On a cool Friday evening, some 60 parishioners from Precious Blood Church in Los Angeles gather outside a home near First and Hoover Streets. With prayer sheets and flashlights in hand, a life-size wooden cross and a portable microphone, the community begins to pray the Stations of the Cross and appeal to God to bless their neighborhood.

Throughout Lent parishioners have participated in this weekly devotion, choosing a different mid-town street each week. Most recently, 14 families set up one station each outside their home or apartment building up and down Hoover Street.

"Our faith is out here, not inside the church only," says parishioner Faustina Guillermo.

"We're walking as a community of believers," says Missionary of Jesus Father Melchor Villero, pastor. He leads parishioners in praying for the crosses carried by the local community --- poverty, discrimination, injustice, violence, illness and addictions.

At each station parishioners reflect on Jesus' life and then relate it to struggles in their own community. Quietly and solemnly, those close to the wooden cross touch it while the rest of the community lays a hand one another's shoulder in prayer. Among the faithful are adult men and women as well as several dozen teens and children.

At the third station, when Jesus falls for the first time because of the burden of a heavy cross, the Precious Blood community prays for its men. At the fourth station, when Jesus meets his mother, parishioners pray for all women and mothers -- for women suffering from domestic violence, for single mothers, for mothers with children serving as soldiers in the Middle East.

At the fifth station, when Simon helps Jesus carry the cross, parishioners pray for those in the helping professions --- nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers, and leaders.

"When we gather together to pray we each feel strengthened. When we listen to each other, our crosses feel less heavy," says parishioner Victor Ramirez in Spanish.

City beats add color to the prayer experience. An ice cream truck chimes for patrons. At the seventh station a sprinkler system sets off, and parishioners scramble out of the way. Curious neighbors peer out of windows. Some 20 additional people join the procession.

"I'm proud and happy people are here at my home," says Raquel Licup, who hosted the ninth station. The church provided a smaller cross and a picture of the that station. The Licups supplied a table they decorated with candles and flowers. A mother of two school age children, Licup said she remembered the outdoor devotion from her native Philippines and is pleased the ritual is being celebrated here.

"When a community comes together, it will be blessed." adds her husband Ron Licup.

Precious Blood Church, largely a Filipino and Latino parish, has Spanish, English and English/Tagalog Masses, which attract different language groups at separate times.

The Stations of the Cross, prayed in English and Spanish, has helped to unite the two parish communities, said parishioner Leo Tamayo.

"We're united in one love in the name of God," adds Ramirez. "Now a Filipino can talk to a Hispanic person for real." Following the final station, parishioners enjoy tamales and hot chocolate.

"The root of our faith is to bring church to the community," says Jose Ortiz, confirmation coordinator and member of the Hispanic choir. Tonight he strums his guitar and sings as parishioners process from station to station. The Lenten devotion, he says, has let more neighbors know about the parish community and its new priests.

Missionary of Jesus order priests took over Precious Blood Church last summer. Quickly the pastor and associate pastor Fr. Michael Montoya began to visit parishioners in their homes and organized outdoor Guadalupe prayer celebrations in December. The Lenten Stations of the Cross is yet another opportunity for the priests to connect with the families and neighborhood streets they serve.

"The priests have been available to everyone, young and old, and are living with and among the community," says Ramirez.