March 11, 2009

Revised Stations devotional now available

Local priest's 'Scriptural Way of the Cross' gets second printing

By John Gleason

A local priest’s Stations of the Cross devotional penned some 20 years ago was recently revised and is again available.

Father John Krenzke’s “Scriptural Way of the Cross” is available through St. Walburga Press.

Father Krenzke, 78, a former Denver Catholic Register columnist, has served as a parish priest, prison chaplain, teacher and pilgrimage leader. His hobby for more than 50 years has been designing vestments.

Now semi-retired, he says that moniker doesn’t mean sitting around and letting the grass grow under his feet.  In fact these days, little projects always seem to find him. 

“I was leading a group in the Stations when the idea for a new devotional came to me,” he said.  “I sat down and did some research, put some notes together and two weeks later the draft of the booklet was finished.

“I’ve always thought of the Scriptures as a gold mine,” he continued, “and I thought if I made the book entirely of Scriptures, it would be the best way to help in people’s devotion.”

There’s no Scripture for the Stations that recall Jesus meeting his Mother or where he falls three times. The question was what to do for these.

“I culled from both the prophecy of the Passion from Isaiah and from the writings from St. Paul that are related to suffering and redemption,” the priest said.  “As an example, when you come to the fourth station where Jesus meets his mother, the prayer and reflection isn’t directly about that, rather it’s about sorrow.”

The first edition of the “Scriptural Way of the Cross,” was published by Credence Communications, a publishing house in Kansas City, Mo. When the company was bought out, publication of the devotional stopped.

“I put it in a drawer and forgot about it,” Father Krenzke said.  “Then recently when I visited the Abbey of St. Walburga and learned that the sisters ran St. Walburga Press I asked them to read the book to see if it was worth publishing and they said yes.”

“Scriptural Way of the Cross” is available through the abbey’s online gift shop.  It comes in a handy pocket size and is priced at $2.50 with multi-copying pricing available.  More information on any of the items available for sale at the abbey can be obtained by visiting online at store.walburga.org/ or by calling 970-472-0612.

“I hope people will come to know the ‘Scriptural Way of the Cross’ for the prayer aid it is,” Father Krenzke said.  “And that it will help give them a deeper appreciation of the mystery of the suffering of Christ and the meaning of suffering in the Christian life.”