The history of the Way of the Cross in the Resurrection Garden is directly connected with the primary intention of the project that later came to be known as the Resurrection Garden. The Servant of God Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga wanted to put the Way of the Cross in the niches of the present day Holy Family Minor Basilica of Nairobi. (See the History)
When in 1984 he contacted Fr. Ottavio Santoro, IMC, to cooperate in the project, they first realized the bronze panel of the 15th Station of the Cross, i.e., that of the Resurrection – and hence the future name, Resurrection Garden. The panel of the Resurrection was made by Giuseppe Audino while the other panels were molded by Luciano Finocchiaro from Catania, Italy. On 19th October 1988, Pope St. John Paul II blessed the panel of the 8th station in the presence of Cardinal Otunga, Fr. Santoro and some benefactors at St. Peter’s square.
Later, Fr Santoro and his collaborators realized that around the Holy Family Minor Basilica was not the best place to put those panels because the place was both congested and with a lot of noise from every direction, thus making it less appropriate for prayers. The Servant of God Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga gave Fr. Santoro permission to go and look for that appropriate place and in 1989, he eventually found the ground where the Way of the Cross is situated today in the Resurrection Garden – Karen.
The stations of the Cross in the Resurrection Garden are 16 and not 15 as in the tradition of the Church. This is because the Servant of God Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga wanted that before the first station, there be another station of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. This first station gives the meaning of the Way of the Cross in the Resurrection Garden. Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested. Every pilgrim who visits Resurrection Garden should feel himself/herself just like Jesus praying in the garden and in touch with God the Father. And like Jesus, and His Mother Mary, learn to abandon oneself to the will of God.