UA students present live Stations of the Cross on campus

Pontius Pilate (left), portrayed by Juan Oseguera, releases Jesus, played by Brian Ross of Little Rock, in the live Stations of the Cross presented by St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Fayetteville.
Pontius Pilate (left), portrayed by Juan Oseguera, releases Jesus, played by Brian Ross of Little Rock, in the live Stations of the Cross presented by St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE – The Stations of the Cross came alive on the University of Arkansas campus Wednesday, March 31 thanks to a determined group of students.
The students were freshmen and sophomores who all attend St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish while studying at the college.
The performance was first proposed by Michael Wendel, a sophomore history and pre-med major from Little Rock, thanks to an unpleasant experience he had last Lent.
“Last year, I was trying to get home” for the living Stations at Christ the King Parish, where the high school students traditionally do the presentation, he said. Wendel had participated in the event three of his four years in high school and wanted to attend again.
But his class schedule made that difficult and, in his rush, he was caught speeding by a police officer in Mulberry.
“I got a ticket,” he recalled.
The $93.47 fine was steep. Wendel said he realized this year there was no way he could make it in time for the Little Rock event.
So, he suggested the campus parish do their own performance. Campus ministers “Laurie (Schuler) and Jay (Carney) and Father Joe (Marconi) were all for it,” Wendel said.
Wendel had no trouble finding more than a dozen students willing to participate. They practiced each weekend during Lent and even during the week since they lost two weekend rehearsal dates because of spring break in mid-March. The group secured permission to present the Stations of the Cross on the east side of Old Main on the Wednesday before Easter.
Home connections may have helped some participation. Both Pilate’s soldiers in the performance also hailed from Christ the King Parish: freshmen Aaron Madey and Dan Miskin, both graduates of Catholic High School in Little Rock.
Madey said he had never participated while in high school and thought it was good to take part in the St. Thomas event.
Miskin said he hoped having the Stations presented in a public place might attract more observers. He may have been right – by the time the 14th Station was said, a small crowd of about 75 had gathered.
Juan Oseguera, a sophomore business major from Hot Springs, helped Wendel make the cross, an interesting task for the two since neither o ne is an adept carpenter. Their first thought was to just nail two planks together, Oseguera said.
After a little thought, “I said it would be really cool if we could notch both planks,” Oseguera said. However, neither of the men knew how to do that.
“Five minutes later, Travis Gunther (a former UA student and current seminarian with the Salesians of Don Bosco), walked by. He said, ’If you can give me a chisel, I can cut that out.’”
His carpentry skills worked perfectly.
Wendel said he is looking forward to holding the Stations next year.

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