For Cardinal Mahony, Twilight... and "Shadow"
Feb 03, 2010
Over recent months, a growing wildfire of chatter -- both from the West Coast and points beyond -- has carried word of an expedited timetable on what'll arguably be Benedict XVI's most important pick for the Stateside bench: the pontiff's choice of a successor to Cardinal Roger Mahony as head of the nation's largest local church, the 5 million-member archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Whispers in the Loggia
Thursday, January 28, 2010
For Cardinal Mahony, Twilight... and "Shadow"
Over recent months, a growing wildfire of chatter -- both from the West Coast and points beyond -- has carried word of an expedited timetable on what'll arguably be Benedict XVI's most important pick for the Stateside bench: the pontiff's choice of a successor to Cardinal Roger Mahony as head of the nation's largest local church, the 5 million-member archdiocese of Los Angeles.
While this desk has spent practically all of January tracking the talk -- hence the low posting of late -- the story broke into the open late last week after the American Papist blogger Thomas Peters reported that Mahony "has approved a coadjutor bishop [sic] recently selected for him," and that "this news – and the name – will be publicly announced 'soon.'"
For the record, any claims of a selection already made cannot be confirmed and, as the lay of the land is looking at present, would appear premature. What's more, lacking an announcement from the Holy See, it should -- but, given the hysteria surrounding appointments, can't -- go without saying that anything can change at any time.
Keeping that important corollary in mind, scores of reports in church circles have circulated since November that, over a year before he reaches the retirement age of 75, Mahony is "widely known" to have petitioned for an understudy on his own initiative. In early January, three independent sources outside the archdiocese indicated to Whispers that the consultation stage of a selection process had been underway at least since mid-autumn, with one adding that the cardinal's request for a coadjutor had been granted by the Holy See in October. From there, the cardinal is credibly understood to have been given the privilege of approving the terna of his potential successors -- not the final choice -- with at least one Mahony aide anticipating an announcement sometime around the cardinal's 74th birthday, February 27th.
Once named, then installed with the customary "Mass of Welcome" some two months after his appointment, a coadjutor would spend roughly a year assisting the ordinary and learning the ropes before immediately succeeding to the archbishopric upon its vacancy -- in this case, on the acceptance of Mahony's resignation by the Pope shortly after the cardinal turns 75. Though such provision is often sought by prelates seeking a smooth transition of governance, it's likewise a savvy move; a departing ordinary usually stands a better chance of getting the coadjutor of his choice than a successor who's selected outright.
That said, while a putative version of the shortlist has made the rounds, given Benedict's commitment to intense personal study of case-files and making his choices his own, especially for major assignments, all bets are genuinely off until the Apartment has spoken. As for what's already on-record, Mahony let slip in a recent posting on his new blog that 2010 would be "my final full year" as head of his hometown fold, American Catholicism's progressive seat and one of the global church's most complex, energetic and diverse diocesan set-ups.
Long a flashpoint figure in the US church's eternal culture wars, the cardinal will mark his 25th anniversary at the LA church's helm in September. The longest-serving American cardinal named since the Council (and Paul VI's subsequent institution of a retirement age for bishops), the archdiocese has more than doubled in size since the native son's 1985 appointment, with Hispanics -- Mahony's most-cherished constituency and staunchest "base" of support -- now said to comprise approximately 70 percent of its total membership.
Even more than the pontiff's appointment of Tim Dolan to New York early last year, Benedict's choice to become LA's fifth archbishop will be thrust headlong into the three key threads of this chapter in the American Catholic story.
For one, the West's mega-see is still feeling the brunt of 2007's mammoth $660 million settlement of over 500 abuse cases -- the largest such payout by a Catholic diocese worldwide -- whose aftermath led the archdiocese to sell its famed Wilshire Boulevard chancery, birthed ongoing fiscal turmoil and, more recently, sparked a Federal grand jury investigation into the archdiocese's handling of accused priests. (LA's former vicar for clergy, Msgr Richard Loomis, recently appeared before the panel, for which he was granted immunity.)
On another crucial front, lacking both the institution-as-cult Irish tradition of the Northeast and the Bible Belt DNA of the country's newest cardinalatial post, the left-leaning SoCal ecclesiology that's made Mahony a lightning rod is unique among the US church's major hubs. Given the cardinal's endorsement of liturgical and theological concepts long panned as heretical or praised as visionary, the enduring polarization of the top tier and the moment's strong Roman currents toward traditional worship and a beyond-pure doctrinal fidelity, an LA selection will inevitably be viewed as the Vatican's definitive verdict on the archdiocese's Catholic culture: put bluntly, a "thumbs-up" choice... or a "crackdown" one.
(On a related note, claims of a possible revolt over a "more conservative" pick among the faculty of the archdiocesan seminary, St John's in Camarillo, appear to lack foundation, particularly as the house's days as part of the LA church could well be numbered. In tandem with Mahony's eventual departure, a division of the immense jurisdiction is said to be under consideration, with the most-proffered scenario eyeing the creation of a new diocese comprising the suburban counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara -- the former of which includes Camarillo. If implemented, a pared-down archdiocese would retain the lion's share of its Catholic population -- some 4 million in Los Angeles County, where the church is said to count 70 percent of its total inhabitants.)
Ultimately, however, the dominant storyline hovering over a Los Angeles process would be its staggering Hispanic supermajority… and with it, the distinct possibility -- if not likelihood -- of a watershed moment: a pick who would become the nation's first Latino cardinal.
To be clear, that outcome is by no means assured. Yet with key players in the process known to believe that "the moment has come" for two-fifths of the nation's 65 million Catholics to finally see one of their own reach the pinnacle of the Stateside hierarchy, the reality of the LA church -- and, nationally, the bench's relative dearth of genuinely "bi-cultural" figures in its topmost posts -- signals that, if not winning the day, the prospect of a Hispanic appointee will receive exponentially more consideration than any major opening has known to date on these shores.
Just as the Angeleno see's roughly 3.5 million Hispanic Catholics would, on their own, constitute the nation's largest diocese -- the figure's a million more the total Catholic population of the second-largest see, New York -- national trends indicate Rome's willingness to provide the burgeoning bloc with homegrown leadership.
Stepping briefly away from the case at hand, but pertinent to it, at his Appointment Day press conference on Tuesday, newly-named Austin Bishop Joe Vasquez said that his selection as the first Latino to head the church in Texas' capital likely owed itself to Benedict's keen awareness of the linchpin role played by Hispanics in the sustained, exponential growth and vitality that's seen Catholics recently eclipse Evangelicals as the Lone Star state's largest religious group, and drastically shifted the demographic center of the Stateside church away from its faltering Northeastern birthplace toward Southern and Western locales which would've seemed unlikely hotspots even twenty years ago.
Once the youngest American bishop, the 52 year-old Vasquez might be freshly off-the-market, but he's just one member of a rising generation of American-born, Hispanic-bred clerics whose native fluency with both Anglo and Latino communities has become the most desired quality for appointees in no shortage of spots over recent years -- if only a sufficient supply existed.
In a time when most of the country's major cities see the local Univision and Telemundo affiliates battling, and even besting, English-language TV in the ratings, this small but growing "crossover" group (which, among others, likewise includes Bishops Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Richard Garcia of Monterey, Brownsville's Daniel Flores, and San Antonio auxiliary Oscar Cantú) stands poised to reshape the face and extend the reach of the Stateside bench over the years to come.
All told, it's a far cry from 1917, when the vicar-general of San Francisco, John Cantwell, was named bishop of Monterey-Los Angeles, ending a two-year vacancy that saw four other clerics decline what was then an ecclesiastical backwater.
Two decades later, the boom having arrived, the Irish-born prelate became the city's first archbishop.
On another historic note, just two American cardinals have previously received coadjutors: Bishop Michael Corrigan of Newark was named to aid and succeed the nation's first red-hat, New York's John McCloskey, in 1880, and out West, Mahony's predecessor, the future Cardinal Timothy Manning, was appointed coadjutor to Cardinal James McIntyre in May 1969, succeeding California's first clerical prince eight months later. And speaking of cardinals, it bears especial underscoring that two of Mahony's Camarillo classmates will likely shepherd the process' penultimate stage from their seats on the Congregation for Bishops: Philadelphia's Justin Rigali, and the CDF prefect William Levada (who was Mahony's auxiliary for a year before his 1986 promotion to Portland in Oregon). The trio have remained friends since their seminary days.
Asked on 5 January for comment on the coadjutor reports, the cardinal's influential and omnipresent spokesman, Tod Tamberg, pulled out his A-game, memorably telling Whispers that "speculation is for people who watch football," but conspicuously avoided any denial of the buzz. Some days later, another member of the cardinal's inner circle replied simply that "Cardinal Mahony will turn 75 a year from this February 27 and is looking forward to submitting his letter."
Regardless of when or how the moment comes, or even one's impressions of the man, at least one truth transcends opinion: that Mahony's departure will bring down the curtain on one of the monumental reigns in the four-century history of the American church.
Named an auxiliary bishop of Fresno 35 years ago this month, the cardinal's episcopate has seen him march with Caesar Chavez, spar with Mother Angelica, bless a Democratic convention, bury Joseph Bernardin and -- in a move his critics should've appreciated, but ignored -- help short-circuit the 11th-hour opposition to the impending Roman Missal at last November's USCCB plenary in Baltimore.
Considerable as all that is, it's not even the top line of the story. We won't see Mahony's duration repeated anytime soon, if ever… nor, perhaps more significantly, the scope of his influence.
Beyond his own turf, the cardinal's spent most of his quarter-century as the lone red hat West of the Mississippi, his onetime auxiliaries now run dioceses from the Rio Grande to the Pacific, and among his former clergy are found the head of California's other metropolitan church and, indeed, the two most influential Americans in the history of the Holy See.
Even for that, though, his empire's mostly been built at home, among a crowd where he's more revered than loved. And what's more, even amid the scandals and controversies of the years, the long eye of history has its way of looking at matters differently than many might see them today.
For any student of the church's journey on these shores, the story is familiar: an ethnic "old guard" wrought by divisions, chatter and complacency finds its model of church wiped off the map by a mass infusion of fresh blood, true believers in the faith and the promise of the land. Even within the church, this "immigrant church" of great fervor and hard work experiences scorn or disdain just as it births both renewal and a considerable growth spurt. Yet still, for all its talents and testimony, it would take the emergence of one transformative leader to integrate the newcomers' gifts into ecclesial life, to shepherd them to their rightful place and, indeed, to herald their arrival -- not just as a presence, but a force, both within the walls and on the streets.
Faced with a rapidly changing, growing local reality, this "born fighter" builds an epic cathedral both to gather his own and make immortal the church of his vision. He defends his institutional prerogatives with the same vigor he devotes to his beloved migrants. He revels in the prestige and possibilities of politics, quells ethnic strife as he divides public opinion… and by the end of the day, himself becomes an icon -- not so much a leader of the church as, among his own, the very personification of it.
Sure, that's a rough sketch of the Mahony legacy… one that finds its precursor in John Hughes.
Perhaps that's why Our Lady of the Angels happened to be built one foot longer than the "Dagger"-wielder's dream project -- read: St Patrick's, New York. Still, for the titan-pastors of both coasts, the tale would end the same way: for all their work and the transformation they oversaw, all the controversies braved in the moment and accomplishments birthed for generations onward, each bore his respective charge to the threshold of the brass ring… but only under their successors would the local churches they revolutionized become American Catholicism's capital see.
Who'll bring that title Westward is the choice we await.
For all of it, as always, stay tuned.
Cardinal Mahony replacement chosen, announcement to be made soon
Feb 03, 2010
I am hearing, on reliable authority, that the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, has approved a coadjutor bishop recently selected for him by the Holy See. This news – and the name – will be publicly announced “soon.”
American Papist by Thomas Peters
January 21st, 2010
I am hearing, on reliable authority, that the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, has approved a coadjutor bishop recently selected for him by the Holy See. This news – and the name – will be publicly announced “soon.”
This new bishop, once announced and appointed, will automatically succeed Mahony as the Archbishop of Los Angeles as soon as Mahony retires, presumably before Mahony’s mandatory retirement at age 75 (February 27, 2011). Mahony has said that the current class of seminarians will be the last one he personally ordains.
Some of the faculty at St. John’s Seminary – where new priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are trained – have expressed concern that the new coadjutor bishop will lean more “conservative” than his predecessor, and some have even threatened to resign or retire if this turns out to be the case.
Amid speculation about who has been chosen as the next Archbishop of LA and when he will be announced, let’s remember to keep the faithful of the Archdiocese in our prayers, and pray especially for a smooth transition in the coming months.
Le cardinal-archevêque de Los Angeles sur le départ avant la fin de son mandat ?
Jan 31, 2010
Le cardinal Roger Mahony, archevêque de Los Angeles, n’est pas vraiment, pour paraphraser Les Tontons flingueurs, « ma marque de cardinal préféré »… Vous me direz que Mahony n’étant pas mon archevêque, je ferais mieux de me soucier de lui comme d’une guigne. Sans doute. Mais j’ai quelques connaissances dans l’archidiocèse de Los Angeles qui souffrent depuis des années de ce prélat « liberal » comme on dit là-bas, qui n’a pas été vraiment blanc-bleu dans sa gestion des prêtres abuseurs sexuels de son archidiocèse (en pleine déconfiture financière voir ici et là), est hostile à la forme extraordinaire (ici), et nul sur l’ObamaCare (là).
Quoi qu’il en soit, une rumeur persistante le donne partant avant la fin de son mandat épiscopal. Lui-même est à la source de ces rumeurs puisqu’en ordonnant au sacerdoce l’année dernière des séminaristes du St. John’s Seminary de son archidiocèse, il a déclaré que c’était là la dernière fois qu’il procéderait à des ordinations sacerdotales alors qu’il ne sera atteint par la limite d’âge que le 27 février 2011, c’est-à-dire l’an prochain. Quid des ordinants de cette année ?
Thomas Peters, notre American Papist, dans un article du 21 janvier donnait pour certain qu’un coadjuteur avait été récemment sélectionné par le Saint Siège et que l’annonce de cette nomination « serait faite officiellement “prochainement” ». Un coadjuteur est celui qui succède automatiquement à l’ordinaire.
Cet article de Thomas Peters lui a valu une réplique immédiate de Tod Temberg, le porte-parole de l’archidiocèse, qui n’y voit que de « pures spéculations », mais qui ne dit pas que cette rumeur est fausse et que de toute façon de telles rumeurs ne peuvent que se produire quand un ordinaire entre dans la dernière année de son pontificat… Curieux quand même qu’il ait cru devoir répondre…
Tout ce que je peux dire c’est que pour ce qui concerne le départ de Mahony, le plus vite sera le mieux. Good riddance !
Cardinal Mahony says abortion should not be funded by health care bills
Sept 28, 2009
Washington D.C., Sep 24, 2009 / 05:49 am (CNA).- Responding to a reporter’s question about the place of abortion in health care, Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has said abortion should not be in the health care reform bill and that President Obama believes similarly.
The cardinal briefly spoke to CNSNews.com at a Sept. 22 panel discussion in Washington, D.C. on faith communities’ involvement in immigration reform. The event was sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
Asked whether he thought that the proposals fund abortion and whether they should be amended to explicitly prohibit abortion, he said the issue was “way beyond his field,” which is immigration.
“I really haven’t kept up on that, and I spend all my time on this other [topic]. You have to get somebody who spends time on that,” he remarked.
Asked whether he believed abortion should be funded under the health care reform bill, Cardinal Mahony said “No, but that’s what the president said, too.”
Cardinal Mahony on ministry
May 23, 2009
Few American bishops have pondered the future of ministry in the Catholic church as thoroughly as Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles.
Cardinal Mahony on ministry
All Things Catholic by John L Allen Jr
Created Apr 30, 2009
Few American bishops have pondered the future of ministry in the Catholic church as thoroughly as Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles. He issued a pastoral letter on the subject in 2000 called “As I Have Done For You,” presided over an archdiocesan synod in which ministry was a major focus, and sponsored three subsequent documents on leadership by the ordained and non-ordained, the role of a lay administrator in a priestless parish, and parish-based evangelization.
Mahony has a profile as something of a liberal, so some of his ideas may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Nonetheless, he’s produced a body of reflection on ministry that few specialized theologians can rival, to say nothing of bishops perpetually pulled in a thousand directions.
Now 73, Mahony spoke on ministry this week to a National Federation of Priests’ Councils convention in San Antonio. At one point he sketched 17 specific challenges facing the church, saying his aim was not to present definitive positions but to foster discussion. Whatever conclusions one may reach, the questions offer a roadmap to the terrain.
The following summary is based on excerpts from Mahony’s San Antonio address.
* * *
Challenges cited by the cardinal include:
1. “Some really harsh generational divides” among priests, “with the younger generation often quite openly challenging the orthodoxy of older priests.”
2. A need for “welcome and hospitality” in parishes. (Mahony offered a practical example: “On several occasions I have called parish offices and got entangled in the web of voicemail menu choices, trying to extract myself from the non-stop options without ever being able to speak to a real, live person.”)
3. In light of the priest shortage, deacons are increasingly being formed to administer priestless parishes. Does that risk “undermining the integrity of the diaconate as a ministry distinct from the ministerial priesthood”?
4. Offering “proper theological and pastoral formation” for lay ministers, at a time when the economy is prompting greater reliance on volunteers and deacons.
