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Christians Mark Good Friday With 'Way Of The Cross' Processions In New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Millions of Christians around the world are marking Good Friday, the day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

"There's a somberness about it. There's sort of an emptiness about it. There's a gloom about it," Cardinal Timothy Dolan said. "One wonders why we call it good, and of course we call it good because the supreme good, namely the resurrection of Jesus, came from it but the day itself is very somber."

WCBS 880's Rich Lamb with Cardinal Timothy Dolan

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Dolan said Good Friday represents the supreme and dramatic sign of God's love and each year churches are packed with the faithful expressing their gratitude in prayer.

"We do just want to come in and say, 'Dear God, I might not act like it the rest of the year but I sure love you and need you,'" Dolan said.

Good Friday is the one day of the year on which Mass is not celebrated.

Two religious processions were held in New York to commemorate the death of Jesus.

1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports

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Paxi Christi Metro New York held a "Way of the Cross" procession from the United Nations to the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Dolan and other Roman Catholic leaders led the 17th annual "Way of the Cross" procession from St. James Basilica across the Brooklyn Bridge to the World Trade Center site.

WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reports

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One North Jersey woman participated in the procession for the first time after seeing the event listed on Facebook.

"This was just our little way of doing something and having a full day of prayer," she said.

On Thursday, Dolan marked the beginning of the intensely emotional period leading up to Easter by serving food to the needy, recalling Jesus' last supper when he first offered bread and wine as his body and blood.

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