In the spirit of the peace movement and as a protest against the destruction of the environment, on Good Friday 1983 the pastor Josef Jansen from the parish of St. Rochus in Jülich organized a Good Friday procession to the Sophienhöhe to the summit cross. The organizers did not expect that 150 people would come to the procession even then.
As a result, 5 stopping points or stations were set up for the processions and a wooden cross was carried up to the summit at the events. From year to year the number of participants increased and the religious themes came more to the fore.
In 2002, the children of a school class with their teachers Mr. Lück and Mrs. Grunewald came up with the idea of creating a Way of the Cross on the Sophienhöhe. The company Rheinbraun, now RWE Power AG, supported this idea and donated large boulders from the nearby opencast mine for the planned 15 Stations of the Cross. The children developed the templates for presentations as silhouettes and metal figures for the boulders were made from them at the Jülich Research Center. The Way of the Cross was inaugurated on October 10, 2002. The communion children of the respective year tend the small gardens at the boulders.
Whether as a Good Friday procession, ecumenical Way of the Cross for young people or the Way of the Cross for the family - a number of communities in the area use this path today for processions for religious devotion.
Excerpt from www-euregio-im-bild.de
The first station is missing. It is on the section of the Elsbeerenweg that is not yet part of the H hiking trail. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it.
Pupils of the 4th grade of the Kath. Elementary school Hambach have created an impressive way of the cross on the "Sophienhöhe" between Hambach and Niederzier.
At the annual. Excursion of the children of the Communion to the Stations of the Cross between Heimbach and Mariawald asked the children why there was no Way of the Cross on the "Sophienhöhe". "Again and again I thought that the children were actually right," remembers headmaster B. Lück, and so he talked to his colleague about it.
As soon as the topic was present, one got inspired in the idea, and suddenly the realization did not seem to be difficult anymore. The children mimicked the 14 scenes of the Stations of the Cross in a pantomime-inspired art lesson, following a script written in religious education.
These representations were photographed with the aim of creating paper-cut images of the photos, which could serve as a template for reliefs. During this work, the circle of helpers widened: Pastor R. van den Berg, the community Niederzier, and B. Lück contacted the board of Rheinbraun AG and asked for help.
The response was positive. The Central Abbot also promised. Techn. Of FZ Jülich to support the project.
In the computer studio, the scenic photos of the children were processed for the individual Stations of the Cross. The superfluous was retouched and deleted and reduced the people to their expressiveness.
Then the pictures went to the FZ Jülich, where they were transformed in elaborate processes into metal reliefs. Finally, each station table could be mounted on a boulder and hoisted at a distance of 200 to 300 meters to the slopes of the "Sophienhöhe".
In order to keep the children loyal to their Way of the Cross in the long term, a theme garden was set up at each individual ward, which for one year is in the form of a sponsorship in the care of the respective Communion children and their families.
The crowning achievement of the ambitious company is yet to come. But she will hopefully be realized in the next few months: At the end of the Stations of the Cross is to be a resurrection chapel, which nestles closely to the landscape and invites you to prayer.
The Children's Way of the Cross is a real highlight on this tour. Such a great idea that was implemented so nicely. One of the most beautiful ways of the cross I've got to know so far.
Translated by Google •
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