A Holy Week tradition attended by thousands will be different this year, as no parking or vehicle entry to Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center will be allowed on April 3, Good Friday, when thousands of pilgrims are expected at Sierra Madre to walk the center’s Stations of the Cross.
More than 3,000 devotees visit the 100-year-old Catholic retreat center during Holy Week and Good Friday, officials said.
But the early stages of construction for 42 single-family homes at the entrance of the retreat center means the loss of where pilgrims used to park. Visitors are instead asked to go to Santa Anita Park, Lot A, through Gate 8 off of Baldwin Avenue. Free buses will shuttle visitors to the retreat center, about four and a half miles away.
Santa Anita Park is donating its space, so parking is free.
“Don’t come to the retreat center on Good Friday, go to Santa Anita Park,” said Melanie Goodyear, development director for the Catholic center. “There will be no parking and no vehicular or pedestrian traffic in and out of the the retreat center. Once you’re at the retreat center, you’ll have the same spiritual experience as always.”
Guided Stations of the Cross, a 14-step walking meditation following Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Good Friday, and again from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
In January, construction began on 17 acres of Mater Dolorosa’s lower lot, which The Passionists of the Holy Cross province sold to builders Toll Brothers for $54.25 million in November 2025.
The developers Toll Brothers and New Urban West will build 42 single-family homes and a three-acre public park near the entry to the retreat center on Sunnyside Avenue. Nearly 500 new trees will be planted on the project site, to be called “The Meadows at Bailey Canyon,” according to developers. A landscaped buffer will also be built between the retreat center and the homes and since the homes will be at a lower elevation, the long-distance views Mater Dolorosa is famous for should be unaffected, according to center officials.
The homebuilder expects construction to take a year for development, such as grading, infrastructure and street installation) followed by construction of each homes taking about another nine months to complete. Multiple homes may be built at the same time.
Plans for the housing development, which began in 2020, were met with protests from many Sierra Madre residents who contested the project over issues such as wildfire risk, traffic, water supply, and preserving the town’s character. The debate came to a head when Measure M passed by just 321 votes in May 2023, paving the way for the property sale two and a half years later.
Supporters note Mater Dolorosa retreat center itself will not receive any portion of the $54.25 million land sale, which will go to Passionist ministries in the U.S. and abroad, as well as to care for senior priests and brothers, retreat center officials said.
Volunteers are welcome to sign up for Holy Week activities at the center. Pilgrims may also visit earlier in the week to avoid the crowds. For more information, visit https://materdolorosa.org/good-friday.
The center is still recovering from extensive damage from the Eaton fire, which destroyed apartments, a garage and hermitage. Portions of outdoor areas as well as underground irrigation and electrical lines were damaged too. The retreat center reopened a month after the fire, interrupted by threats of mudflows after torrential rains.
The fire and the months of rebuilding that followed has set the center, and its surrounding community, on a path of sorrow and renewal, Rev. Febin Barose, center director, said on the first Ash Wednesday after the fire. It has “left visible scars on our beloved grounds, yet it’s also ignited a deeper awareness of Christ’s journey to Calvary.”