5. How to foster a strong identity among young priests, without making them “less collaborative, less flexible,” and more inclined to throw their weight around. (Mahony appended what he said is a true story: “One of our seminary professors asked a first year seminarian: Why have you asked your bishop to transfer you to another seminary? Answer: Because the priests, sisters and professors at Saint John’s Seminary want to give the church to the laity!”)
6. Taking a “hard look” at the changing face of seminarians in terms of age, culture, and language. (“Do we realize,” Mahony asked, “that some of our seminarians from diverse cultures have little or no interest in what many of us think of as ‘multiculturalism’?")
7. “Too many liturgies and homilies are not what they might be, often because of a lack of a good grasp of Scripture as the basis for homilies and for liturgy planning.”
8. “A slowing down of ecumenical efforts at the local level, and at all levels.”
9. A “weakening” of social concern among parishioners, driven in some cases by moral and political disagreement. (Mahony cited an example: “The church’s current efforts at comprehensive immigration reform have often been met with outright denunciation as the anti-immigrant mood takes deeper root.”)
10. Threats to parish unity from “the re-introduction of the Latin Mass and more ‘sacred’ liturgies, which have the effect of creating two parallel communities.”
11. How to articulate the church’s positions on sexuality “in a plausible and compelling way.”
12. “More parish retreats, to give people an inexpensive and parish-related quiet time.”
13. A “poorly realized renewal of reconciliation ministry within parishes -- especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”
14. Training laity to provide spiritual direction, “as part of a larger spiritual renewal ministry in the parish.”
15. “The nagging problem of too many people getting children baptized, and getting married, outside their own parish.”
16. “Not enough attention to a communal approach to the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, as an integral part of a community’s care for the sick.”
17. Greater interaction among all the parishes in a diocese, especially “where there are many social classes and many cultural groups.”
Cardenal Mahony calla sobre el caso Cutié
May 14, 2009
El cardenal de Los Ángeles, Roger Mahony, optó por guardar silencio en el caso del famoso cura Alberto Cutié, quien tras ser fotografiado con una mujer en una playa de Miami la semana pasada, ha externado su deseo de abandonar el sacerdocio para casarse y tener hijos.
"Hoy [ayer] estamos discutiendo el Día de las Madres, no conozco a ese señor", declaró Mahony en referencia a Cutié, al término de una celebración litúrgica en la catedral de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles.
Al ser cuestionado sobre la importancia del celibato en la Iglesia Católica, que prohibe a ministros y religiosas tener pareja, el prelado evitó nuevamente abordar el tema. "Estamos discutiendo el Día de las Madres, el domingo que viene quién sabe", expresó a La Opinión.
Cutié, de 40 años, fue captado besando y acariciando a una mujer, identificada como Ruhama Buni Canellis, una madre divorciada de 35 años y residente de Miami Beach.
Apodado como "Padre Oprah", por sus consejos maritales en publicaciones, así como programas de radio y televisión, el religioso de origen cubano-estadounidense anticipó a la cadena Univision que dejará sus votos sacerdotales por estar enamorado de Buni Canellis.
La castidad exigida a los ministros católicos ha sido un tema de añejas discusiones, que recientemente ha salido a colación por las constantes denuncias de abuso sexual que pesan sobre algunos sacerdotes en este país.
"Como éste hay muchos casos", afirmó Donald L. Kohles, quien ha denunciado supuestas violaciones sexuales por parte del clero. "Hay corrupción dentro y fuera de nuestra iglesia", recalcó.
No es una novedad que un sacerdote abandone los hábitos para formar un hogar, incluso existe la posibilidad que mantengan su servicio en la Iglesia. Para romper su compromiso deben seguir un largo proceso en el Vaticano.
www.impre.com/
Lettera quaresimale del cardinale Mahony ai fedeli di Los Angeles
Mar 11, 2009
Un periodo di quaresima dedicato a “una riflessione più profonda sulla nostra vita in Dio, a mettere in ordine le nostre esigenze personali dando la priorità ai valori dello spirito, a vivere il nostro impegno quotidiano all’insegna del sacrificio personale”; così il cardinale Roger Michael Mahony ha esortato i suoi fedeli dell’arcidiocesi di Los Angeles a vivere i quaranta giorni che precedono la Pasqua. Nella lettera di quaresima pubblicata nei giorni scorsi, il porporato della California ha esaminato anche l’attuale difficile situazione economica che nella sua arcidiocesi ha già causato la perdita di migliaia di posti di lavoro provocando insicurezze per il futuro in moltissime famiglie. “Negli anni precedenti – afferma il cardinale – quando la vita quotidiana e la sicurezza finanziaria erano maggiormente prevedibili, la quaresima era considerata dai credenti come un periodo di particolari sacrifici ma di durata limitata. Ma ora dobbiamo affrontare una nuova realtà. Quest’anno non siamo noi a scegliere quali sacrifici affrontare ma sono questi ultimi che piombano su di noi”. Il periodo si penitenza – prosegue il porporato – è tuttavia una stagione che può dare nuovi frutti. “La penitenza – spiega – significa mettere da parte orgoglio e autosufficienza per realizzare che la strada della vera vita è quella che ci porta ad accettare quanto ci circonda con la coscienza che Dio è ancor più presente in situazioni che sembrano disperate e senza via d’uscita”. (V.V.)
Catholic-Jewish relations: Resilient in face of Williamson episode
Mar 04, 2009
By Cardinal Roger Mahony, Rabbi Gary Greenebaum and Seth Brysk
Catholic-Jewish relations: Resilient in face of Williamson episode
The Tidings, March 6, 2009
By Cardinal Roger Mahony, Rabbi Gary Greenebaum and Seth Brysk
In January, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of four bishops of a small ultra-traditionalist group that broke from the Catholic Church over the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The pope's action might have passed largely unnoticed had not one of the bishops, Richard Williamson, questioned the historicity of the Holocaust in a previously-taped television interview that was broadcast the very day his excommunication was lifted.
Williamson's outrageous comments set off alarm bells among Jews and Catholics alike. Jews wondered whether the lifting of Williamson's excommunication suggested that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial would be seen as acceptable positions for those within the Catholic Church. Both Jews and Catholics questioned why the Vatican apparently had not thoroughly investigated Williamson, an unrepentant Holocaust denier and open anti-Semite, prior to the lifting of his excommunication.
Subsequent statements by the Vatican and the pope reiterated the Catholic Church's deep respect and esteem for the Jewish people, while sharply rebuking Williamson and other Holocaust deniers. In a mid-February meeting with American Jewish leaders at the Vatican, Pope Benedict said that denying or minimizing the Holocaust "is intolerable and altogether unacceptable." He added, "This terrible chapter in our history must never be forgotten."
Also reassuring to Catholics and Jews was the Vatican's declaration that the Society of St. Pius X, the group to which Williamson belongs, must fully recognize the Second Vatican Council and the legitimacy of all the popes from Pope John XXIII to Benedict XVI before it can rejoin the Catholic Church. The Vatican also singled out Williamson, saying that before he can be reconciled with the Catholic Church he must distance himself in an "absolutely unequivocal and public way" from his positions regarding the Holocaust.
Williamson's recent "apologies" fall far short of satisfying the letter or the spirit of the Vatican's directives. Yet while Williamson seems unwilling or unable to reject his odious positions, many religious and civic leaders have used his situation to acknowledge the Holocaust and to affirm its unique and terrible place in history.
We are heartened by the many leaders around the world who have rejected Williamson's views. In particular, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Argentine Minister of the Interior Florencio Randazzo, whose country recently expelled Williamson, not to mention nearly 50 Catholic members of the U.S. Congress who wrote to the Vatican to express their concerns.
In the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Williamson is hereby banned from entering any Catholic church, school or other facility, until he and his group comply fully and unequivocally with the Vatican's directives regarding the Holocaust. Later this year, I, Cardinal Mahony, will visit Israel and pay my respects to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem.
Holocaust deniers like Williamson will find no sympathetic ear or place of refuge in the Catholic Church, of which he is not --- and may never become --- a member. In rejecting the Second Vatican Council, the Society of St. Pius X and Williamson also reject Nostra Aetate ("In Our Time"), one of the most remarkable documents to come out of the Second Vatican Council. Published in 1965, the document changed forever the Catholic Church's fundamental understanding of other religions, including Jews and Judaism.
In Nostra Aetate, the Church explicitly rejects the charge of deicide against the Jews, and affirms the kinship between the Catholic and Jewish faiths. "The Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone."
Let us remember that the American Jewish Committee worked closely with the Vatican at the time of the Council toward the creation of Nostra Aetate. The horror of the Holocaust, which took place a mere 20 years before, certainly was fresh in the minds of Catholic leaders as they composed the document.
Admittedly, the past two months have been difficult for Jews and Catholics. However, we can take heart that Catholic-Jewish relations in Southern California remain strong. Our commitment to this relationship is exemplified in the many initiatives that bring us together, like the annual InterSem Retreat for seminarians from various denominations; Model Seders that teach Catholic school students about this important Jewish ritual; and, the Catholic-Jewish Educational Enrichment Program, which educates our children and future leaders in each other's traditions.
For our part, as Catholic and Jewish leaders in Los Angeles, we recognize that only by working together with renewed vigilance will we be able to keep anti-Semitism at bay and prevent its reassertion as a legitimate expression.
Cardinal Roger Mahony is Archbishop of Los Angeles; Gary Greenebaum is U.S. Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee; and Seth Brysk is Los Angeles Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee.
Finanzkrise: US-Kardinal Mahony warnt vor Resignation
Nov 20, 2008
In den wirtschaftlich schwierigen Zeiten sollten die Familie und der Glaube Stützen sein, so Mahony in einem Hirtenbrief zum bevorstehenden Advent
Washington, 19.11.08 (KAP) Die Kirche in den USA ist wegen der steigenden Arbeitslosigkeit in Sorge. Seit Beginn der Finanzkrise ist die Nachfrage nach Hilfe stark gestiegen. Der Erzbischof von Los Angeles, Kardinal Roger Mahony, rief die Katholiken auf, nicht in Angst und Resignation zu verfallen.
In den wirtschaftlich schwierigen Zeiten sollten die Familie und der Glaube Stützen sein, so Mahony in einem Hirtenbrief zum bevorstehenden Advent und zum US-Fest "Thanksgiving" (4. Donnerstag im November; heuer 27. November). Die jetzige Krise eröffne Familien die Chance, zur wahren Bedeutung von Erntedank und Weihnachten zurückzukehren.
Die katholische Hilfsorganisation "Catholic Charities" verzeichnet angesichts der Finanzkrise eine Zunahme der Hilfeansuchen. Insbesondere im Bundesstaat Michigan, Heimat der drei krisengeschüttelten Automobilkonzerne General Motors, Ford und Chrysler, sei Jobverlust für Tausende Angestellte eine Realität, sagte Chris Root, Leiter der diözesanen Caritas-Büros, im Gespräch mit der US-amerikanischen katholischen Nachrichtenagentur CNS. Die Mitarbeiter der Organisation unterstützennach seinen Angaben Familien bei der Zahlung von Miete und Stromrechnungen, verteilen Nahrungsmittel und vermitteln Job- und Bewerbungstrainings.
Cardinal Mahony praises success of Prop. 8’s ‘unprecedented coalition’
Nov 12, 2008
Los Angeles, Nov 11, 2008 / 11:50 pm (CNA).- Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has issued a statement following the electoral victory of Proposition 8, a California ballot measure which restored the legal definition of marriage to be a union between a man and a woman. Its passage, he said, resulted from an “unprecedented coalition” of people who understood the importance of “the bedrock of marriage” as it has been lived out through recorded history.
“I am grateful to the Catholic Community of Los Angeles for your commitment to the institution of marriage as fashioned by God and to work with such energy to enshrine this divine plan into our State’s Constitution,” he wrote in a November 5 statement.
The cardinal then explained “God’s plan for the human family,” referring to the Book of Genesis’ account of God’s creation of man and woman.
Efforts in support of Proposition 8, Cardinal Mahony explained, centered solely on “preserving God’s plan that marriage between one man and one woman is to be that unchanging reality.” Their mutual love becomes fruitful through “bringing forth children to continue the human family,” and these children’s formation and maturation is “destined by God to take place within a traditional family of one father and one mother.”
“Proposition 8 is not against any group in our society,” the cardinal continued, acknowledging that the Church understands that there are people who live together in relationships other than traditional marriage.
“All of their spiritual, pastoral, and civil rights should be respected, together with their membership in the Church,” he said.
“This special effort across California has also been assisted by many who live outside our state because they recognized the importance of maintaining God’s plan for marriage as a bedrock institution for society,” Cardinal Mahony’s statement concluded.
“May the new definition of marriage in our state Constitution be enlivened by our continuing support for married couples and their families.”
Cardinal Mahony ad part of $1M campaign to sway Latinos for marriage-protection amendment
Oct 30, 2008
The Church in California is spending $1 million on Spanish-language radio and television ads designed to convince Latinos to vote in favor of Proposition 8, the state ballot initiative that would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Cardinal Roger Mahony speaks on behalf of the amendment in one radio slot, according to a Sacramento Bee report
Church Must Unite in Bad Times, Says Cardinal
Jul 29, 2008
Notes That Body of Christ Cannot React as a Corporation.
LOS ANGELES, JULY 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Just as the faithful benefit from the good done by past generations of Catholics, they also must bear the effect of the sins of past generations, said the archbishop of Los Angeles.
In an article in this week's issue of the Tidings, the archdiocesan newspaper, Cardinal Roger Mahony reflected on his visits to parish councils and parish finance councils regarding the settlement of civil lawsuits from clergy sexual misconduct.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has made the largest settlement to date, agreeing last July to pay more than 500 alleged victims some $660 million. An earlier settlement was for another $60 million.
The cardinal said he visited the archdiocese's 20 deaneries to give an update on the settlements, an account of the debts and how they will be repaid, and to discuss how to emerge from "this tragic chapter in the life of our Church."
The lawsuits faced by the archdiocese spanned from the years 1931 to 2006.
"Many questioned why the parishes across the archdiocese in 2008 should have to bear responsibility for what happened many decades ago. After all, many of today's parishioners were not alive during those years or, those who were alive, have no responsibility for the actions of the clergy in bygone years," the cardinal acknowledged.
"It was suggested by some that the Church and our archdiocese needed to confront this problem and our current situation by turning to methods by which large businesses and corporations might deal with such issues," he continued. "However, in the fullest sense we are not just a civil or business corporation. We are members of the one Body of Christ, the Church. As such, we live by different values than a corporation."
Inheritance
Cardinal Mahony explained: "Through our baptism we are all members of the Church, the Body of Christ. Our prayers and good works contribute to build up the Body of Christ; and our sins and failures diminish the Body of Christ.
"Recall that the vast number of our churches, schools, and parish facilities were paid for and built by past generations of Catholics. […] You and I in the fullest sense 'inherit' their gifts and sacrifices by having use of these facilities without the need to build most of them. […] That's what it means to belong to the one Body of Christ -- the blessings of those who have gone before us are now ours.
"But then there is the other side of the coin: the faults, sins, and mistakes of past years are also part of our inheritance -- even though we were not the cause of those troubles."
The 72-year-old prelate noted that he has been "overwhelmed" by the response from the faithful.
"Many parishes were able to make special grants to help retire the debt, while others were able to extend long-term loans with little or no interest," he explained. "The members of some parishes even undertook small grassroots fundraising efforts open to all those in the parish who felt called to participate. Many of the priests of the archdiocese donated a month's salary to help. Unanticipated checks continue to arrive in the mail from individuals, not only in our archdiocese but elsewhere in California and beyond.
"All of these actions are more than mere gestures. They demonstrate a deep understanding that we truly are members together of the one Body of Christ. The Gospel accounts of the resurrected Christ make it clear that his glorified body still bears wounds. So, too, does his Body the Church.
Bearing these wounds -- even as we cry out to Christ the healer for the Spirit's healing balm -- is our gift and task as we move forward to life in abundance wherein Christ will be all in all, and every tear shall be wiped away."
Cardinal Mahony speaks with NCR
Dec 05, 2007
Los Angeles is the capital of the world's
entertainment industry, and since 1985 the Catholic church there has been led by a figure seemingly made for Tinseltown: Cardinal Roger Mahony, 71, perhaps the most media-savvy American bishop (among other things, Mahony is an Internet adept) and something of a cultural celebrity in his own right.
Cardinal Mahony speaks with NCR
All Things Catholic by John L. Allen, Jr.
Friday, November 30, 2007 - Vol. 7, No. 13
Los Angeles is the capital of the world's
entertainment industry, and since 1985 the Catholic
church there has been led by a figure seemingly made
for Tinseltown: Cardinal Roger Mahony, 71, perhaps the
most media-savvy American bishop (among other things,
Mahony is an Internet adept) and something of a
cultural celebrity in his own right. The latest
confirmation came earlier this month with the
publication of a novel, billed as "reality fiction,"
by American Catholic writer Robert Blair Kaiser titled
Cardinal Mahony. In the novel, the Los Angeles prelate
is kidnapped by a group of liberation theologians from
Latin America, put on trial in Mexico (after being
spirited away in his own helicopter), and converted to
the need for sweeping reform. The fictional Mahony
apparently ends up leading American Catholics in
demanding what the book's publisher describes as
"citizenship in their church."
I bumped into Mahony in the Vatican's Synod Hall on
Nov. 23, waiting for a meeting of the College of
Cardinals with the pope. He said he had read most of
the novel during his flight to Rome; asked for a
reaction, he simply laughed.
