SAN DIEGO — The Stations of the Cross, also known as the Way of the Cross, is a popular Lenten devotion.
It involves prayerfully reflecting on a series of 14 consecutive events associated with the passion and death of Jesus. The series begins with Jesus being condemned to death by Pontius Pilate and concludes with his body being laid in the tomb.
Throughout the Lenten season, local Catholics will have numerous opportunities to experience this devotion.
Most parishes hold Stations of the Cross services every Friday evening during Lent as well as sometime during the afternoon on Good Friday, April 18.
Also on Good Friday, two outdoor Stations of the Cross will be held in downtown San Diego.
The annual Good Friday Walk with the Suffering will take place from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Beginning and ending at the San Diego Rescue Mission (120 Elm St.), where free parking is available, there will be a procession of more than two miles along the sidewalks of downtown San Diego.
First held in 1991, the Walk with the Suffering became an annual event in 1993. Since then, there has only been one year – 2020, because of the COVID pandemic – that it wasn’t held.
This iteration seeks to connect Jesus’ passion with contemporary causes of suffering in the local community, such as homelessness, human trafficking, substance abuse, racism and climate change.
The procession will stop at various sites, where costumed students from Cristo Rey San Diego High School will reenact each Station, and a prayer and reflection will be offered. For example, outside the federal building, to mark the 11th Station, Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Pulido will reflect on the suffering of immigrants.
“What makes this event unique is that it takes place in the midst of the community, not in a church sanctuary,” said its longtime organizer, Rosemary Johnston. “I believe we must take our faith and witness beyond the parish parking lot and be a force of good in the community.”
“We are called to walk with the suffering as Jesus did and to do what we can to address that suffering,” she said.
Downtown San Diego will also be the site of the 20th annual Pro-Life Stations of the Cross.
Participants will gather at 11:45 a.m. outside St. Joseph Cathedral, on the sidewalk at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Beech Street. Metered parking is available.
At noon, there will be a procession to the federal building at Front Street and Broadway, where Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano will lead the Stations. Participants will walk in procession back to the cathedral, arriving there around 1:15 p.m.
“This is the largest public outdoor Stations of the Cross and the only one that brings a public witness to the plight of the unborn while remembering the passion and death of Jesus on Good Friday,” the event’s organizer, Roger Lopez, said of the event, which draws 300 to 500 people annually.
“Jesus died for our sins on Good Friday,” he said, “and … one of the gravest sins of our time is abortion.”
For more information, email jnstn.rsmry@gmail.com for the Walk with the Suffering or sue.lopez.helpers@gmail.com for the Pro-Life Stations of the Cross.
