Heinz straub, a master carpenter from stralsbach, sometimes thinks long and hard before he says anything at all. We are standing in stralsbach's mountain church st. Oswald and look at the new cross that was placed there a few weeks ago in the church annex on the side of the altar and high above it in front of a dark wooden wall. Straub made the crucifix.
"It was a long story, says the 66-year-old. When asked about this story, heinz straub was silent at first. Finally he decides to answer the question. "In 1994, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the stralsbach parish, there was the idea for the first time to install a cross in the modern church extension. Now it is done. We have the cross."
The parish council chairwoman, monika knauer, has the data ready in her documents. In 2008, there was a survey in stralsbach on the topic, which has been discussed again and again since the 1990s, with a disappointing response. Among those who took part, the question of whether to design a cross with or without a corpus was undecided. In the end, after a visit to the church in stralsbach, the cathedral chaplain jurgen lenssen, who is responsible for ecclesiastical art in the diocese, withdrew his recommendation to install a metal cross in the sanctuary and gave the parish all the freedom it needed to design and hang a cross.
Difficult discussions
Another survey in the village was also disappointing, according to knauer. Also in the church administration one was not united in this question for many years. After all, a cross with a corpus costs a lot of money. "It was a cross with the cross", according to monika knauer, when she looks back on the long history of its origins.
The costs were kept within reasonable limits
The singing group "nur mut" (only courage) then he took the initiative and collected donations for a cross and its corpus during his appearances. Master carpenter heinz straub declared himself ready to finally bring the protracted matter to a good end. He used his contacts to find out more about the project.
"I have never had anything to do with such work on a crucifix in my entire professional life." Straub knew, however, that he had the best stored wood for a cross: a magnificent oak trunk for the cross from the forest near hermannsruh above stralsbach, the best linden wood from the forest near haard for the body of christ. Now it was foreseeable that the costs for cross and corpus would be limited. With the help of a wood carver in langenleiten, the rough outlines of the corpus were cut out of the powerful linden wood trunk in slow cuts. Straub gave the lime wood a face, a musculature, a loincloth, a religiously expressive expression, in days of work last autumn, according to all the rules of the art of woodcarving, using modern tools. "I carved for the first time and did not make a door or window frame out of wood for once."
A lot of work during the assembly
Heinz Straub does not like to be praised for his work. He prefers to talk about the perfect gluing of the corpus made of three layers of lime wood. "You can look from any perspective. You do not see a craft flaw." Four strong men spent almost a whole day fixing the cross to the church wall. "The people of stralsbach feel very addressed by this cross", says erwin grom (church administration). Monika knauer agrees. The cross gives the church space a new character.
A suitable image
Next sunday, 24. February, will be held in the mountain church from 5 p.M. With praise from the group "nur mut" the new cross blessed by parish priest corinna zipprich. "What struck me first was the contrast: the light cross on a dark background", says zipprich. "A fitting picture, I think. Jesus, who is finding it increasingly difficult to get noticed and paid attention to in the mainstream of today's world. I like this symbol", says the community leader.
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