c. 2000 Religion News Service

PALM CITY, Fla. _ They say every person has a cross to bear, but for Greg Mroczek there have been about 9,200 of them.

Almost 20 years ago, Mroczek and his wife, Sally, attended a Roman Catholic retreat in Rhode Island. One of the priests handed out small wooden crosses hung on a string to wear around the neck. Looking at the crosses, Mroczek thought,”I could make these.” So when Mroczek, now 80, retired about 15 years ago, he decided he needed a hobby to help”keep me busy.”He remembered those wooden crosses and turned to woodworking, something he had never really tried before. Ever since, he has filled his days making Christmas decorations, photo frames and anything else he could carve out of a piece of wood.

And he’s made a few of those wooden crosses _ 9,200 of them and counting.

He started carving the crosses, which measure about 2 1/2 inches high, out of cedar, then turned to black walnut, but has finally settled on scraps of mahogany. His goal is to reach 10,000 and then keep going.”If the Lord wants me to make some more crosses, then I’ll make more crosses,”he said.

Mroczek, a parishioner at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Palm City, gives the crosses away to friends and strangers and does not charge for labor or materials. The only thing he asks is that people say a prayer for his son, Mitch, who Mroczek said could use a little help from above.

But why a cross? There are surely hundreds of other things Mroczek could make from his piles of wood. Mroczek says the motivation is nothing short of divine.”The Lord inspired me to make these crosses,”he said in his heavy Polish accent.

In Mroczek’s mind, his mission is really that simple.

Mroczek’s Palm City garage _ not to mention his clothes _ is covered in an orangey red sawdust, and the walls are stacked to the ceiling with scraps of wood of all shapes and sizes. Recently he’s been on hiatus with the crosses; he’s been busy repairing a handmade dollhouse for his granddaughter.

He uses a woodworking machine his wife gave him as a present in 1951 to make the crosses. He does not use glue to fit the two pieces of the cross together; they are pressed in a vise for a secure fit.

But for Mroczek, the crosses are more than just a hobby. He says that when he sees a cross, he sees Jesus. And when he gives away a cross, he’s giving away a piece of Jesus, too.

Part of his devotion comes from what he says is a life touched by God. Born in the United States to Polish immigrant parents, Mroczek returned to Poland for school. During World War II he was captured by the Germans even though he was not a member of the military.

He spent almost 30 months as Prisoner No. 361 in a German prisoner of war camp. When released in 1945, he weighed 118 pounds. While at the camp, he said, he and other POWs prayed to God to”get us out of this hell hole.” He returned to the United States, graduated from college and raised a family. He lived in Maryland and Rhode Island before settling in Palm City about two years ago. He and Sally have four children.

Many of Mroczek’s crosses are given to missionaries and priests who give them to their flocks. A recent batch went to some friends who make missions trips to Brazil to work with street children, and Mroczek gave about 450 crosses to pilgrims from his Rhode Island parish who went to see Pope John Paul II when he visited Denver in 1993.”We gave them to some teen-agers and they wear them all the time,”said his wife, Sally.”We were really surprised.” The crosses have been sent all around the world, from Jamaica to Australia to South America and Europe. Mroczek even made a much larger cross for the pope and stamped it with his trademark _ 361 _ Mroczek’s prisoner number in the POW camp.”It is my pleasure to give them away,”he said.”It is a labor of love.”DEA END ECKSTROM