As is often the case with celebrities these days,
Mahony is also dogged by his share of controversy.
Recently, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles concluded
what will almost certainly be the largest single
settlement related to the American sexual abuse crisis
-- a $660 million payout, shared by the archdiocese,
most religious orders sued in California (with the
exception of the Salesians), and insurance carriers.
That amount reflects not only the size and wealth of
the archdiocese, but also a 2002 California law
temporarily suspending the statute of limitations on
civil lawsuits against private organizations whose
personnel abused children. The settlement closes some
500 claims at roughly $1 million each. The process of
collecting more than 700 signatures to finalize the
settlement was completed in mid-November.
On Monday, Nov. 26, Mahony sat down in Rome for an
interview with NCR to discuss the settlement, the
legacy of the sexual abuse crisis, Pope Benedict XVI's
trip to the United States in April 2008, and the
consistory itself. The full text of that interview is
available in the Special Documents section of
NCRonline.org. The following are excerpts. I also
filed daily reports during the consistory, which can
be found here: http://ncrcafe.org/blog/2682
NCR: You've just concluded a $660 million settlement
in Los Angeles designed to end your litigation related
to the sexual abuse crisis. Do you feel a sense of
relief?
Mahony: I don't look at it that way. Having met with
dozens and dozens of victims, over 70 so far, I
believe the closure of this is important for them. I
didn't realize how much more they'd been through, even
by filing lawsuits. They had to fill out claimant
questionnaires and say all kinds of things about their
personal lives. Their attorneys asked them to do
videos of their experience. They've had to bare their
souls, which for many of them reopened the past. Most
of them see the settlement as the last time they'll
have to go through all this.
Secondly, they see the settlement, as I do, as a
ratification that they were harmed. This is a public
acknowledgment that they were harmed. Even though the
language of the settlement may not use the terms
"fault" and "no fault," it is a ratification, an
acknowledgement by the church, that you were harmed.
While money doesn't resolve the past, it is an
acknowledgement, and I think that's very important for
them.
There are those who charge that you spent $660 million
to save yourself the personal embarrassment of sitting
in the witness box during a jury trial. How do you
respond to that?
First of all, I respond with a very big smile. Part of
our strategy, and our settlement judge knew this all
along, is that the only way to get insurance companies
to settle is if it would cost them more not to settle.
The only way that can happen is to get a verdict from
a jury. Therefore, we purposefully chose cases with
huge coverage amounts and went to the court, more than
a year ago, and got them set for trial. People say
we're afraid of a trial? We're the ones who got the
cases set for trial. We wanted them set for trial. It
was that date approaching that broke things loose.
In fact, the day we had the formal presentation of the
settlement in court -- Monday, July 16 -- was the date
the first trial was to start. A week before that, the
insurance guys wanted no part of this [settlement].
The judge met with them all and said, 'Well, if you
don't want to participate and you want to go to trial
next Monday, I would suggest you go home and get ready
for trial. There's no sense sitting around here.'
The judge dismissed them and left the courtroom. They
didn't leave. The bailiff came back later and told the
judge, 'You know those guys you sent home? They're all
still here.' He let them sit for an hour or two. In
the end, they blinked.
Secondly, with respect to me testifying, 95 percent of
the cases occurred before I came, and I would have
very little to say. In fact, the first case concerned
a fellow who was ill when I arrived and died within my
first year. I wouldn't be able to tell them anything
about it. Actually, I was looking forward to it,
because I was going to use the opportunity to explain
what we've done to make sure this doesn't happen
again. I had no problem with testifying.
As matter of church law, alienation of property
requires approval of the Holy See. Specifically, it
goes to the Congregation for Clergy, and, for
settlements related to sexual abuse, also Secretariat
of State. What has your experience been in dealing
with the Vatican?
They've been extremely supportive. Of our total
settlement, we've only needed to get permission to
alienate $200 million. [The rest of the $660 million
will come from insurance companies, religious orders,
and internal borrowing.] I've just come from a meeting
in the Congregation for Clergy to discuss it.
Would you say the Vatican has been on a learning
curve?
Some [in the Vatican] get it, and some don't. I would
say that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith and the Congregation for Clergy people get it.
Perhaps it's because those two offices have been on
the front lines of the crisis -- the CDF for the
doctrinal and disciplinary issues, and Clergy for the
money?
That's right. Cardinal Hummes particularly has been
extremely helpful. [Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes
is Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.] Cardinal
Rodé also has been very helpful. [Slovenian Cardinal
Franc Rodé is Prefect of the Congregation for
Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of
Apostolic Life, popularly known as the Congregation
for Religious.] He gave us the key principle this past
May. He said the religious institutes must bear full
responsibility for their members, and the dioceses for
their members. He said that's the only formula that's
going to work, and that's the formula we've been
following.
Some of the other folks, in some of the other offices,
the ones from whom we had the most skepticism, are now
happily retired!
Shifting gears, what do you think the importance of
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States next
April will be?
It will be the first time the American people see him
a bit more up-close. Of course, it will depend in part
on what he has to say.
What message will you be looking for?
I would hope that he would recognize the vitality of
the church in the United States, particularly the
vitality of parish life. I hope he'll talk about lay
involvement, lay leadership, and lay ministry -- as a
plus, a real plus … (laughs) as opposed to that
document from the eight dicasteries! [The reference is
to a 1997 Vatican document issued by eight Vatican
offices raising concerns about lay ministry.] I hope
he acknowledges that this is where the church is
growing, and that we're going in the right direction.
I maintain that this is why we're not Italy or France
or someplace else, because we've been able to do that.
John Paul II acknowledged that all the time, so I hope
Benedict will emphasize that.
I think it's also important to acknowledge the faith
of our people, especially during the six or seven
years of this crisis. Our people have remained so
faith-filled. They realize that the church is not
about perpetrators of sexual abuse, it's about Jesus
Christ and his abiding presence with the church.
That's the core. It's not about us people along the
way or various segments of history, it's the presence
of Christ. I've been in awe of the faith of our
people, the way that they've rallied around their
priests and been so supportive of their priests in the
parishes. … I think the Holy Spirit does that for us.
Do you think Benedict XVI will have to address the
sexual abuse crisis?
Oh, absolutely. I think it's a unique opportunity for
him to do that. He's got to. He cannot avoid that.
Where he does it, I'm not sure. I would hope he says
something in both his homilies to large gatherings of
the Catholic faithful, not just the meeting of the
bishops. That isn't going to be helpful. I think he
needs to say something in the public arena to our
people. I think he needs to make it clear that he
understands.
I must say, I think he does [understand]. He was most
helpful at the CDF in getting things changed that we
needed changed. So, I'm hoping that in those two
arenas, he'll say something. [Benedict XVI is expected
to celebrate public Masses in Nationals Stadium in
Washington, D.C., and Yankee Stadium in New York.]
You took part in the business meeting of the College
of Cardinals with the pope, devoted largely to the
issue of Christian unity. Did you hear anything new?
I thought that Cardinal Kasper's report was a good
overview of where we are. … He pointed out where the
obstacles and challenges remain. What I found
fascinating was that the cardinals were all into this
topic. I think at first some thought that Kasper would
gave his report, then there'd be a comment or two, and
then there would be other issues. Actually, basically
the whole day, even the evening, was all on this.
As I listen to both ecumenical experts and bishops, it
seems that a gradual shift has been taking shape away
from focusing primarily on theological dialogue,
toward more practical cooperation on socio-cultural
concerns. Does that seem right?
Absolutely. Just to give you one vivid example in the
archdiocese, in the inner city we have a large Central
American parish, St. Thomas the Apostle. Right next to
it is Santa Sophia, the Los Angeles cathedral for the
Greek Orthodox. Recently we had an arson fire at St.
Thomas the Apostle, and it was closed for almost a
year. The fire was on Friday night, and the next
Sunday I went to celebrate Mass in the parking lot
with the parishioners. You know who was there? The
[Orthodox] pastor from next door, along with the Greek
Orthodox Archbishop from San Francisco, who came down
for the Mass. They loaned their facilities to the
parish. It was just phenomenal.
I joked with the archbishop, saying, 'If you and I
wanted, we could just declare unity and let the folks
in Istanbul and Rome figure it out. We could deal with
them later!' The fact is, we do so much together on so
many fronts.
How did you find the pope?
I found him very alert. As usual, the way he can sum
up everything at the end of a session is just
incredible. He listens, he's obviously taking notes.
At the end of the morning and evening sessions, he
gave a few points that captured the discussion well.
He didn't announce any new ecumenical initiative?
No. There were some suggestions from cardinals that
perhaps we need another summit.
You mean like the inter-religious summits in Assisi
under John Paul II, this time for other Christian
bodies?
Yes, but nobody really thought we're ready for that at
this point.
The e-mail address for John L. Allen Jr. is jallen@ncronline.org
Cardinal Mahony's statement regarding immigration bill
Jul 07, 2007
My brothers and sisters, although I am profoundly disappointed with the moral failure on the part of our legislators for not passing comprehensive immigration reform, I, your archbishop, your auxiliary bishops, your priests and our entire Catholic Church are not giving up. We are here today to ask you not to become discouraged and not to lose hope. We have to keep fighting and, we will continue fighting.
(The Tindings, July 6, 2007) This is not the end of immigration reform. Our immigration laws are unjust and immoral. The present system causes much suffering, including even the death of many immigrants. I and our Catholic Church will continue fighting for immigration reform that is comprehensive, just and that respects and protects the human rights and the dignity of each person.
Immigrants are an essential part of the continued economic and social well being of our city, California, and our country. Immigrants have always contributed and will always contribute something special and noble to our identity as Americans. Our country was founded by immigrants. We are all part of the same community. We shouldn't be divided by fear, or by the anti-immigrant rhetoric, which sadly has been propagated during this debate.
I assure you that I and all our Church will always be in solidarity with our immigrant community. We will always support you. Yesterday's vote only served to strengthen and renew my personal commitment and the commitment of the Catholic Church to fight even harder to achieve immigration reform.
Immigration reform is a moral issue. It will not go away. We will not let it go away. The Catholic Church will work together with our elected leaders, urging them not to abandon this issue, and to return to it as soon as possible. The Catholic Church shall continue to work toward just and humane immigration reform until it is achieved.
I also want to assure all of you that you are always welcome in our Catholic parishes, our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals and our Catholic social services. You all are welcomed in the Catholic Church -- this is your house.
Let me say again: I promise you that I and the Catholic Church will continue this fight for comprehensive immigration reform. Our Church stands in solidarity with you, and with all immigrants. Let us replace fear and uncertainty with courage and determination. We must, we can, and we will win this fight.
With faith in Jesus Christ, in whose image all of us were created, regardless of our legal status, let us strive together to bring about immigration reform that is just, fair and humane.
Today, we don't have a law on the part of our House of Representatives and the Senate. We don't have a civil law, but we are following a better law, the law of God. We are following the teachings of God in the Old Testament. Also, we are following the teaching and example of Jesus in the Gospel. This law for me is a higher law, and we will keep following it.
Always my brothers and sisters, always moving forward!
CTSA: Four bishops on being a bishop: 'It ain't easy'
Jun 10, 2007
By John L. Allen Jr.
Los Angeles (ncrcafe.org, Jun 8, 2007) Four prelates from the United States and Canada were asked tonight to address “The Challenge of the Call to Be a Bishop in North America Today,” and while each approached the topic differently, their presentations seemed to converge on at least one point: It ain’t easy.
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, Bishop Donald Pelotte, of Gallup, New Mexico, Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba of Milwaukee, and Auxiliary Bishop Richard Grecco of Toronto spoke in Los Angeles to the annual convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Mahony said he understood the challenge of the episcopacy, in part, to be a matter of attention to “the vital forces in human history, in the wider world, and specifically in this local church.” He identified three such forces in Los Angeles: diversity, vibrancy and movement, and suffering.
Mahony called Los Angeles the most diverse diocese in America, noting that each Sunday the Mass is celebrated in 42 languages and dialects. In that regard, he said, the challenge is to welcome such a diverse community, “member for member,” so the church “can be the Body of Christ, as the sacrament of reconciliation and peace in and to the world.”
In terms of vibrancy, Mahony described the results of a recent archdiocesan synod in Los Angeles. Among other things, that synod identified “the Eucharist and sacramental living” as a key priority.
“How do we remain a truly sacramental church with an increasing number of Catholics and a decreasing number of priestly vocations?” Mahony asked. He said he believes it involves “much more than ensuring that a certain number of Masses are celebrated in each parish.”
Specifically, Mahony said, it’s a matter of being faithful “not only to the supper command to ‘do this in memory of me,’ but also to the diaconal mandate to ‘do unto others as I have done for you.’”
As for suffering, Mahony recounted his experience in the 1960s and 1970s of being involved in bitter agricultural labor struggles led by Cesar Chavez. The majority of both the grape workers and the owners, he said, were Catholic, and both expected the church to be on their side.
At the time, Mahony said, he never thought he would see such hurt and anger again – until, he said, the sexual abuse crisis broke out.
“One form my ministry has taken,” he said, is “meeting with the victims of sexual abuse, looking at them face to face, listening to their pain, seeing the pain written in their faces, the scarring at the heart of their stories.” That experience, he said, has revealed that “this Body of Christ which I am called to oversee and serve, is a body still bearing wounds.”
Pelotte began by describing the unique nature of his diocese, one of only two in the United States that extend into more than one state.
In the case of Gallup, that’s so the diocese can include the entire Navajo nation, which includes portions of Northwestern New Mexico and Northeastern Arizona. Some 53 percent of the Catholics in the diocese, he said, are Native Americans, belonging to seven different tribes. For that reason, Pelotte said, it’s also the poorest diocese in the country, and could not survive without outside support.
The key challenge Pelotte said he faces is “promoting and empowering lay involvement and ministry in the church,” as well as systems of “collaboration and shared responsibility.” He described his diocesan pastoral council, for example, as the “local church in miniature.”
“It holds me to accountability to all, in terms of my leadership and the implementation of the pastoral decisions we have made together,” Pelotte said.
In Gallup, however, building consensus doesn’t mean just utilizing the ecclesial structures envisioned in canon law. Native American Catholics also draw on traditions from their own culture, such as a “talking circle,” to make sure the whole parish is involved in decisions that affect everyone.
Such efforts at dialogue can often be exhausting, Pelotte said, but “the key words are persuasion and consensus-building, not imposition.”
Sklba outlined a series of factors which make episcopal ministry challenging in North America:
• Because the Catholic church in the United States operates an extensive network of schools, hospitals, social service centers, and other institutions, bishops often find themselves “chairing dozens and dozens of corporate boards.” Efforts to make sure that these institutions operate transparently and with accountability, he said, “consumes a great deal of time and energy.”
• Polarization in the broader society and in the church, Sklba said, often involves the bishop in “exhausting efforts to bring two parties within shouting range.”
• In an increasingly global church, Sklba said, a bishop must try to ensure that the voice of the rest of the church is heard in the United States. “It can be painful to discover that other parts of the church not only do not share our perspective as American Catholics, but that they even consider our concerns fundamentally flawed,” he said. Sklba said that in the midst of the sexual abuse crisis, an African Catholic warned him against “ecclesial imperialism,” meaning the assumption that America’s answers were right for the entire church. “I have been haunted by that comment,” he said.
• Religious illiteracy in the church, Sklba said, is another serious challenge. “Contemporary Catholic experience is deeply wounded by pressing need for adult formation at every level,” he said. Too many people, he said, have “no sense of cohesive theological texture of our tradition and our faith.”
As an example of religious illiteracy, Sklba said an op/ed writer in Milwaukee recently asserted that the Catholic church refusals burial for someone who has donated an organ. When he asked the writer where he got such an erroneous idea, the writer’s answer was, “My whole family believes that’s what the church says.”
Grecco focused on the role of the bishop in reanimating parishes, saying the church in recent decades have given great attention to anthropology and to culture, meaning to the individual and the broader society, but not much to the intermediary institution of the parish.
Noting that the Vatican has recognized 120 new lay movements, Greeco implied there’s a danger that these movements could replace the concept of the parish altogether without a new vision. He stressed treating the parish as a “center of contemplation” and promotion of an “authentic personal spirituality.”
During the question and answer period, the bishops were asked to what extent the national conference is a way for them to support one another. Pelotte said that since the conference consists of around 400 bishops, “it’s difficult to get much done other than vote through documents.” He said that he finds regional meetings of bishops more useful. Mahony added that the church might consider revitalizing the ancient concept of the metropolitan province as another way for bishops to cooperate on a smaller scale.
Another questioner asked the bishops how they handle a situation of conflict between the desires of their people and the policies of the Vatican. Both Sklba and Mahony replied that sometimes the problem isn’t just Rome, but that the rest of the church doesn’t see things the same way.
“In North America, sometimes we have this impression that our pastoral priorities are priorities for the entire universal church. They’re not,” he said. “It takes a great deal of patience and humility to listen to the rest of the church.”
Perhaps the best illustration of the challenges facing bishops in North America, however, came at the very end of the hour-and-a-half-long session.
A theologian from Pittsburgh said that when she was hired at her university, the president said he might end up defending her to the local bishop. She advised the president to explain to the bishop the difference between moral theology and moral catechesis. A theologian, she said, must have the room to explore, not merely reiterate official teaching. She asked the four bishops if they agreed.
