GENOA—Many dozens of people showed up at St. Catherine of Genoa Parish on a blustery wintery Monday morning, Nov. 21, for Mass with Bishop David Malloy and the blessing of the new parish Stations of the Cross outside.

 

The first station is located in front of the parish rectory, south of the church, and the 14 stations then stretch almost a quarter of a mile around the back, east of the parish buildings, and across the north side, ending at the northwest corner near the church. 

 

“This is a happy, happy day,” said Patty Gastel, parish bookkeeper, who was thrilled with the well-filled parking lot and church.

 

She explained that the stations were a couple of years in the works, coming along at the same time the church needed a new roof. 

 

Instead of a capital campaign, donations were collected for the stations. Because materials and labor were donated for the stations, the money raised paid for the roof.

 

Steve Dillett, who with his wife, Karen, have been parishioners since 1989, are among the group of significant donors. His company, Custom Aluminum, provided the brown cross part of the stations. Another area company donated additional materials for the crosses, with others in the area providing landscaping materials and the water and irrigations system. 

 

Parish pastor, Father Zdzislaw Francis Wawryszuk, was among the volunteers, pitching in with a lot of the planting work.

 

It was, Gastel concluded, “an extraordinary effort by a lot of people.”

 

Even before the dedication and formal blessing, people have been coming to pray at the stations. 

 

Hopes are to identify or create an app with prayers for each station that allow enough time between each for those who are praying to move to the next station. 

 

And once spring arrives, Father Francis promises, the flowering bushes and other plants will brighten each station with additional beauty.