In Good Friday Ritual, Pasadena Church Walks the Stations of the Cross Through City Streets

All Saints Church in Pasadena will host its annual “Stations of the Cross — A Journey Through Pasadena” on Friday, April 18, start at 6:00 p.m. The event reimagines the traditional Christian ritual by guiding participants through downtown Pasadena, connecting religious narratives with modern social justice issues at local civic landmarks.

“I think the most important thing about stations of the cross is to remember that when Jesus walked the earth, Jesus walked a very specific journey, a journey that was in solidarity with those who are marginalized, with those who are facing injustice, and with those who are oppressed and those who are poor, the migrants and those who are victims of injustice,” said Reverend Mark Chase, Associate Rector at All Saints Church.

The progressive Episcopal congregation, located at 132 N. Euclid Avenue across from City Hall, has designed a route that prioritizes accessibility for all participants.

Rev. Chase, who will be leading the event for the first time this year, explained their planning philosophy: “One of the ways that we want to be inclusive is to create a route for the stations of the cross that takes into account everyone’s mobility capacity. We didn’t want to make it too long, and we also wanted to make it long enough in order for it to feel deeply meaningful for folks who would be participating.”

Each of the traditional 14 stations has been thoughtfully mapped to significant locations throughout downtown Pasadena, creating intentional connections between sacred narrative and civic space. Organizers said they have specifically planned a mostly flat route without stairs to accommodate participants with different mobility needs.

Community safety remains a central concern, reflecting the church’s communal values.

“We keep each other safe, right? We have to keep our ears and eyes open, and as volunteers who are in church parishioners who are participating in this, and we have to look out for and protect one another,” Rev. Chase emphasized. “So that’s really a big part of what we’re leaning on is the community, keeping the community safe and to make sure that this is a meaningful experience for everyone involved.”

The event’s design acknowledges diverse physical abilities by offering flexibility to participants.

“We want to make it through these and make it meaningful and not have anyone hurting or even feeling left out because they can’t do the full thing,” said Rev. Chase.

Participants who cannot complete the entire journey will have clearly marked options to skip certain stations and rejoin the group at later points, he said.

This public ritual explicitly connects Christian tradition with contemporary social concerns including homelessness, immigration, racial injustice, and police violence. Rev. Chase articulated this intentional linkage: “The reason that one of the main reasons we’re doing this again this year is to remind ourselves and to send a signal to the world that today, Jesus still walked in the footsteps of the immigrants and refugees and those who are victims of police violence and those who are targeted by violence.”

All Saints Church carries a substantial legacy of social activism in Pasadena. During World War II, its rector actively protested Japanese American internment. In the 1980s, the church established itself as a sanctuary for refugees and developed the largest parish-based AIDS ministry in the United States. Beginning in the early 1990s, the church began officiating same-sex unions, maintaining its position at the forefront of LGBTQ+ inclusion within the Episcopal Church despite facing threats of violence. More recently, the church launched its Safe Haven program during the pandemic, providing shelter and transitional support for unhoused individuals.

The congregation extends its justice work through interfaith partnerships, collaborating with the Interfaith Study Group and Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center to foster cross-religious conversations around justice, faith, and shared human experience. These partnerships cultivate inclusive dialogue across spiritual traditions.

The event is expected to last between 1.5 to 2 hours and welcomes the public.

Rev. Chase spoke to the importance of post-event reflection and evaluation: “We rely heavily on feedback and listening and hearing people’s experience and what they got out of it. The hope and the vision is to enter into the footsteps of Jesus and to walk where Jesus would’ve walked, right? So we want to make sure that that happens and that people feel like they got that out of the experience.”

In his final reflection on the event’s spiritual significance, Rev. Chase said, “We want to remind ourselves that that is a part of the story that is a part of Easter, that is a part of Good Friday, that that’s a part of what we believe as followers of Jesus, is that his footsteps were very specific and they were in solidarity with the poor and the downtrodden and those who were left to suffer injustice.”

For more information, participants can visit the church’s website at https://allsaints-pas.org or call (626) 796-1172.