After several awkward moments, none of the bishops appeared eager to respond. At that stage, Margaret O’Gara, a professor at the University of St. Michael’s College and President-Elect of CTSA, mercifully drew the evening to a close, suggesting that perhaps this was something to talk about informally.
CTSA: Mahony accents 'autonomy and integrity' of theology
Jun 10, 2007
By John L. Allen Jr.
(ncrcafe.org, Jun 8, 2007) Los Angeles - Acknowledging what he called the proper “autonomy and integrity” of Catholic theology, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles last night praised theologians for "the long, painful, and often lonely work of research and writing” which he said is an “indispensable part of the life of the church.”
Theology, Mahony said, is vital to “the central ministry of the church, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations.”
Mahony was addressing the annual convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America, which is being held this year at the downtown Sheraton Hotel in Los Angeles.
The theme of this year’s gathering is “Bishops in the Church,” and Mahony jokingly thanked the theologians for considering bishops to be a “worthy subject.” Several other bishops are taking part in the conference, including Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Tod Brown of Orange, California; Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba of Milwaukee; Emeritus Bishop Fritz Lobinger of Aliwal, South Africa; Emeritus Bishop Francisco Claver of Malaybalay, The Philippines; Emeritus Bishop John Cummins of Oakland; Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit; and Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of San Marcos, Guatemala.
The relationship between the CTSA and the bishops has not always been irenic.
In 1997, a six-member task force of the CTSA issued a report on the church’s ban on ordination of women to the priesthood, concluding that there are “serious doubts regarding the nature of the authority of this teaching and its grounds in tradition.” In response, the doctrinal staff of the U.S. bishops’ conference sent a critique of the report to all bishops in the United States. In June 1997, Cardinal Bernard Law, then the archbishop of Boston, wrote that the CTSA “has become an association of advocacy for theological dissent” and is a theological “wasteland.”
In the same year, then-Fr. Avery Dulles, now a cardinal, charged that CTSA members had rejected “fundamental articles of Catholic belief.” Some bishops have encouraged the growth of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars as a more conservative rival to the CTSA.
Nevertheless, Mahony signaled clear support for the CTSA, saying that he believes “episcopal ministry works best when I work closely with theologians,” and that he respects “academic life with all its rights and responsibilities.”
“I have found that the work of theologians is of inestimable value for the life of the local church,” Mahony said. He mentioned ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue as areas which have been especially “strengthened by members of the Catholic theological community in Los Angeles.” Mahony described Los Angeles as “the largest, fastest growing and most diverse” diocese in America.
Mahony said that for more than 20 years, he has relied on an archdiocesan theological commission, made up of theologians from local universities and seminaries as well as pastoral workers. The cardinal said he’s called on the commission to advise him on a host of important questions, such as framing his reactions to a draft of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the lineamenta, or preparatory document, for the 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
Mahony also has his own personal theologian, Fr. Michael Downey, who is a well-known writer on spiritual themes.
Mahony offered what he called a “striking example” of cooperation with theologians in the form of an April 2000 pastoral letter on ministry titled “As I Have Done For You,” which he described as “the only pastoral letter penned and published by a bishop and his priests.” Mahony said the letter originated with a request from his priests in the late 1990s for a statement on changing conceptions of ministry, and he asked the priests to work with Downey in giving those ideas “theological form.”
Mahony also described meeting with area theologians in September 2000 at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in response to Pope John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic letter Ex Corde Ecclesiae, on the Catholic identity of church-run schools and colleges. Among other things, the pope’s letter requires a Catholic theologian to have a license from the local bishop, called a “mandatum.”
“We were able to arrive at procedures whereby I fulfill my responsibilities as the ordinary, in a way that respects the autonomy and integrity of Roman Catholics teaching Catholic theology in this archdiocese,” Mahony said.
As time passes, Mahony said, “I find myself looking to theologians for assistance more often rather than less,” praising them for their intellectual efforts, sometimes derided as “ivory tower,” but which he said is a ministry “only theologians are prepared to do in service to both the academy and the church.”
The Cry of the Oppressed, at Home
May 09, 2007
Last night, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles delivered the Fifth Annual Templeton Lecture on Economic Liberties and the Constitution before a full house at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center.
(whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com, May 09, 2007) Excerpts from his text, as prepared for delivery:
Perhaps the most challenging matter of our topic to be addressed in such a short time is the economy. My perspective on the economy, however, is not the common sense understanding of this term. “Economy” has its roots in the Greek oikonomia which, in the first instance, means the arrangement of a household. Here, the principal focus is not monetary. Oikonomia suggests care for how a household is ordered or administered according to a plan. In early Christian history, oikonomia collectively referred to the way in which God’s household is ordered or administered, and in that sense economized.
God’s household, God’s grand economy, is one in which holiness and truth, justice and love, and above all, peace (eirene or shalom) prevail. In my view, what makes for a good economy is the full flourishing of everyone who is part of God’s economy, household, or community. The question is: who belongs in the household? Is God’s good household roomy enough for all? Or, who precisely is the “We” in “We the People?”...
In Catholic thought, the human person should not serve the economy, but the economy should serve the human person, so that each person and his or her family can live in dignity and without want and can move, if needed, to find the place of hope. Our laws should be configured to ensure that even the low-skilled laborer, who sits at the bottom of the economic ladder, reaps the fruit of their labor in dignity and with full rights in the society.
The current reality in our nation, however, is that we accept their labor, their separation from family, their taxes, and their purchasing power, yet we do not offer the undocumented population the protection of our laws. While such a system might meet our economic needs in the narrow measurement of monetary gain, it fails to meet the broad definition of oikonomia or the call of Scripture. It contributes to a disordered household without hope and without compassion, as we witness in immigrant neighborhoods throughout the nation.
Thus, to restore order to God’s household, we must ensure that all are welcome to the table. This means that we need to reform our immigration system in order to provide legal protection for those who live on the margins of our economy and are not invited to share in the banquet: the undocumented and future migrants who come to our nation, to work, to join family, or to support family at home.
Once it is agreed that all should share in the feast that is the fruit of their hands, the question becomes whether those who reside outside the law have the same claim to a seat at the table as those who are not outside of it. Given the current broken immigration system, Church leaders say “Yes!” Let me explain.
Many persons who in good faith oppose comprehensive immigration reform argue that the “rule of law” should be honored and that anyone who breaks the law should not be given its protection. Church leaders would agree that we are a nation built on a system of laws and that a sovereign nation has the right to protect its borders. But the term “rule of law” refers to how we are governed, and suggests that no one, not even our leaders, are free from honoring the law. Even if the most powerful citizen breaks the law, he or she is accountable to it. This is the basis of our democracy and is one of the elements that distinguishes our system from monarchy or dictatorship.
But there are other elements of democracy we must consider before rendering judgment on the undocumented immigrant. First, while we may be governed by laws, these laws are created and administered in the pursuit of justice. Any law that does not serve justice violates basic human dignity and human rights. Our constitution was written by the founding fathers to prevent unjust laws imposed by a malevolent monarch—“no taxation without representation” was our nation’s first battle cry.
In the view of Church leadership, and many others, our current immigration laws are, in a word, unjust. We gladly accept the toil and taxes of the immigrant work force to fill our economic needs, but we look the other way when they are exploited in the workplace, die in the desert, or are arrested for providing “nanny” and cleaning services at desirable addresses.
When convenient politically, we scapegoat the immigrant without acknowledging our complicity. Our immigration laws perpetuate this reality. Of the nearly one-half million immigrants who enter unauthorized into the U.S. each year (or overstay their visas), nearly 90 percent obtain jobs within six months, but there are only 5,000 immigrant visas available. This is a disordered system, hardly the arrangement of a household according to a plan where there is room enough for all at the table.
In this regard I must note that while detractors make much about the burden immigrants place on our health care and similar systems, I see just the opposite. I would suggest that we could not deliver health care in any city in this country or could not have cleared the World Trade Center debris without our immigrant workers. They are not a burden but, rather, are essential to the delivery of those economic benefits.
Our Constitution was written to ensure that justice is achieved in our land and that all receive due process under the law. In our democratic system we can change unjust laws, and, I would add, are obligated to do so. In the area of immigration, the Church leadership argues that our country has a moral obligation to change the law because it violates the order of God’s household and undermines basic human dignity.
Back in Mahony's base of LA, an ecumenical "New Sanctuary" initiative announced yesterday will grant asylum to undocumented workers fearing deportation in churches and other church-owned facilities. It's understood that, while the pastors of the nation's largest archdiocese won't be ordered to participate in the outreach, those who do have the cardinal's blessing.
On the Wane?
Apr 19, 2007
Anyone who's kept a close eye on things Catholic here in the States in recent years would be hard-pressed to deny that the most perilous cost of the sexual abuse scandal hasn't come in the form of the massive settlements with victim-survivors, the diminished Mass attendance in many places, or even the increased shuttering of parishes and schools (as difficult as each of these has been), but the loss of credibility in the church's leadership, a sea change not so much wrought by the abuse itself, but by its cover-up, or even the perception thereof.
(whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com, April 15, 2007) While a recent Zogby poll found that "support for Catholic religious leaders reached the 70 percent threshold" for the second year in a row, at the same time "results suggested that Catholic support for the bishops was directly related to whether those polled were aware of a publicly accused priest in their diocese." By several standards, among the toughest-hit US dioceses has been its largest, the 4.3 million-member archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Due to a 2002 California law which suspended the statute of limitations for one year in the wake of the clergy-abuse revelations, LA still faces in excess of 400 unsettled civil lawsuits, having already paid out over $60 million in settlements.
According to a weekend piece in the SoCal mecca's Times, "time, scandal and the shifting demographics of Los Angeles politics have diminished" the clout of Cardinal Roger Mahony, with a recent flap over an assisted-suicide bill "serv[ing] more to emphasize Mahony's weakness than to deter" his target, state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez.
Told that the cardinal had accused him of favoring a "culture of death," Nuñez expressed unhappiness but pressed ahead. "I have a lot of respect for the cardinal," Nuñez told Times columnist George Skelton, "but I'm deeply disappointed in his comments."
Unlike African American leaders, who have struggled to hold onto power in the face of their community's declining demographic significance, Mahony's limited political punch does not reflect his base: Catholics make up an increasing percentage of Los Angeles, and Latinos, who are primarily Catholic, are far and away the region's fastest-growing population group.
Instead, the cardinal's dwindling throw-weight reflects several intersecting trends as well as the damage done to the church — and to Mahony personally — by the long, painful scandal over pedophile priests. Those cases have eroded the church's authority generally and have specifically embroiled Mahony in charges that he protected priests rather than taking steps to ensure the safety of children.
Moreover, Mahony's influence oddly may be waning in inverse proportion to the power of some of his flock. Over the last decade, the rise of Latino voters has propelled a growing number of Latino officials — notably Nuñez and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — and they now command much of the leadership that once was Mahony's.
"The rise of Latino elected officials has overshadowed the influence of the church," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton and longtime student of Los Angeles ethnic politics. "The cardinal's influence is not what it once was."
That is not to say that he has become irrelevant. On certain issues, Mahony retains forceful authority. He was, for instance, a powerful defender of immigration rights during last year's huge marches calling for immigration reform.
Mahony also retains strong standing in the labor community. A longtime proponent of the so-called "living wage," Mahony has overcome reaction to his opposition to an effort by gravediggers in Catholic cemeteries to join a union in the late 1980s; he supports the labor movement and enjoys substantial support in return from its leading figures. Mahony has, for instance, made strong statements in support of immigrant workers and striking grocery workers.
"There are key moments where he has taken strong stands," said Madeline Janis, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. "We can feel the boost when he does that."
But where the cardinal's positions as a prelate depart from those of some leading secular Latinos, his influence drops off precipitously, according to many Los Angeles political and religious leaders....
Some other interfaith leaders in Los Angeles declined to speak openly about Mahony out of fear that their comments would adversely affect their working relationships with the diocese. Their reluctance underscores that Mahony, though wounded, still has some clout.
"He is, without question, less powerful than he used to be," said one minister who spoke on the condition that his name not be used. "There was a time in the early part of his tenure when, if he called for a meeting on a subject of common concern — poverty, for example — everybody would come and take seriously what he was recommending. He doesn't even try to do that anymore.
"The fact that Nuñez, a Catholic, isn't buckling under at all is interesting," the minister added. "The cardinal is making that an absolute litmus test on whether someone in public life is morally responsible. But even Roman Catholics are divided on this issue; the Nuñez dispute shows these bishops and cardinals can't deliver their own people."
It wasn't always so....
[In the 1990s] Mahony's importance was enhanced by his close and public friendship with [then-LA Mayor Richard] Riordan. In 1999, for instance, Mahony lent quiet but important support for Riordan during the mayor's effort to push aside Ruben Zacarias, then the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mahony's support for that move was especially significant because Zacarias was backed by many in the city's Latino community, the heart of Mahony's parish.
For labor leaders, Mahony also offered a way to reach Riordan, whose background as a venture capitalist caused many union representatives to be wary of him. Riordan, for instance, vetoed the city's first living-wage proposal, only to be overridden by the City Council. When labor officials wanted to make their case to Riordan, they reached to Mahony to broker a conversation.
"He offered a way to get into the mayor's office," Janis recalled.
Some critics of Riordan and Mahony snickered about their mutual admiration — Riordan helped raise the money to buy Mahony a jet helicopter when Mahony, a licensed pilot, was still a bishop, and wags liked to summon the image of the flying priest astride the Riordan chopper — but their allegiance helped both men accomplish important objectives.
Mahony's support helped cement the mayor's ties to Latino Los Angeles, and Riordan carried that community in both his mayoral elections.
Still, Mahony's ability to influence even that mayor had its limits. Despite his religious convictions and admiration for the cardinal, Riordan remained ardently in favor of abortion rights....
Today, Los Angeles' leading political figures no longer need Mahony in order to cement ties to the Latino electorate. Villaraigosa, for example, hardly needs Mahony to appeal to Mexican Americans.
If changing politics have diminished Mahony's influence, so too have the dispiriting controversy regarding pedophile priests and charges that the molestation of children was covered up by church officials. Even admirers of the cardinal acknowledge that it is far more difficult for church leaders to issue moral proclamations in the face of the withering allegations against their own leadership.
One result is that Mahony's influence in the Legislature is considered minimal, although the church has an active lobbying division in Sacramento that closely monitors bills.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is Catholic, met privately with Mahony after he was elected in 2003. But "we don't have any official meetings on record in our database" since then, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear.
Former Senate leader John Burton, a Democrat from San Francisco who was raised Catholic, dismissed Mahony's influence in Sacramento except possibly among lawmakers "from his diocese."
As for Mahony's rejoinder to Nuñez, Burton added that the cardinal "ought to be worried about what the priests have done to little children rather than how elderly people choose to die."
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone if the disproportionately loud set of Mahony's critics within the church sought to seize upon the story to attain their long-sought goal of nothing less than his scalp.
Per usual, however, said exercise would miss the underlying truth: what no less a lodestar than John Paul II termed the "crisis of credibility" in the American hierarchy has touched more points of the ideological spectrum than it hasn't, not to mention more locales than any person of goodwill would like to admit.
In happier news, the Sunday Times features a re-hash of the "Vietnamese as new Irish" phenomenon, as viewed through a spike in vocations to the priesthood.
Cardinal Mahony Asked to Deny Communion to Assisted Suicide
Apr 04, 2007
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's support is viewed as crucial for assisted suicide bill’s passage.
LOS ANGELES, April 3 2007, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Roger Cardinal Mahony, the head of the Catholic Church in Los Angeles, the largest US Catholic diocese, has publicly criticized a politician in the California legislature for supporting a bill to legalize assisted suicide. But anti-euthanasia activists are asking the Cardinal to put some ecclesiastical muscle into his opposition.
At Mass on Monday, Mahony urged Catholic voters to pressure lawmakers to vote the proposal down. “Assisted suicide is totally unnecessary - not only is it against God's law, God's plan, we simply don't need something like that,” he said. The Cardinal criticized Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Catholic, with whom he has discussed the proposal. Nunez's support is viewed as crucial for the bill’s passage.
“We should be troubled that Fabian Nunez - who has worshipped here in this cathedral, is a Catholic - somehow has not understood and grasped the culture of life but has allowed himself to get swept into this other direction, the culture of death,” Mahony said.
The Cardinal’s reference to the phrase made famous by the late Pope John Paul II, however, has failed to impress Canada’s leading anti-euthanasia campaigner.
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the London Ontario based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told LifeSiteNews.com that if the Cardinal were serious, he would impose a severe ecclesiastical penalty, one recommended in the past by the Vatican for politicians who advance the culture of death.
Schadenberg said bluntly, “If Nunez persists in his support for the bill, Mahoney should excommunicate Nunez.”
The bill before the State Assembly and approved last week by the Assembly committee, is modelled after the Oregon state law under which, since its passage in 1997, 292 Oregonians have taken their own lives.
Schadenberg said, “This bill is not a minor change to the laws of California. It will give physicians the right to assist in the death of their patients. No safeguards, or change in language can neutralize the effects of such a bill.”
Schadenberg continued, “To support a bill that allows the intentional taking of human life is a grave act that cannot be condoned and must be treated with the strongest response by all people of goodwill who wish to build a society based on the common good.”
The Catholic Church’s code of canon law, under which both Cardinal Mahony and Nunez are bound as Catholics, requires that those who “persist in manifest grave sin” be refused Holy Communion.
