Youths lend a hand for parish’s new Stations of the Cross path

Members of St. Vincent de Paul Parish’s youth group provided much of the labor for the installation of the parish’s new Stations of the Cross path. Chris Haunert, left, coordinated the service project. (Photos by Melinda Haunert)

By Jennifer Lindberg (Special to The Criterion)

SHELBY COUNTY—Walking down the newly installed Stations of the Cross path at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Shelby County will leave different impressions for many people.

For Chris Haunert, the youth who built and designed the path for his Eagle Scout project, it brings satisfaction.

For the pastor, Father Paul Landwerlen, it leaves a legacy for the parish and for himself after he found a use for several wooden faces of Christ that adorn each cross—faces of Christ that he had been keeping for almost 25 years after bringing them back from a trip to Europe.

And for Dave Gehrich, the parish’s coordinator of youth ministry, it signifies a job that brought together the entire youth group—who helped lay mulch for the path as Chris and his father, Larry, worked together to make the crosses in their garage.

“The kids can always come back and say, ‘I was a part of this,’ ” Gehrich said.

Chris liked leading a project that the youth group could participate in with him.

“It was a bunch of people getting together for one goal, and working on it,” he said.

It also provides an essential teaching tool for religious education.

“We can use this to teach the kids the Stations of the Cross in a dynamic way,” Gehrich said. “Rather than just from a book, they can walk the path.”

The newly installed stations stand in various places in the parish cemetery and around the parish grounds. They were blessed on June 22, and each parishioner was asked to place a rock at the foot of each cross during the special ceremony.

It was Father Landwerlen who took an avid interest in where to place each cross.

“Father [Landwerlen] was very interested,” said Gehrich, who walked the grounds with the pastor during the initial planning stages. “It was very moving to me to see how he approached it. He would say a foot this way or that. Father [Landwerlen] was very specific about where he felt each cross should go.”

The first station sits in an old tree stump. There is also a flower garden on the path that the parish will be able to use fresh flowers from to adorn the church at different times in the liturgical year.

Discussion about creating the outdoor stations, according to Chris’ mom, Melinda Haunert, started a couple of years ago.

“My husband and I were talking to Dave Gehrich at a parish event, and he brought up creating an outdoor Way of the Cross,” she said. “I jokingly mentioned that this sounded like a good Eagle Scout project for Chris [because] he would be needing one in a year or so.”

When Gehrich heard this, he jumped at the idea, Melinda Haunert said.

“He talked to Chris and they just took off with the idea. I never in my wildest dreams imagined it would turn out as nice as it did,” she said.

While Gehrich had the idea for the station path, it was Chris, 17, who saw it to completion for his Eagle Scout badge, a badge that takes a lot of hard work, planning and time.

“Dave had all the ideas,” Melinda Haunert said. “Chris was the muscle behind the ideas.”

“It was a lot of work, but worth it,” Chris said. “It pays off in the end, just the satisfaction of walking down the trail and realizing that you helped build this.” †