreen, Father Paddy Sheridan, to play the Apostles.
Ben, one of the Apostles, said yesterday: "We were glad to participate when asked to. We are a religious community, and involvement in a Passion Play such as this is quite a natural thing for us to do.
"One of the great things is that the wider community sees us, former drug addicts, as real people just like themselves," said Ben.
Up to 80 people from Woodfield, Aughamore and Tooreen took part in the pageant.
The play was produced by Margaret Niland from Kilkelly.
Father Sheridan predicts that the face of Easter celebrations throughout the country will change dramatically in the years ahead.
He says: "As far as I am concerned, productions like this are the way of the future for Easter ceremonies.
"This needs to happen because we live in an age of television where everything is done professionally.
"Just look at the work that goes into The Simpsons, a programme for youngsters.
"I think that the Gospel, the message of Christ to the world, needs to be dramatised in some way," Father Sheridan added.
"The secret of this is local participation, the people themselves dramatising and standing in front of their own neighbours. That's what gives it life and beauty and meaning," he said.