Nunez has already responded to the Cardinal with rhetoric common to Catholic “pro-choice” politicians. The Associated Press reports that Nunez's spokesman Steve Maviglio said that while the speaker respects the Cardinal’s opinion “This is another issue of individual choice where the overwhelming majority of Catholics have a different perspective than the official position of the Church.”
“To allow Nunez to continue to receive communion and refer to himself as a Catholic would be a public outrage and a scandal to all people of goodwill, especially to faithful Catholics,” Schadenberg said.
Cardinal says Chavez still inspires commitment to immigration reform
Mar 28, 2007
Cesar Chavez's commitment to justice for the most vulnerable members of society continues to influence Catholics today who are fighting for comprehensive immigration reform, said Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles during the annual Mass honoring the legendary labor leader.
LOS ANGELES (CNS, Mar-28-2007) -- "We have this Mass every year near his birthday, because we want to keep alive the spirit of his spirituality and his deep commitment to the protection of all in a nonviolent way," said Cardinal Mahony at the beginning of the liturgy at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels March 25.
"We are, this moment, hoping and working so that we will get a just and fair comprehensive immigration law passed and signed before the August recess of this Congress," he added.
The cardinal said "just immigration reform" must offer a path to legal residency for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants already in the country and not just for those who come in the future.
The next few months will be critical, said the cardinal, adding that he feared that if a law is not passed by August, Congress will likely not look at the issue again until 2009.
"Now is the time to pray and work as hard as we can to make sure that they all do something," said Cardinal Mahony.
In the cathedral's outdoor plaza following the Mass, scores of the faithful signed petitions urging Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Organizers also had on hand numerous cell phones so voters could call their representatives on the spot and leave a message.
Earlier in March, Cardinal Mahony visited Washington and made the rounds of congressional and White House offices, lobbying for passage of an immigration reform bill that includes a path to legalization for immigrants already in the country illegally, a guest worker program, appropriate border security measures and improvements in the system for reuniting families that are separated by long waits for visas.
In his homily at the Mass honoring Chavez, Deacon Valentin Saucedo noted that Chavez -- the grandson of Mexican immigrants -- relied on his Catholic faith to confront injustice.
"Cesar Chavez knew that the Eucharist gave him strength to keep fighting on behalf of the people he served in his life," said the deacon in Spanish. "The legacy of Cesar Chavez challenges us. We too are to put into practice what he left us."
Several hundred farmworkers traveled from central California to attend the Los Angeles Mass.
Following the liturgy, Richard Chavez, brother of the late labor leader, pleaded with the congregation to help the 28,000 farmworkers who lost their jobs after a January freeze destroyed the Central Valley's citrus crops and caused an estimated $1 billion in losses.
"Thousands of people have no money to take care of basic needs like rent, utilities, food," said Chavez. The Cesar Chavez Foundation is accepting monetary and food donations to assist farmworker families.
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Editor's Note: More information on comprehensive immigration reform is available on the Web at: www.justiceforimmigrants.com. Donations to assist farmworkers hurt by the citrus freeze may be made online at: www.chavezfoundation.org.
Transcript of online session with Cardinal Roger Mahony and students from St. Rita's School
Mar 08, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Cardinal Roger Mahony annually conducts a nationwide chat, living during the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. A few years back, he also asked for a separation session with students. This is the fourth such event, this year with 12 students (4 seventh-graders and 8 eighth graders) from St. Rita's School in Sierra Madre, Calif. Chris Krause (RECongress) moderated from the Anaheim event in Hall A.
Special thanks to Mrs. Joanne Harabedian, principal at St. Rita's Elementary School.
RECongress:
Good morning. Today is Friday, March 2, 2007. Welcome to our St. Rita's School Chat with Cardinal Roger Mahony, live from the main hall at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California. Thank you for participating; you are only the fourth school ever to be involved in such an event!
Cardinal Roger Mahony was born in Hollywood, Calif., and was ordained a priest in the Fresno Diocese. While there, he taught social work at California State University, Fresno. In 1975, he was made Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Fresno. That year, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Bishop Mahony the first chair of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, where he worked with the United Farm Workers and various growers in the state to resolve labor disputes.
In 1980, Bishop Mahony was appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton and five years later he returned as Archbishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the first native Angeleno to hold the office. Bishop Mahony was made Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1991.
Cardinal Mahony joins us this morning, in his 22nd year as leader of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, the nation’s largest.
RECongress joined the chat
RECongress: I welcome you
RECongress: Thank you for participating this morning
RECongress: This is a really special annual event for the Religious Education Congress!
Sister 1 joined the chat
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RECongress joined the chat
RECongress: I have just logged on, the cardinal is not here yet
Meg P joined the chat
RECongress: But Maryann Griffin is here taking pictures!
katy t. joined the chat
Carolyn H. joined the chat
Jillian J. joined the chat
Michael N joined the chat
Alex H. joined the chat
Camille C. joined the chat
Ross W. joined the chat
Sean A. joined the chat
Brett N. joined the chat
Joe L. joined the chat
Madeline P. joined the chat
Cardinal Mahony joined the chat
strita1: Good Morning we are ready to chat!
strita1: Chris let me know when the Cardinal is ready
strita1: hi Maryann, what's new?
RECongress: The cardinal should be here in maybe 10 minutes, or so
StRita1 joined the chat
katy t.: Good Morning Your Eminence, these are the students from St. Rita's School
katy t.: We are honored to speak with you today
Cardinal Mahony: Let the Church say AMEN!! Good morning to all of you!!!
katy t.: Thank you for inviting us to speak with you on the online chat today!
Meg P: Good Morning
Cardinal Mahony: I am delighted to be with you--any questions?
Ross W.: Hi your eminence, my first question is about your letter "creating a culture of life" you said..."A society is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members".... what is your opinion on how our society currently deals with the homeless, mentally ill, and immigrants?
Cardinal Mahony: Great question! Sadly, we do not treat the weakest members as we must. We don't feed the hungry, we don't care for the homeless. But as disciples of Jesus, you and I must take the lead.
katy t.: Why don't we, can't we take action?
Ross W.: there are many of us who are able and willing?
Madeline P.: I agree
Jillian J.: what can we do as teenagers
Michael N: what can we do as teenagers?
Cardinal Mahony: During Lent I urge all of us to focus on these people in need, especially those here in our midst. Suggestion: let's bring food to school [cans, dried foods are best] and give to our local Food Pantry.
Michael N: sounds like a great idea!
Cardinal Mahony: I don't know about your parish, but many have food pantries to give food to the poor.
Cardinal Mahony: Suggestion: find out today what Food Pantry is near St. Rita's, contact them, and offer to help.
Jillian J.: we do have a food pantry, we share with St. Anthonys
katy t.: We love to get in the spirit of giving
Cardinal Mahony: Well, then you have a ready-made action project. Giving stuff up means using that money to help others.
Ross W.: now that we are in the lenten season, can you offer us any advice that would help us with our spiritual practices during lent?
Cardinal Mahony: Best foods: things that can go a long way, such as dried beans, rice, or mixes--such as Hamburger Helper.
katy t.: great idea
Jillian J.: that's a good idea, thank you
Brett N.: That's a good idea
Meg P: That's a good idea
Cardinal Mahony: Spiritual practices: I suggest that you each take one person/issue to pray for, and each day pray for that intention. For example, maybe pray for the children in those dreadful Darfur camps.
Jillian J.: We have Friday soup kitchens
Meg P: The students are very involved
katy t.: and the money we earn, we send to St. Anthony's
Cardinal Mahony: Terrific having those soup kitchens!
Cardinal Mahony: It sounds to me like you are on the right path already!!
Meg P: The students serve tables
Camille C.: we sponsor orphans from Africa and give money so that they can go to school eat and have clothing
Cardinal Mahony: Where do you have your soup kitchen??
Michael N: in our parish hall
Carolyn H.: in our parish hall
Jillian J.: In the Parish Hall
Cardinal Mahony: You are a terrific group--already!!! Jesus wants us to get in the habit of being strong disciples day after day.
Alex H.: It is a great way to contribute to the community
Cardinal Mahony: Also, encourage your parents and other adults to participate as well.
Madeline P.: Speaking of Children, Your Eminence, how can the Religious Education children feel more connected to the parish and the parish children?
Cardinal Mahony: It's really important to have some joint activities with Religious Ed. students. A special Mass sometime, maybe with punch afterwards. We have to make a real effort.
Madeline P.: Thank you that's a great idea
Carolyn H.: Were your family and you active in the church when you were younger?
Cardinal Mahony: My parents were involved with St. Charles Parish in North Hollywood, and my brothers and I went there too.
Cardinal Mahony: Even years ago, St. Charles had a great out-reach program.
Carolyn H.: Where you born there?
katy t.: What is your favorite book in the Bible?
Cardinal Mahony: I don't have a favorite! But from the Old Testament, I like Exodus, Ruth, Esther, Tobit.
katy t.: I love Exodus
Alex H.: By the way, Your Eminence, who in you life has inspired you the most and why?
Cardinal Mahony: With the New Testament, I like Luke's Gospel a lot--Jesus lives such a balanced life.
Meg P: i like Acts, we are studying the Old Testament now!
Brett N.: I've read Luke a ton it's also my favorite in the New Testament
Ross W.: Our church recently started a youth group. Do you see the implementations of youth groups as a means of contributing to public service and a path to future church vocations?
Carolyn H.: we were studying the Old Testament
Cardinal Mahony: I got a lot of inspiration from my parents, family members, priests in the parish, etc.
Alex H.: That is wonderful
Cardinal Mahony: Sorry--computer was losing power, had to reconnect!
Carolyn H.: no problem
Cardinal Mahony: I like Acts a lot because it shows the early Church beginning and growing.
Cardinal Mahony: Parish Youth Groups are essential--gives all of you a way to live out your faith as young adults!
Alex H.: I enjoy reading Acts also
Cardinal Mahony: Does anyone remember where the disciples of Jesus were first called "Christians"??
Brett N.: Antioch
Cardinal Mahony: Cool!!
Carolyn H.: Yeah we just learned that!
katy t.: Antioch
Cardinal Mahony: What grade are you in??
katy t.: 8th
Brett N.: 8th
Camille C.: 8th
Michael N: 7 and 8 grad
Carolyn H.: 8th and 7th grades
Alex H.: 8th
Ross W.: 7th
Sean A.: 8th
Madeline P.: what are good activities for seventh grade?
Meg P: Before that they were called the Way
Ross W.: what are good activities that will contribute to our youth group
Cardinal Mahony: What are you studying in Religion in 7/8 grades?
Meg P: yes
Camille C.: 8th grade we are studying acts and the journeys of Paul
Ross W.: The life of Jesus in the 7th grade
Madeline P.: we are studying The Sacraments (7)
Michael N: and the sacraments
Carolyn H.: And we have been taught some things you could do during Lent
Cardinal Mahony: I always encourage young people to have a good mix of activities in Youth Groups: time for some prayer, time for discussion, time to share our lives, and time for some fun!
Alex H.: Very true
katy t.: exactly I couldn't agree more!
Sean A.: I agree too
Madeline P.: Right
Cardinal Mahony: I am thrilled you are studying the life of Jesus! We can't follow someone we don't know.
Joe L.: Are there any plans of allowing women to become priests?
Ross W.: At the Cathedral why is the virgin Mary portrayed with rough hands, as if she was working in the fields?
Jillian J.: Why aren't priests and cardinals allowed to get married, when Peter one of the 12 apostles was married?
Cardinal Mahony: Priests do not marry because we are totally committed to our parishioners, and must have the time to devote all to them.
Madeline P.: That is a good reason
Camille C.: even with the shortage of priest?
Cardinal Mahony: Good question about Mary at the Cathedral. How many of you have been to your new Cathedral?
Ross W.: We all have
Jillian J.: we all have
Carolyn H.: yep
Cardinal Mahony: Wow!!
Cardinal Mahony: With the shortage of priests we have been able to involve so many of our fabulous laypeople in the work of the Church!
Alex H.: When did you first realize your calling as a priest?
Madeline P.: exactly
Cardinal Mahony: That statue of Mary over the Bronze Doors is meant to portray Mary as a woman of our times who welcomes everyone.
Alex H.: interesting
katy t.: very interesting
Cardinal Mahony: I was in grammar school when I first thought about being a priest. But that call deepened over the years.
katy t.: Do you have any siblings?
Cardinal Mahony: Yes, an older brother and a twin brother.
katy t.: really, was he interested in the church at all?
Cardinal Mahony: Any of you thinking about serving the Church as priests or sisters?
Brett N.: I am a little
Alex H.: Unfortunately, not
Madeline P.: What qualities do you look for when choosing a priest?
Cardinal Mahony: Let's stay with the priests/sisters. Qualities: love of Jesus, a special energy for serving others, an openness to the needs of all.
Cardinal Mahony: Jesus continues to call young people, but we have to keep our eyes and ears open!
Ross W.: After your visit to Cuba in 1987, and with all the speculation about Cuba's future, What is your opinion on the future of the Catholic church in Cuba?
Cardinal Mahony: I visited Cuba in 1997, when Pope John Paul was there. Great repression of the Church continues, but a lot of faith.
Cardinal Mahony: Interesting: we always have more vocations when the Church is persecuted, and we have to stand up for our faith.
Cardinal Mahony: Any favorite tapestry at your Cathedral?
Cardinal Mahony: Where does the word "Cathedral" come from???
Alex H.: excathedra
Alex H.: the bishop's chair
Sean A.: the bishops chair
Cardinal Mahony: But what does the word "cathedra" mean?
Carolyn H.: Does it do with the word Catholic?
Cardinal Mahony: Correct!!! "Cathedra" is Latin for chair, so the "Cathedral" is where the Bishop's Chair is located--you guys are smart!!
Alex H.: thank you
Sean A.: thank you
Brett N.: thank you
Madeline P.: Thank you!
Jillian J.: thank you
katy t.: thank you
Carolyn H.: Thank You
Camille C.: St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus is our favorite tapestry\
Alex H.: What is the church's stance on the war in Iraq?
Cardinal Mahony: Amen! I love that tapestry of St. John the Baptist also!
Madeline P.: Me too
Cardinal Mahony: Another of my favorites is the tapestry of St. Joseph--he is portrayed as a young man, as he was. I don't like statues of him as an old man, since he was not an old man.
Carolyn H.: I agree
Cardinal Mahony: Pope John Paul led the way urging us not to attack or invade Iraq. The Pope has always said something true: "War is the failure of the human community to find peaceful solutions to our problems."
Carolyn H.: That was well said
Carolyn H.: sorry typo
Madeline P.: I agree
Alex H.: good statement
Ross W.: With the high population of Latino priest coming out of our area, why is the population of African-American priests coming out of Los Angeles slowly decreasing? I understand that 24% of our community in LA is Latino and 12 % is African American but why haven't many converted?
Cardinal Mahony: The Hispanic community grows up Catholic in their country of origin, so their culture, music, devotions, all center on the Church. African American history in our country did not flow from a Christian background, but now the vast majority are Christians.
Joe L.: Are there any plans of allowing women to become priests?
Camille C.: Are you against the war even though we are trying to help their governments and help the people
Cardinal Mahony: The Catholic Church did not extend evangelization to our African American brothers and sisters as we should have.
Ross W.: are we ever going to?
Cardinal Mahony: You and I do not live in a culture where there are centuries of bitter hatreds and divisions--thanks be to God!! It is so difficult to get people to see others in a new light.
Alex H.: You said it well, THANKS BE TO GOD!!!
Cardinal Mahony: It is one thing to be against going to war in the first place. Once we are in the war, we must seek every possible diplomatic effort to end it. I am glad the USA is in the talks with Syria and Iran to end this war.
katy t.: what saint do you look up to? Why?
Cardinal Mahony: But you and I become instruments of peace by getting along with one another, especially young people from different backgrounds.
Michael N: how man years have you been a priest?
Cardinal Mahony: Actually, St. Joseph is my personal patron! I was ordained a priest on May 1st, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and ordained a bishop on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph.
Meg P: That's a good choice but St. Lucy inspires me the most
Cardinal Mahony: St. Lucy is a great saint as well!!
Michael N: how many years have you been a priest?
Cardinal Mahony: I was ordained a priest in 1962, a bishop in 1975. Any of you around back then?!!!!
Michael N: many
Carolyn H.: not even close
Michael N: nope
Madeline P.: If you became pope what would you change your name to?
Sean A.: not me
Cardinal Mahony: I'm not going to become pope, so I don't worry about a name!!
Madeline P.: what qualities do you look for when choosing a pope
Cardinal Mahony: Well, your parents were around those years!!
Michael N: ya
Michael N: mine were
Madeline P.: So were mine
Alex H.: mine were
Cardinal Mahony: Do many of you have younger brothers and sisters?
Carolyn H.: I'm the youngest of 3
Michael N: I have to older sisters
Meg P: I have a sister
Michael N: 2
Jillian J.: yes but I have an older sister
Brett N.: No I am the youngest of three
Alex H.: I am the eldest
Alex H.: of three children
Camille C.: I have a younger brother and a younger sister
katy t.: yes I have an older brother who goes to St. Francis high school
Madeline P.: yes two younger brothers an older brother and sister
Joe L.: I have 3 little brothers
Michael N: one is at the university of Santa Clara
Cardinal Mahony: All of you with younger brothers and sisters must give them good example, not a bad time!!!
Cardinal Mahony: How many of you own cats???
