On Good Friday, April 15, San Diegans will have the opportunity to attend two public celebrations of the Stations of the Cross on the streets of downtown San Diego.
Sponsored by the Diocese of San Diego, the 29th annual Walk with the Suffering will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.
During the three-hour procession, costumed students from St. Augustine High School and the Academy of Our Lady of Peace will act out the Stations of the Cross. Representatives from various organizations that serve the needy will provide prayers and reflections at nine downtown sites on issues that cause suffering in San Diego. Participants will sing hymns as they process to the various sites, beginning and ending at the San Diego Rescue Mission.
Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano will deliver a reflection on mental health for the Second Station. Dr. Robert Ehnow, director of the diocesan Office for Life, Peace and Justice, will reflect on prison ministry for the 14th Station.
“The purpose of the walk is to help us reflect and pray for those who suffer because of poverty, human trafficking, lack of access to health care, hunger, lack of affordable housing, and other issues,” explained walk coordinator Rosemary Johnston.
The 16th annual Good Friday Pro-Life Stations of the Cross will begin at noon, also in downtown San Diego.
Participants are asked to gather by 11:45 a.m. on the sidewalk on the east side of St. Joseph’s Cathedral at 4th and Beech. At noon, they will begin walking through the streets to the old Federal Building at Front Street and Broadway. They will line up along the sidewalk and courtyard for the Stations of the Cross, after which they will process back to St. Joseph’s, arriving there at about 1:15 p.m.
The event, which will be led by Bishop Bejarano, represents a strong public witness for the sanctity of life and for the Catholic faith. Signs will be provided; people may also bring their own, but no signs with graphic abortion images.
For more information about the Walk with the Suffering, call (619) 384-6852 or email jnstn.rsmry@gmail.com or mvalencia@sdcatholic.org. Free parking will be available at the San Diego Rescue Mission parking structure on Second Avenue, located across from the San Diego Rescue Mission, which is located at 120 Elm St.
For more information about the Pro-Life Stations of the Cross, email roger.lopez.home@gmail.com or mvalencia@sdcatholic.org or call (619) 818-1354. Carpooling is recommended because all parking is metered.
divided Stations
for a divided Church
Since 2015 the pro life movement in San Diego has been coopted by other groups in and outside the church to promote the seamless garment opinion where killing babies in the womb (and now infanticide) is equal to poverty, sexual license rights, immigration, and onward with the Catholic church’s support. It appears as if the church now weakens the redemption of Jesus from sin for eternal life by coopting the Stations of the Cross in public witness for a socialist movement of the human mind.
Jesus still suffers. And we still crucify Him. And He still redeems us.
Universal salvation?
Mary, please help this poor person learn the faith.
You sure have read a lot into a simple two-word interrogative.
Mary, help this judgmental person not jump to conclusions.
Amen.
God Bless judgementalism
It’s not just the left that misuses Catholic devotions for political aims. There’s such thing as a patriotic rosary with American nationalistic music sung before, during and after.
Why can’t the stations just be the stations? Just reflect on your personal sins. Your sins. Not other people’s alleged or imagined sins. No need to make it a virtue-signaling event for leftist political aims.
Good comment and echo of “Jesus is redeemer” and the critique by universal of “universal salvation”. The last is a heresy, which I feel “universal” is pointing out to us, which denies the teaching of Jesus for baptizing all nations and being born again from above by water and the Spirit. 60 year ago I remember 2 versions of the stations of the Cross, the more popular one according to St. Alphonsus Liguori and another attributed to St. Francis of Assisi both focusing on personal sin, sorrow, repentance, and mercy from Jesus. By the 80’s the social station booklets were appearing and being used in church, praying for change of society toward worldly goals and utopia on earth, neglecting personal sin and responsibility. I still use and pray from my 1935 booklet by St. Alphonsus.
Praying specific prayers are not required. “It is sufficient to meditate devoutly on the Lord’s Passion and Death.” Manual of Indulgences
Jesus Is the Truth the light and the way