Outdoor Way of the Cross at St. Pius X geared to children, families

Story and photos by Beth Donze
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Two families from  St. Pius X Catholic Church and School in New Orleans spent Tuesday morning setting up an outdoor “Way of the Cross for Children” on the grounds of their church at 6666 Spanish Fort Blvd.

The 15 station plaques – which trace Christ‘s journey from his condemnation to death to his resurrection – begin to the right of the church’s main entrance and then circle the building in a counter-clockwise direction.

Parish families signed up online to make each colorful station, their chosen media including crayons, colored markers, watercolor paint and paper collage. The submitted drawings were laminated by Dierdre Macnamara, school principal, before being cut into separate stations and stapled onto wooden boards recycled from the parish fair.

The back of each station holds a printed reflection geared to children, allowing walkers to bolster their Lenten prayer as a family unit.

St. Pius X‘s parish ministry coordinator Theresa Truxillo, who hatched the idea for the visual prayer aid, oversaw its March 31 installation with the consent of her pastor, Father Pat Williams.

Truxillo said the hope is that both individuals and families will stumble upon the Way of the Cross as they take their daily walks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Truxillo said the prayer project is also being sensitive to the importance of social distancing, spread out in a way that will enable as many as three families to walk the stations simultaneously without bumping into one another.