Carolyn H.: I do!
Joe L.: I own 2
Alex H.: my family is I own two dogs
Sean A.: I don't care for cats
Jillian J.: i don't really like cats
Meg P: i own two dogs
Ross W.: I do!
Camille C.: i have two dogs
Carolyn H.: her name is Gweny
Madeline P.: i do and i love my cat
Ross W.: If you could, what changes would you make within the catholic church?
Cardinal Mahony: I have two cats: Rafael and Gabriel, named after the Archangels!!
Madeline P.: great names
Alex H.: what wonderful names
Jillian J.: O what pretty names!!
Carolyn H.: I love those name especially Rafael
katy t.: We celebrate the blessing of the animals every year, we all bring our pets and they receive a blessing
Cardinal Mahony: Animals are a great gift of God for all of us! Our pastor at the Cathedral has a dog, and he gets along great with my cats.
Jillian J.: what happened to Miguel?
Cardinal Mahony: Miguel went to Cat Heaven in 2004.
Jillian J.: o may he rest in peace
Michael N: I understand you attended a recent La Salle football game and blessed the field. Was that your first high school football game and how did it feel to be a part of all the excitement of the first night game?
Cardinal Mahony: No, I attend Catholic HS football games each Fall. I love those games! Lots of spirit and fun! I go to about 6 to 8 each Fall.
katy t.: I think you made a real impact on their athletic program because the Girls' Soccer team is in the Championship
Cardinal Mahony: La Salle now has lights so they can have night games, really helpful.
Madeline P.: wow that's great
Alex H.: they are extremely exciting
Michael N: ya it is alot of fun
Michael N: to go to those games
Sean A.: I like football
Carolyn H.: My 3 siblings went to La Salle so I'm glad to go their if I get in
Cardinal Mahony: Am delighted that the Girls' Soccer team is in the playoffs!
Michael N: I have two sisters who went to La Salle and they love it there
katy t.: It is so exciting, I think they might go all the way
Madeline P.: Do you enjoy preaching at the Cathedral?
Alex H.: we have a very athletic school .... like LaSalle
Cardinal Mahony: What are the names of your home room teachers?
Carolyn H.: Miss Carnighan
Carolyn H.: for the 8th grade
Brett N.: Ms. Carnighan
Camille C.: Ms. Carnighan
Sean A.: Mrs. Carnighan
Jillian J.: Ms. Turner- she's a great teacher!!
Madeline P.: Ms. Turner, Randy,
Joe L.: Ms. Carnighan
katy t.: Mrs. Canighan/ Khol she just got married
Michael N: Randy!
Madeline P.: Ms. Truner rocks
Camille C.: Ms. Turner is our religion teacher
Cardinal Mahony: Sounds like a great team there!!
katy t.: We are so blessed
Alex H.: thank you
Madeline P.: What was it like going to the Vatican and choosing a new pope?
Cardinal Mahony: Have any of you ever been to Youth Day here at the Congress?
Michael N: No
katy t.: we are too young
Alex H.: we are to young
Sean A.: we are too young
Jillian J.: I'm to young
Michael N: we cant go until we r in hs
Madeline P.: we are too young but if i were old enough I would definitely go
Cardinal Mahony: Well, when you get into HS, you will love Youth Day!!
Michael N: 1 of our teachers is there with you
Ross W.: one of our teachers is there watching this with you
Jillian J.: - Mrs. Griffin
Carolyn H.: Did you ever want to hold another job then being a priest?
Cardinal Mahony: Are you real careful about how you use the Internet? MySpace.com, etc.???
katy t.: i do not have a myspace
Brett N.: I don't
Madeline P.: None of us have my space
Michael N: yes we understand that there are bad people out there and we try hard to avoid them
Camille C.: I don't have a my space
Jillian J.: yes of course. you have to be careful
Alex H.: we are very responsible here at St Ritas
Ross W.: my parents are very careful and do not allow me to have a Myspace
Cardinal Mahony: Wow! You are really smart! Stay away from that stuff; too many dangers.
Michael N: ya
Madeline P.: i will
Carolyn H.: great advice
Jillian J.: yes too many!!
katy t.: bad bad people, we prefer to go to the movies with friends
Cardinal Mahony: Have you ever visited the Archdiocese website: www.la-archdiocese.org
Jillian J.: no- but I will now
Madeline P.: No but I will now that i know it
Cardinal Mahony: Or the Cathedral website: www.olacathedral.com
Michael N: no but I will now that I know about it
Carolyn H.: I'll have to check that website out
Cardinal Mahony: We have podcasts on both websites--neat!!
Michael N: cool!!
Ross W.: If you could make any changes to the catholic church what changes would you make? and why?
Cardinal Mahony: Actually, I am more interested in focusing on Jesus Christ, his teachings and example, and our need to make the Church reflect those more fully. That's a high priority for me.
katy t.: What was it like going to Vatican City and choosing a new pope?
Jillian J.: that is a very good priority
Cardinal Mahony: We have an interesting challenge here in Los Angeles: our Catholic community continues to grow rapidly!
Madeline P.: i agree Jillian
Michael N: yes
Alex H.: What elementary school did you attend as a child?
Cardinal Mahony: I attended St. Charles school in North Hollywood.
Meg P: What is your favorite church hymn?
Madeline P.: what is your favorite type of music
Cardinal Mahony: I have a lot of favorite hymns, but one of them is: "Wherever you go," since it reflects Ruth in the Old Testament.
katy t.: In 2008, Our school is celebrating our centennial, unfortunately, the 8th graders will be in high school, but will definitely return
Cardinal Mahony: That's great! 100 years next year!!!
Cardinal Mahony: There is a lot of great sacred music out there these days!
Jillian J.: Have you ever heard the song Somebodys Knocking at your door?
Alex H.: yes, there is
Meg P: I like "Seeds Scattered and Sown"
Cardinal Mahony: Jillian, yes!
Cardinal Mahony: Meg, another good hymn!
Madeline P.: we sing that a lot at our masses
Carolyn H.: We will have to sing them for you sometime
Cardinal Mahony: How about "Who let the dogs out?"
Madeline P.: ya
Jillian J.: Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michael N: o yeah!!1
katy t.: i love it
Carolyn H.: Classic!
Michael N: !!
Sean A.: That's a good one
katy t.: a classic
Madeline P.: whoo hoo
Alex H.: LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ross W.: If you were in the 7th or 8th grade and choosing a high school what characteristics and other important factors would you look at before choosing?
Cardinal Mahony: I love it too, but my cats don't!!
Jillian J.: i would imagine!!
katy t.: haha
Brett N.: hahaha
Carolyn H.: haha
Ross W.: lol
Sean A.: haha
Madeline P.: rotflol
Michael N: lol
Joe L.: lol
Jillian J.: lol
Alex H.: THE BAHA MEN REALLY PERFECTED THAT SONG!!!
Michael N: we sung somebody's knockin on your door on Ash Wednesday
Ross W.: If you were in the 7th or 8th grade and choosing a high school what characteristics and other important factors would you look at before choosing?
Cardinal Mahony: I would choose a HS that will continue to nourish your faith life, give you sound principles to live by, and support you in difficult decisions.
Madeline P.: I will look for that too
Jillian J.: What about Mayfield Sr. School?
Alex H.: every student has applied to a Catholic school this year
katy t.: Every 8th grade student has applied for a Catholic High school
Ross W.: thank you i will definitely take that into consideration
Michael N: sang
Cardinal Mahony: Being disciples of Jesus means being counter to the culture of our times frequently.
Cardinal Mahony: I am delighted that you are all thinking of going to a Catholic HS!!
Alex H.: it is very important to keep the Lord in our lives
katy t.: practical advise?
Cardinal Mahony: We are down to our last 5 minutes. Any last comment or questions?
Madeline P.: How do you feel about gay marriages? What is the Catholic church trying to do about this problem
Cardinal Mahony: Starting with Adam and Eve, we believe that God created men and women to be mates, to bring children into the world. So called "marriage" between men or between women does not carry out God's plan for us.
Alex H.: do u have a particular location you like to visit?
katy t.: i understand, I have never thought of it that way
Jillian J.: i agree with katy
katy t.: That clears things up
Cardinal Mahony: If you want to see God's creation in a powerful way, go see the re-done Griffith Observatory, and see the Planetarium show!!
Alex H.: I love going there!
Jillian J.: sounds fun!!
Brett N.: it's an awesome place
Michael N: What can we see there?
Carolyn H.: I will have to go because I haven't seen it re-done
Meg P: We have been to the Griffith Observatory as a class
katy t.: I will go there in the future
Alex H.: astronomy is so interesting
Cardinal Mahony: A great class field trip!!!
Michael N: yes
Jillian J.: yes yes indeed
Ross W.: Thank you so much for talking to us today! I understand that this is most likely a once in a lifetime experience and I am blessed to have talked to you!
Madeline P.: I really appreciated talking to you I hope we could chat with you again some time
Cardinal Mahony: I hope you have seen the Planetarium show!
Carolyn H.: i have
Michael N: this is a great experience for me!
Michael N: thank you
Madeline P.: Jillian and I will go there some time in the future
strita1: Your Eminence, thank you for chatting with us today. We look forward to your visit to our parish in May of 2008. Before then, we will visit the Cathedral with our parents and our teachers. Remember us in your prayers. St. Rita 7th and 8th graders.
Alex H.: i will always cherish this wonderful memory and experience
Brett N.: Thank you
Sean A.: This chat was cool
Jillian J.: thank you so much for your time I hope to meet you in person- you are a very nice man, and I will continue to keep my faith
Carolyn H.: I appreciate this conversation so much!
Camille C.: Thank you for talking with us
katy t.: thank you for sparing time to speak with us, hope you enjoyed speaking with us because we really enjoyed it
katy t.: pray for me
Madeline P.: Thank you very much please bless us
Cardinal Mahony: I shall pray for all of you, and I would ask you to say a prayer for me as well.
Joe L.: Thank you very much
Madeline P.: i will that's a promise
Alex H.: is it possible to bless us in this chat room?
Carolyn H.: I certainly will!
Michael N: we will!
Jillian J.: Of course !
Sean A.: i will pray for you
Camille C.: we will
Meg P: You are always in my prayers
katy t.: we definately will, this was an experience I will never forget
Brett N.: i will
Ross W.: Will you please pray for me and my family as we go through this lenten season
Cardinal Mahony: THANKS SO VERY MUCH!!
Jillian J.: NO THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
Sean A.: thank you
Alex H.: THANK YOU
Madeline P.: THANK YOU
Michael N: thank you cardinal!!
katy t.: thank you kindly
Jillian J.: bye! talk to you soon!!
Camille C.: thank you very much!!
Brett N.: THANK YOU
Meg P: Thank you, this is a once in a life time experience
Ross W.: thank you so much for talking to us today! I understand that this is most likely a once in a lifetime experience and i am blessed to have talked to you!
Sean A.: thank you kindly
Madeline P.: I will try to talk to you again some time
Carolyn H.: Thank You from all of us!
Michael N: thank you cardinal!!
Alex H.: bless the Lord for this unimaginable experience
Joe L.: thank you very much
Madeline P.: i was thrilled to talk to you
Jillian J.: same here!!!!
Michael N: we appreciate this so much
Michael N: thank you cardinal!!
Jillian J.: bye bye
Michael N: bye
Sean A.: bye
Alex H.: =) thank you\
Carolyn H.: Bye
Jillian J.: bye bye
Michael N: bye
katy t.: bye
Jillian J.: bye bye
Madeline P.: see ya
Carolyn H.: thank you
Brett N.: bye
katy t.: bye
Sean A.: bye
katy t.: bye
Camille C.: bi
Jillian J.: bye
Carolyn H.: bye bye
Madeline P.: bye
Meg P: bye
katy t.: bye
Carolyn H.: this was fun!
Camille C.: bi
Alex H.: =) thank you\
Madeline P.: bye
Jillian J.: bye
Madeline P.: bye
Madeline P.: bye
Carolyn H.: =)
katy t.: bye
Madeline P.: bye
katy t.: bye
Alex H.: =) thank you\
Jillian J.: bi
Carolyn H.: :)
Madeline P.: bye
Madeline P.: bye
Alex H.: =)
Madeline P.: bye
Jillian J.: urg- bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Madeline P.: bye
Sean A.: :)
Michael N: thx
Carolyn H.: good day!
Alex H.: = * ))
Carolyn H.: have a lovely St. Patty's day!
Alex H.: bye
End of chat as of Sat Mar 3 04:22:19 2007 GMT
Cardinal Mahony 2007 Online Chat
Mar 08, 2007
On Friday, March 2, 2007, at 11:15 a.m. PST, ChurchWerks.com hosted an online chat session with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, live from the main Exhibit Hall at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, Calif. Our thanks to Ellie Hidalgo of The Tidings for help with moderating the chat.
The Cardinal annually conducts an online session, first with school children from the archdiocese, and then in a nation-wide chat session. This will be the Cardinal's 11th annual online appearance and one of the highlights for the more than 40,000 attendees at the four-day event.
Thanks to Steve McBrady of ChurchWerks for arranging this session, and to Collin McBrady for his monitoring and providing the transcript.
Moderator: Welcome to ChurchWerks Chat with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony
CardinalMahony: Welcome to all of you!
John: Cardinal Mahony, What is your favorite memory of Pope John Paul II?
CardinalMahony: His pastoral visit to Los Angeles in 1987. We had him for two full days, and two wonderful Masses -- one in the Coliseum, the other in Dodger Stadium.
Rosemary Azzaro: As I Have Done For You was a major influence on my ministry. I will receive a certificate in youth and young adult ministry in May. Who were/are the theologians most influential regarding your view of Church?
CardinalMahony: Many, but Card. Avery Dulles is one of the most endearing. Also, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI.
CardinalMahony: Another: Larry Cunningham from Notre Dame.
CardinalMahony: Fr. Henri Nouwen for spiritual development.
Corrine Bayley: What do you think are the 2 or 3 most important issues facing the Church today? And facing the world today? Thank you for your reflections.
CardinalMahony: Corrine--hard question, because it depends where you are in the world. Here in Los Angeles, our challenge is how to minister to so many millions of Catholics with our current facilities and ministers.
CardinalMahony: In the USA, we must be in the forefront of helping our immigrant peoples.
Virginia Austin: I know this could be seen as a political question but it is not: With the war in Iraq, I don't see the church making any efforts to teach or preach the ways of non-violence. Why isn't there any teaching or preaching on non-violence? I think as Christians we are missing the boat on this. Love your Enemies is a core teaching of Jesus Christ and should be ours as well. Many devoted Catholics, including religious, educators and students from our diocese attend the annual vigil of thousands of peacemakers.
CardinalMahony: Actually, we proclaim non-violence constantly. We preached on it the Sunday before Lent began -- the great Luke account where Jesus calls us to love our enemies.
CardinalMahony: Jesus calls us to be instruments of peace, agents of peace. That means non-violence in all our words and actions.
CardinalMahony: Often there is a disconnect in our lives--we pray for world peace, then cut someone off on the freeway and curse at them!!
ess: What are your thoughts on when there is no priest for celebrating the mass? Can a lay person conduct a communion/paraliturgical service?
CardinalMahony: It is really hard to substitute any Rite or Service for the full celebration of the Eucharist. Sadly, in some places people don't have a choice.
Barbara: Cardinal, would you welcome married Episcopal priests into the Catholic priesthood in this archdiocese?
CardinalMahony: As a matter of fact, I will be ordaining a former married Episcopal priest early in May. But these are quite rare events.
Kraig Taylor: In a recent class I was given to understand that it is the Holy Spirit and not the priest who is responsible for changing the bread and wine into the Sacred Species. Is this a correct understanding? If so, wouldn't anyone with the Holy Spirit be able to affect this change?
CardinalMahony: Kraig: the priest stands in the place of Jesus Christ in the Mass, and it is the priest who calls down the Holy Spirit to transform our gifts. But the words of Consecration from Jesus at the Last Supper brings about the change.
steve25: Do you see the church ordaining married Catholic men to the priesthood in the future?
CardinalMahony: Steve: I really don't know. Our current practice is to ordain non-married men. Will that ever change? That is up to the Holy Spirit and future Popes.
Adrian Blake: Is there any mention in the Bible of what the soul actually is? Is it matter or a spirit form?
CardinalMahony: Adrian: go back to the Book of Genesis and read how God created the first humans. He made their bodies from the clay of the ground, but then "breathed into them the breath of life."
RoeA: I have been impressed with the collaborative ministry process in LA Archdiocese. Can you tell a little about the theological influences on it?
CardinalMahony: Our collaborative ministry here in LA flows from the power of Baptism. Each of us becomes a sharer in the life and in the ministry of Jesus through Baptism. The Second Vatican Council then really enhanced that teaching in so many ways.
Moderator: From Kirk at Congress: Cardinal, I just wanted to say that I recall the washing of the feet at St. Vibiana's. I was with a group from Our Lady's Chapel. Thanks for the beautiful memories.
CardinalMahony: Kirk: yes, the washing of the feet is one of the great lessons Jesus gave us, and called us to continue forward with the practice.
James: I've read that Pope Benedict is concerned about the liturgy and is about to issue a decree that encourages a more generous use of Latin in the liturgy including the use of the Tridentine rite. Do you support this and will you encourage the use of more traditional forms of worship in the archdiocese if he issues the decree?
