Faithful march through Atlanta on Good Friday

They carried large crosses and walked through downtown Atlanta, remembering the sufferings of Christ on Good Friday and social injustices today.

About 220 people participated in the 29th Annual Good Friday Pilgrimage organized by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

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VINO WONG / vwong@ajc.com

About 220 people marched in the 29th Annual Good Friday Pilgrimage in downtown Atlanta on Friday. Here, the crowd gathers in front of the Fulton County Family Court.

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“The sufferings of Jesus, and the sufferings today are connected,” said Susan Stevenot Sullivan, who organized the event.

At 14 stops around the city, staring at the Capitol and ending at the grave sites of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, pilgrims prayed about hunger, AIDS, homelessness, racism, the environment, immigrants and the displaced.

Many in the group also participated in this week’s 2009 Holy Week Interfaith Pilgrimage for Immigrants throughout metro Atlanta, which called attention to immigrants’ rights. About 1,300 people walked the 50-mile course throughout the week, organizer Anton Flores said.

P.J. Edwards, a member of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Smyrna, said many immigrants are suffering in Cobb County because of the deportation program at the jail there. “We get the calls almost every day. ‘My husband’s been deported, what do I do now?’ ” Edwards said.

Earlier Friday, activists gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in downtown Atlanta to raise awareness of what they say are human rights violations at the ICE detention center in Stewart, where a detainee died in custody last month.

The week-long immigrants’ rights pilgrimage began in Gainesville Sunday.