By Joe Winter

Catholic Herald correspondent

Students hold living Stations of the Cross

HUDSON -- St. Patrick School students have made it a tradition to travel to the Christian Community Home in Hudson and put on their living Stations of the Cross for the residents, who often are quite moved by the portrayal.

Many of the two dozen child actors closely surrounded "Jesus," played by Alec Christiansen, as he walked slowly through the front concourse of the nursing home's gathering area, doing a station after each pair of steps. At the end, the cross Jesus carried was laid onto the carpet, and two of the actors dressed in period clothing -- Noah Burns and D.J. Nelson -- pretended to drive nails through the hands of Jesus.

One of the Catholics who watched, Mary Kay Wusterbarth, carefully massaged the shoulders of the resident seated in front of her as the play went on. In a previous year one of her sons played Jesus, and for theatrical reasons let go a bit of a howl as the nails were applied, she noted.

Even though there was nothing so graphic in this year's display, some of the residents put hands to their mouths to suppress gasps, or wiped their eyes.

Veronica was played by Jagger Karls, and after wiping Jesus' face turned to face the audience and let a towel displaying Jesus' likeness unfurl, holding it still for several seconds. A large group of students stood in line at an entry to an atrium 30 feet away and took turns reading the narrative of the stations.

Terri Bekkum said she and another fourth grade teacher, Marge Wopat, who directed the students, told them that someone in the audience might get wrapped up in the realism of the portrayal. In the past, an elderly person has yelled for the actors to stop, but as they are directed, the students have always calmly kept the show going, Bekkum said.

After the performance the students went into the crowd of about 30 residents and greeted them. Bekkum noted that they devoted more time to this than she had expected, forming what resembled a receiving line at a wedding and going to each person in the front row, single-file, then some further back.

Some students were told that one woman at the end of the row is, and they'd have to communicate by touch and speech, as she couldn't see them approaching. Bekkum said the students told her that in addition to sensing a little awkwardness, they felt sorry for her and her plight.

Brenda Magadanz, the Christian Community Home staff member in charge of this recreational outing for the residents, , said that the event has become a tradition and has been conducted as long as she could remember. Magadanz has been on the job about 12 years.

The stations were done a second time, at the school for parents April 10.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2006