CardinalMahony: James: of our 5 million Catholics, only a handful are interested in the Latin Mass. I must focus upon the 99% who need a vibrant Mass that includes them in its celebration.
steve25: Who are your most favorite Saints?
CardinalMahony: Steve: St. Joseph is my patron saint. In our new Cathedral, we have a tapestry which depicts him as the young man he really was.
Robert: What should be the role of religion in today's government? And the government in today's religion?
CardinalMahony: The role of government is to allow maximum freedom of belief and of practice; not to create a "national Church" or interfere with free expression. Religion brings values and principles to all human issues, especially as laws are fomulated.
Moderator: Vickie Kennedy - What focus do you want for the Knights of Columbus families in 07-08 years.
CardinalMahony: KC families are a great gift for the Church, and I urge them to continue their prayers and work for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
RECongress: From Jeffrey at Congress: Why doesn't the Archdiocese mount a more vigorous defense of itself against the outrageous claims of the movie Deliver us from Evil?
CardinalMahony: Jeffrey: we have posted all of the problems with that film, and it is better to ignore it--the more we ignore it, the fewer people will see it, and the faster they will remove it from screens. Today, it is very hard to find it anywhere.
anonymous: Please suggest some ways that can serve as unifying factors, building bridges between people and priests.
CardinalMahony: I think most priests are anxious to relate well to the people whom they serve. Obviously, the more and better we listen to people, the better the relationship.
Moderator: Hello Cardinal Mahony, who living, was most influential in your path to becoming a priest?
CardinalMahony: Certainly the priests who served at St. Charles Parish in North Hollywood. Their lives were filled with joy and care for others!
RoeA: Where else is collaborative ministry being modeled as it is in LA?
CardinalMahony: Certainly the other five Dioceses in the Los Angeles Province: Fresno, Monterey, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego.
Greg Youell: What can be done to inoculate our younger Catholics (especially Latinos) from the zeal of Evangelicals and Pentecostals to lead them away from the Church? And how does Your Eminence think the Church can best rekindle its own sense of missionary zeal to lead non-believers and separated brethren back to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church?
CardinalMahony: Greg: we need to develop a fuller sense of the presence and power of Jesus in our own lives, and then share that with one another. We need to reach out with a warm and welcoming spirit to everyone. A welcoming parish community develops enthusiasm, spirit, and zeal for others to join.
Leonel Martinez: Cardinal Mahony, thank you for providing this forum for discussion. Some have suggested that the American bishops have not followed the wishes of Pope Benedict XVI because they have opted not to uniformly deny communion to Catholic elected officials who support abortion rights. How would you answer them?
CardinalMahony: That is not what our Holy Father is asking. Rather, he is asking that everyone who approaches Holy Communion should make sure he/she is living a life worthy of Jesus in this Sacrament. The burden is on the recipient, not on the minister.
Arleen: My daughter asks, why do we need to go to church on Sunday? I attend faithfully, but my daughter is of this younger generation that doesn't see the importance of going to church. She says it's boring and all they do is ask for money. How can we make church and the mass more appealing to this younger generation? I try to set an example, but feel like I can't persuade them. What can I do
CardinalMahony: Mass should involve the full, active, conscious participation of everyone. If we are involved, we love meeting God in this form. There are great Masses for teens, such as parishes with Life Teen. Find her a group of active Catholic teens who love Mass, and she will too.
Moderator: From Denny: Why can only men become priests, and not women?
CardinalMahony: We need to attend Eucharist because we are all members of the Body of Christ, and that Body is incomplete unless we are all there.
CardinalMahony: The moderator has better answers than I do to that question!!!
Mary Kennedy: As a lifelong Catholic, whenever I see the media look for commentary on Church issues, they seem to call on Mr. Donohue of the Catholic League. Invariably, Mr. Donohue does far more to engender contempt for the Church than anything that the League purports to protect the Church from. Why doesn't the USCCB publicly disavow this and make sure that the news outlets, when looking for the Church's position, actually call upon those who have authority to speak for the Church, such as the public affairs office of the USCCB?
CardinalMahony: Denny: we are following the tradition of the early Church and Jesus' actions. That has become our Tradition for a long time.
CardinalMahony: Actually, our best spokespersons are knowledgeable Catholics at the local levels of the Church, not national figures. We have excellent such folks here in LA.
Moderator: From Maria at Congress: We are down from Fresno, where you were with us as bishop. Just wanted to say hi.
CardinalMahony: Maria--I still love the D. of Fresno very much, and enjoy driving through the great Valley!
Moderator: From Fran at Congress: I've been asked this and I don't know -- Can Catholics' burial ashes be scattered?
CardinalMahony: Fran: normally, we encourage that all of the ashes be in one place for the sake of the family and future generations, but if someone wants to spread their ashes over the sea or forest, well, they do return to their origins. Just don't spread them over Disneyland.
Leo: Why isn't the term Real Presence added to either creeds we say? I know that it is in the Catechism, but not said during the creed at Mass.
CardinalMahony: The Creed does not list all of the beliefs of the Church; rather, the main Trinitarian beliefs and our unity as members of the Body of Christ.
CardinalMahony: Anyone on line from the cold east Coast??
RoeA: I am here from the East Coast
CardinalMahony: Roe, where are you? What is your weather like now?
RoeA: I am in NJ where it has been raining and now the sun is shining
CardinalMahony: Roe, we could use some of your rain out here in the West! Please send us some fast!!
Moderator: This is Sam. Do you think you would have time to drop by our first Indonesian mass at congress tomorrow? It'd be a great honor. Thanks.
CardinalMahony: Sam: I always attend the Arena Masses on Friday and Saturday because I can see the largest number of people.
realcatholic: is the archdiocese going to world youth day 2008 as a group?
CardinalMahony: Most parishes organize their own groups for World Youth Day, but we try to keep them in the same vicinity in the host country. I plan to go as well.
Moderator: From Paul at the Congress: Cardinal, you have a very good sense of humor, but we seldom see it. Is that because you're afraid it will be misquoted?
CardinalMahony: Paul: I actually use humor all the time! But the media likes to focus on problems and difficulties, not humor!
Moderator: I'm sorry we have run out of time. Thank you, Cardinal, for your time with us today.
CardinalMahony: Thank you and God bless you all!!!!
Cardinal inaugurates new Achdiocesan Pastoral Council
Feb 03, 2007
The new Archdiocesan Pastoral Council responsible for setting a vision for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and evaluating implementation of Synod initiatives is "here for the care and the concern of the whole archdiocese," Cardinal Roger Mahony told council members at their inaugural meeting.
(The Tidings, February 2, 2007) "This body is unique in that regard," said Cardinal Mahony, who presided at the Jan. 27 meeting held at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in midtown Los Angeles. "Regional pastoral councils are concerned about the region, but your concern and my concern now goes beyond that. Our concern is for the whole local church of Los Angeles, all three counties --- Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles --- all five pastoral regions."
"I also see this group as an extremely important coordinating and unifying group for the archdiocese," he continued. "What I need from you is to be listening to one another. I need all of you to be very much aware and in touch with all of the local needs of all five pastoral regions."
The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council also will evaluate the implementation of the six Synod pastoral initiatives throughout the archdiocese, said the cardinal, in the areas of evangelization, structures for participation and accountability, ongoing education and formation, ministry and leadership, Eucharist and sacramental living and social justice.
Twenty-seven Archdiocesan Pastoral Council members were present at the meeting and two were absent. Members include representatives from the regional pastoral councils, Council of Priests, Council of Deacons, Parish Life Directors, religious women, religious brothers and ex-officio non-voting members.
The cardinal pointed out that a short-lived archdiocesan pastoral council was put together in the late 1980s, but he acknowledged that it couldn't function well without having in place ground-level organizational work locally and regionally.
"It was the wrong thing at the wrong time and everybody quickly realized that," he said.
During the nearly two-and-a-half year Synod discernment process and its subsequent implementation, parishes now are establishing or strengthening their parish councils and finance councils and regional pastoral councils have been created.
This work has laid a solid foundation through which an archdiocesan wide council can now be effective in creating a vision and a direction for the whole archdiocese, said the cardinal. However, he reminded council members that the essential work of the church begins at the local parish.
"All organizational advances in the body of Christ, going back to the Acts of the Apostles, also occur most effectively at the local level," he said. "The organization of strong, representative groups in the archdiocese --- pastoral councils and finance councils are the two absolute essentials. Because regional pastoral councils and this council can do all kinds of things, but if we don't have a structure of strong, parish-based, representative groups working and gathering frequently with their pastoral leadership to lift up the mission and the vision of the church, if we don't have that, then we don't have the sense of unity that we're all going down the same road together."
Canon law mandates that every parish have a finance council, and the policy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is that every parish also have a parish council, said the cardinal.
During the activity reports presented by members of the regional pastoral councils, estimates throughout the five regions indicate that between 40 to 80 percent of parishes have active parish councils, and between 80 percent to 100 percent have finance councils. The regional councils will continue to work with parishes on this, and the Office of the Synod will offer training sessions in how to establish parish and finance councils.
Highlights reported by the regions include the multi-parish, adult-education program launched in the Santa Barbara Region and an environmental symposium organized in the San Fernando Region. Most regions have organized standing committees to assist with implementation of Synod initiatives, and several are establishing social justice committees in the parishes and hosting social justice and immigration workshops.
The need to establish various means to communicate with and reach large numbers of Catholics was emphasized. All the regions have been involved in the parish viability study to discern alternative models of parish leadership as the number of active priests decline.
Deacon Gus Sebenius, of the San Gabriel Region Office, was invited to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council meeting to report on an archdiocesan pastoral staffing planning conference held in November to discuss results from the 2006 parish viability study. The study reported that 40 percent of parishes would choose to twin with another parish and share one pastor, and 35 percent are interested in having a parish life director to manage administrative responsibilities while a sacramental priest minister is available to say Mass and focus on pastoral ministry. Others are considering clustering activities and pooling the resources of several parishes.
As a result of the planning conference four working groups have been established to (1) inventory the number of priests at each parish available to celebrate Mass; (2) write a white paper articulating theologically what it means to be a Eucharistic church; (3) define more clearly what it means to twin parishes or cluster resources as well as having a parish life director work alongside sacramental priest ministers; and (4) design a protocol for determining which leadership model best fits a parish.
"It's a tremendous task we're face with, and we're just beginning," said Deacon Sebenius. "It's an exciting time in our church. How do we best serve the people of God?"
Representatives of the five regions and archdiocesan leadership will reconvene in March to continue the work of pastoral staffing planning. The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, which meets three times a year, will reconvene in May.
Cd. Mahony's fishy fish lure
Jan 20, 2007
By Barbara Kralis.
(renewamerica.us, January 4, 2007) One of the chief symbols of the early Church is the fish symbol, the Symbolum maius. The Sacred and essential characteristic of the Christian fish symbol passes throughout time unchanged and preserved in Sacred Tradition. The holy, ancient, outward symbol represents our Lord and the Eucharist, in association with the loaves of bread and the fishes. The fish symbol was derived from the Greek word for fish, Ιχθυς [or ichthus], and became a holy acrostic for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour." [1]
Contrary to Sacred Tradition, [2] Cardinal Roger Mahony's Archdiocese of Los Angeles 'Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics' [MLGC], under his Episcopal authority, has robbed this ancient symbol of its sacredness, mutating and deforming the Christian Eucharistic fish symbol into a profane external sign of the homosexual subculture.
Cardinal Mahony instructs his nearly 5 million Catholic members to "see in the [gay] fish pin a sign of recognition of our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers." Is Cardinal Mahony trying to hook his already desensitized laity with this fishy bait?
The Cardinal is perversely distorting a once holy and revered symbol used not only by the early Christians but today's Christians as well. Through the gift of the same Sacred Tradition the Apostles received from Christ, the early Christians recognized one another in the image of the fish during the persecution of their Church. [3]
Most harmful are the Cardinal's attempts to further confuse his priests, religious, and laity by 'normalizing' the homosexual idioms 'lesbian' and 'gay' using the 'gay' Rainbow colored fish.
Let us examine how damaging is Cardinal Mahony's normalization of homosexuality, especially now when once again Californians are battling evil legislation which would permit 'homosexual marriage' in their state of California. [4]
The idioms 'lesbian' and 'gay' signify same-sex unions between two or more persons. 'Lesbian' and 'gay' couples boldly assert that one's same-sex perversion is equal to heterosexual, traditional marriage. [5] The 'lesbian' and 'gay' idioms denote 'acting out,' or openly and freely promoting and seeking the sodomite lifestyle. A popular gay chant is "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!"
No one can honestly refute that the same-sex 'lesbian' and 'gay' culture subverts and degrades procreation in traditional marriage. 'Lesbians' and 'gays' have, because of their same-sex perversions, high disproportional rates of health problems, [6] infectious sexually transmitted diseases, mental depression,[7] drug and alcohol use, suicide, domestic abuse, child abuse and pedophilia. [8] 'Lesbian' and 'gay' acts go against God's natural law. [9] To be 'lesbian' or 'gay' means being defiantly unresponsive to the Church moral teaching about this evil. [10]
To this effect, why would any Archdiocese give normal, sacred recognition to homosexuality by the use of a Sacred Christian symbol? [11]
The Vatican has warned against such recognition. On June 3, 2003, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [now Pope Benedict XVI] published the infallible moral document: [12] "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons," which makes special mention of the obligation of Bishops and politicians to oppose any type of recognition of homosexual unions.
"There are absolutely no grounds for the considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against natural law" [I, §4]. [13]
Why does Cardinal Mahony attempt to confuse others by covering the Church's Sacred fish with the homosexual Rainbow Flag colors? If the same-sex 'lesbian' and 'gay' culture is normalized, will not Los Angeles Catholics falsely accept 'lesbian' and 'gay' couples as equal to traditional 'one man and one woman' married couples?
Is the Los Angeles Archdiocese attempting to normalize the abnormal 'lesbian' and 'gay' culture?
Let us examine just how dangerous is Cardinal Mahony's Rainbow 'gay' fish and what the Rainbow Flag signifies to most all world cultures.
The homosexual movement has established the 'gay' Rainbow Flag symbol worldwide to publicly personify the 'lesbian' and 'gay' pride and perversity. [14]
Looking at the homosexual Rainbow Flag, we see it consists of six colored stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, with the red stripe on top. [15] These colors are displayed worldwide, everyday, in a myriad of ways: on flags, on sashes, on jewelry, T-shirts, parade floats, body paintings, tattoos, billboards, banners, store window displays, subtly and surreptitiously hidden signs in the most unexpected places — even recently displayed upon a Christian fish. Any sorrowful display or exhibit of this 'lesbian' and 'gay' Rainbow sign is offensive to the people of God and demonstrates opposition to the biblical promise by God to Noah of God's everlasting Covenant to mankind:
"And God said, 'This is the sign of the Covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between Me and the earth" [RSV, Gen.9:12-13]. In addition, "When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting Covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth" [RSV, Gen.9:16].
The Rainbow Flag sign is so combative that the Catholic Church forbids anyone wearing this 'lesbian' and 'gay' attire from receiving the Eucharist. It is important to understand that this Church discipline is for those persons wearing the Rainbow signs who are living the intrinsically disordered lifestyle as well as for those persons wearing the Rainbow sign who are not living the lifestyle but openly support it. The 'gay' Rainbow sign is a public statement of opposition to the Catholic Church's infallible moral teachings against homosexuality, and a public statement that the wearer condones sodomy.
Today's Eucharistic abuses "are not to be taken lightly," said Francis Cardinal Arinze recently. [16] Is Cardinal Mahony defying the Vatican's recent teachings regarding worthiness to receive Holy Communion by placing a 'gay' Rainbow upon a Sacred Christian symbol, the fish?
On February 11, 2005, in an interview with Eternal Word Television Network [EWTN] host Raymond Arroyo as reported by LifeSite, Vatican Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Francis Arinze said when asked if people wearing homosexual 'Rainbow Sashes' could receive Holy Communion:
"No, no. You see, let us get it clear. These rainbow sash people are really saying we are homosexuals, we intend to remain so, and we want to receive Holy Communion. The question arises; take the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It says it is not condemning a person for having homosexual tendency. We do not condemn anybody for that. But a person stands condemned for acting on it.... The Catholic Church has never accepted homosexuality as normal. You read the scripture. It is very clear. What exactly are we examining? Are we going to change Divine Law, how God made us.... Quite another matter if a person had just the tendencies and is making (an) effort to live the Divine Law, then that is fine. So, we respect persons but be clear on the truth."
Cardinal Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has notified the 'Rainbow Sash Movement' that his Cathedral will welcome 'Rainbow Sash Members' as part of the Catholic Family to his Cathedral. Cardinal Mahony further assures members of the 'Rainbow Sash Movement' [a movement similar to the bowel movement] that when they present themselves for Holy Communion, they will receive 'it.'
Cardinal Mahony has never denied the 'Rainbow Sashers' Holy Communion, even though the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops as a whole has denied 'Rainbow Sashers' Holy Communion at each of their plenary conferences for the past several years. In 2005, the Rainbow Sash Movement issued a national call for others who oppose the Church's teachings on sodomy to join them on Pentecost Sunday by wearing the Rainbow Sash in a parish or a Cathedral.
Meanwhile, in another related fishy issue, we read a disturbing interview with the Los Angeles Times wherein Cardinal Mahony stated on December 1, 2006, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay $60 million to settle just 45 of the 562 clergy homosexual and sex abuse cases pending. The 517 remaining molestation lawsuits could cost Californian parishioners hundreds of millions more. The Cardinal remarked December 2, 2006, he felt energized by this decision to fight the remaining lawsuits, "I feel much more energized for the other 500 cases now." [17]
Consistently tolerant of homosexuality, Cardinal Mahony stated in a 2004 deposition related to civil trials in Los Angeles, as reported recently by the New York Times, that a priest expressing sexual urges toward a 9-year-old would not be an automatic cause for removing him from duty in his archdiocese.
Adding to the disconcerting reports on Cardinal Mahony, it is no secret he is most notable for hosting controversial and heterodox Religious Education Conferences each year. At each of these modernist annual conferences, Cardinal Mahony presides over various events and liturgies, most featuring abuses forbidden by the Vatican such as immodestly clad women liturgical dancers, rock music, pop liturgical 'vocalists' and bongo instruments. The stage 'Altar' is always absent of necessary Sacred Vessels and crucifix, while use of large illicit glass pitchers of altar wine, glass chalices and ciboria, wicker baskets of illicit altar bread, multi-colored picnic-style tablecloths in lieu of altar linens, New Age labyrinth arrangements are 'soup de jour.'
Journalist Allyson Smith covering the 2006 Convention noted no artwork nor statutes of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Saints nor Angels were found anywhere, but she noticed there was one piece of artwork in the place of Eucharistic Adoration called 'Sacred Space.' It was a painting showing the muscular backside of a man wearing only tight shorts, who was apparently "stepping into freedom." Too bad we don't have a photo of that inspiration.
The list of the 2006 annual Conference speakers teaching heretical catechesis to approximately 41,000 attendees included the usual suspects from Call to Action, Dignity, We Are Church, noted liturgical pirates, also heretical Fr. Richard Sparks,[18] as well as noted Lesbian and Gay Ministries leaders and clerics supporting the homosexual lifestyle by attacking church teachings. Included in this list was controversial Keynote speaker, Great Britain's Fr. Timothy Radcliffe.
In respect of your office, Cardinal Mahony, this writer fully understands you are a priest 'in Persona Christi.' Please do not continue to cause further scandal to the Catholic faithful by persisting in these abuses. Start the New Year 2007 A.D. by turning from error and instead faithfully and obediently follow all magisterial teachings and show respect for the Church's Sacred Traditions.
NOTES:
[1] Early in Christian Tradition, the Greek word for fish, Ιχθυς [or ichthus], represented the first letters of the five Greek words: "Jesus [Iesous] Christ [Christos], God's [Theous] Son [(h)uios] Savior [Soter]. In later years, the holy fish became a popular symbol of one's relationship with Christ in the Eucharist, and remains such a symbol today.
[2] Sacred Tradition is the sum of revealed doctrine which has not been committed to sacred Scripture but when has been handed down by a series of legitimate shepherds of the Church from age to age through Christ or the Holy Spirit, and in a broader understanding, doctrine spread by word of mouth. We read in St. Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold to the Traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our letter." And again, Paul admonishes us: "And we charge you, brethren, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the Tradition which they have received from us." [cf. John 20:30; 21:35; 1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Tim 1:13-14, 2:2, 3:14; 1 John 2:24; Jude 1:17]
[3] The Catechism of the Catholic Church §2357-2359.
Cf. In "An Open Letter to the Bishops," the Catholic Medical Association Task Force on July 23, 2002, had this to say: "The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that homosexuality's "psychological genesis remains largely unexplained" (#2357). While it is understandable that the writers of the Catechism would not wish to make a definitive statement about a question which is at the center of such a contentious public debate, this statement does not accurately reflect what is known about homosexuality. There is ample evidence that same-sex attraction has many different causes. These lead to significant childhood and adolescent emotional pain and psychological problems. Among males these could include a weak masculine identity, social isolation and loneliness, peer rejection or a poor body image and in females, a mistrust of male love or a weak feminine identity. No one can say "this is the cause" for same-sex attraction as though there were a single cause, but an individual can come to understand the origins of his or her own same-sex attractions through insight gained in therapy."
[4] Cf. Americans For Truth.com, for up-to-date news on the Homosexual movement.
[5] Cf. "Homosexual Parenting: Is it Time for Change?" By the American College of Pediatricians [ACP]. The ACP found those studies to actually conclude that: "Children reared in homosexual households are more likely to experience sexual confusion, practice homosexual behavior, and engage in sexual experimentation."
Cf. NARTH, for numerous well-documented medical and psychological sources of the harmfulness of homosexuality upon society and individuals.
[6] Cf. "The Health Risks of Gay Sex," by internist John R. Diggs, Jr., M.D.www.corporateresourcecouncil.org/white_papers/Health_Risks.pdf
[7] Cf. "Homosexuality and Mental Health Problems," by N.E. Whitehead, Ph.D.
[8] Cf. "Why Isn't Homosexuality Considered A Disorder On The Basis Of Its Medical Consequences? Lethal consequences to engaging in defining features of male homosexuality — promiscuity and anal intercourse" by Kathleen Melonakos, M.A., R.N.
[9] Cf. "Law of Nature Excludes Homosexuality," by Dr. David van Gend. An Australian medical ethics expert told an audience at a marriage conference recently that homosexuals are excluding themselves from marriage and family by refusing the join the great human 'circle of life.'
[10] Cf. "Homosexuality and Hope," Statement of the Catholic Medical Association, 2007.
[11] Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, President of The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality [NARTH] recently stated: "The AMA encyclopedia incorrectly notes that homosexuals comprise 10% of the population (a figure denied even by gay activists), and erroneously says that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation rarely, if ever, succeed. The 10% figure has been discredited by recent surveys, including one from Canada's Community Health Survey showing that only 1.3% of men and 0.7% of women identify themselves as homosexual. The AMA has also ignored the study by Dr. Robert Spitzer showing that some individuals with same-sex attractions can change their sexual orientation." Dr. Nicolosi and other NARTH officials are available for media interviews. Call 818.789.4440 to set up an interview.
[12] The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, in the Audience of March 28, 2003, approved the present Considerations, adopted in the Ordinary Session of this Congregation, and ordered their publication. The moral document is taught infallibly.
[13] Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2357.
[14] First designed and used by Gilbert Baker, a homosexual San Francisco artist during a July 25, 2978 Gay Freedom Day Parade.
[15] The Gay Almanac, which was compiled by officials at the National Museum & Archive of Lesbian & Gay History in New York City states the original homosexual 'Rainbow Flag' consisted in eight colors, including pink of sexuality, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for natural serenity, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit. In l979, the homosexual 'Rainbow Flag' was change to substitute blue for turquoise and indigo, and violet replaced with dark purple. The 'Rainbow Flag' is used by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgenered, and queer groups.
[16] On April 23, 2004, Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect of The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, promulgated a long awaited 70-page liturgical norm or 'Instruction.' Entitled, 'Redemptionis Sacramentum...On certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist' (or 'The Sacrament of Redemption), heretofore referred to as 'RS.' In this clearly written liturgical Instruction, we are firmly directed: "let everyone do all that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected" [183]. 'RS' is clearly an important elaboration of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (GIRM) and the Encyclical Letter 'Ecclesia de Eucharistia' (EE). All are supported by the Code of Canon Law, "to establish certain norms by which those earlier ones are explained and complemented; and also to set forth for Bishops, as well as for Priests, Deacons and all the lay Christian faithful, how each should carry them out in accordance with his own responsibilities and the means at this disposal" [RS, preamble n.2].
[17] The 45 cases settled Friday, December 1, 2006, resolve only allegations of homosexual and sex abuse in years the archdiocese was either not insured or was underinsured — cases that took place prior to 1954 or after 1986. The payments cover just a fraction of the 570 claims filed against the nation's largest archdiocese, setting the stage for payouts in the hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve the cases still pending. Diogenes explains what will really happened and why.
[18] Cf. "Step Into It," by Allyson Smith: At the beginning of his Saturday afternoon talk, "Human Sexuality: Nature and Relationships in Cultural Milieus," Paulist Father Richard Sparks, pastor of the University of California at Berkeley's Newman Center, admitted he had gotten into trouble for remarks he had made at the 2001 L.A. Religious Education Congress. At that congress, Sparks acknowledged Church teaching on the relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. "But if somebody says, 'do you think Joseph ever wanted to jump her bones?' Do you think Joseph ever thought, 'God, why can't we consummate this thing?... Now all I'm saying is — even if they didn't have sex, did they ever neck? Or did they maybe cuddle and snuggle? Did he ever sort of fondle his wife? Did she ever kind of fondle him?" At the same conference, Sparks commented on the size of his genitalia. "It's a little bigger than Mel Gibson's, but the bigger the better, I say," he said. Fr. Sparks' bishop was, at that time in 2001, Archbishop Wm. J. Levada, now Cardinal Levada, the number two man at the Vatican [the Pope being number one man]. Levada is also Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith [CDF], the position Cardinal Ratzinger formerly held. Archbishop Levada's successor, Archbishop George Niederauer still allows Fr. Sparks to pastor and speak nationwide.
Barbara Kralis writes for various Christian and conservative publications. Her columns have been featured at RenewAmerica.us, Catholic World Report, Alliance Defense Fund, Intellectual Conservative, Life Issues, Catholic Culture, The Wanderer newspaper, Phil Brennan's WOW, ChronWatch, North Carolina Conservative, MichNews, Catholic Citizens, Illinois Family Institute, Illinois Leader, New Oxford Review, Seattle Catholic, Faithful Voice, NewsBull, and others. She and her husband, Mitch, live in the great State of Texas, and co-direct the Jesus Through Mary Catholic Foundation. She can be reached at: AveMaria@earthlink.net
Cardinal Roger Mahony Delivers Christmas Message
Dec 25, 2006
Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony asked the faithful in his Christmas message Sunday to celebrate the word of God made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
(CBS Dec 24, 2006) LOS ANGELES - "What we celebrate is the grand and glorious mystery of the incarnation, the coming of the word in flesh. And the word is love. Love is the life that pours itself forth; toward us, for us, and, yes, within us," he said.
"All too easily we are inclined to think of the incarnation as as event that occurred long ago in a faraway place. But in God's ways of coming, there is no past, present or future. God is sheer aliveness. God is constantly coming as a gift."
The cardinal said 13th century theologian Thomas Aquinas had it right.
"In the sacramental life of the church, the Incarnation continues. We proclaim him coming, come and still to come -- in simple earthen, fragile and fluid gifts of bread, wine, water and oil. And when we take them to ourselves, through our hands, our pores, our lips, our tongues, we too are embraced by that incarnate love and become his body: love incarnate here and now."
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which includes Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, is the most populous in the nation serves about 4.3 million Catholics.
LA Cardinal Mahony Issues Special Taped message to Catholics on Pro-Life Proposition
Oct 06, 2006
In an extraordinary move, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, prepared taped messages in Spanish and English which were to be played on Sunday, Oct. 1, at all 288 parishes in the archdiocese. In the message, Cardinal Mahony urged Catholics to vote yes on Proposition 85 and to pray for its passage every day until the November elections.
LOS ANGELES, October 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Proposition 85, the Parents' Right to Know and Child Protection Initiative, would amend the state constitution to require that at least one parent of a minor girl be notified before undergoing an abortion.
"As you may know, under current California law a minor girl under the age of 18 cannot leave school to go on a field trip, she cannot get a flu shot, a tooth pulled, or even an aspirin from the school nurse without one of her parents being notified," the cardinal said in the taped message. "Yet that same child -- a girl as young as 12 years old -- can be taken by a complete stranger to an abortion center, put under general anesthesia, and undergo a surgical or chemical abortion without her parents' knowledge or consent."
Cardinal Mahony asked priests at all parishes of the Los Angeles Archdiocese to play his taped "Yes on 85" message at all Masses on last Sunday "designated as Respect Life Sunday". If the tape could not be played on Oct. 1, the Cardinal asked that it be played on another Sunday during the month of October, which is "Respect Life Month."
Cardinal Mahony says pope's remarks create a "teachable moment"
Sept 25, 2006
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said at a meeting with local Muslim leaders that Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks quoting a medieval emperor that characterized some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman" created a "teachable moment" to affirm the commonalities between the two faiths.
(Associated Press, Sep. 22, 2006) LOS ANGELES - At a meeting Thursday in Mahony's office at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in Los Angeles, the cardinal and Muslim leaders agreed to create more opportunities locally to educate Catholics and Muslims about one another.
They also discussed the possibility of pairing mosques and parishes together.
Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council called the meeting "positive, conciliatory and very constructive."
In a Sept. 12 address at the University of Regensburg in Germany, Benedict cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
The pope said he didn't mean to malign Islam, but did not issue a direct apology still demanded by some Muslim leaders.
At Thursday's gathering, local Muslim leaders, including representatives from the Southern California Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, described the hurt felt by many Muslims at the pope's words.
They said they welcomed Benedict's statements clarifying his position, according to a joint statement from the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
The group also discussed sending a joint delegation of local Muslims and Catholics to visit the Middle East and Vatican City.
Dr. Michael Downey selected as cardinal's biographer
Sept 25, 2006
In a memorandum to the Archdiocesan Leadership Team and the Auxiliary Bishops, Cardinal Roger Mahony announced that, after "wide consultation and careful consideration," he has selected theologian-author Dr. Michael Downey to write his biography.
(The Tidings, September 22, 2006) The research will begin immediately and will culminate in the publication of the volume by a nationally-renowned publisher following the cardinal's anticipated retirement at age 75 in 2011.
Downey has served as the Cardinal's Theologian since January 1998, and is a professor of Systematic Theology and Spirituality at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo. The author or editor of more than 20 books, he was first layperson to receive the doctorate in sacred theology from The Catholic University of America, and is known internationally as a writer and speaker in the field of Christian spirituality.
Having considered various candidates for this task, Cardinal Mahony said he selected Downey because "no one has worked more closely with me over these past critical years of the Archdiocesan Synod, its preparation and implementation. He knows my pastoral mind and my ecclesial outlook."
Downey's first book was "A Blessed Weakness: The Spirit of Jean Vanier and l'Arche" (Harper and Row, 1986), a biography of Jean Vanier, founder of l'Arche, an international community centered on service of persons with developmental abilities.
"In writing about Vanier," said Downey, "I found that it is crucial to get the facts right. But it is far more important to capture the spirit of person in writing their biography."
In writing the biography of Cardinal Mahony, he noted, "I want to provide readers throughout the country, indeed in different parts of the world, with an accurate and reliable portrait of the boy, the man, the priest, the bishop, the archbishop and cardinal; the issues, the challenges and the difficulties he has faced; and how he has responded to them."
The research will entail consultation with family members and brother priests, bishops and cardinals, as well as a hefty measure of research in the Archdiocesan Archives.
"Above all," said Downey, "I want to articulate the spirit of the man, in much the same way that Jeremy Langford managed to express the spirit of the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin through his work on 'The Gift of Peace.'"
Downey described Cardinal Mahony as "the most significant and influential moderate voice in the American Catholic hierarchy. So many people all across the country, and in different parts of the world, look to him as a paragon of the middle way and of moderation, an embodiment of the Common Ground so dear to the heart of his brother bishop and good friend Cardinal Bernardin."
"Like most people of deep and abiding prayer, Cardinal Mahony does not speak or write about his own experience of prayer, or his own spiritual life. The key to understanding both is his deep devotion to St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church and St. Joseph the Worker. The cardinal is a disciple of Jesus Christ, a man of the Church, indeed a 'Prince' of the Church Universal. But he is also a simple and humble man, a very uncomplicated but mature person. In any and every situation, the cardinal is the first one to roll up his sleeves and get down to work --- be it the work of endless tedious meetings, or caring for his priests and people, or helping set the dinner table and doing the dishes, or repairing leaky faucets. All the while, his eyes are constantly 'fixed on Jesus.'"
"At the heart of both prince and worker there is one spirituality --- the Spirit of Christ casting out fear and urging him on in total self-gift and service to his Lord."
Cardinal Mahony Reflects On 9/11 In Ceremony
Sept 12, 2006
The head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles called on Christians Monday to see "light" despite the darkness of terrorism, and allow the power of God to overcome fanaticism.
(CBS, Sep 11, 2006) LOS ANGELES "Darkness is dispelled only one way, and that is through light," Cardinal Roger Mahony, who celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on the 5th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said.
"Jesus said `I am the light of the world.' So we as a people of faith, primarily in this country, we believe in the light of God and I find optimism in that," Mahony said.
About 1,000 parishioners attended the noon Mass at the cathedral. That service typically attracts 100 to 200 churchgoers, according to the diocese.
The Mass began with a rendition of "America the Beautiful." "I think we need to be convinced that we have the power within us to overcome this kind of evil, that God's presence and power are stronger than the forces of darkness and evil," Mahony said.
Fanaticism done in the name of religion goes against everything that God embodies, Mahony said.
"I just see the hand of Satan, personally, in fanatics whose only mission in life is to kill other people," Mahony said.
"There is absolutely nothing redeeming in that at all. It's just pure evil."
Cardinal Calls For Humane Immigration Legislation
Jun 15, 2006
Cardinal Roger Mahony Wednesday called on federal lawmakers to pass immigration legislation that includes humane border enforcement and does not criminalize people who sneak across the borders.
(CBS, Jun 14, 2006) LOS ANGELES - "We are for regulating access to our country from all four borders in ways that respect the dignity of people," Mahony said at a news conference before the start of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Millennium Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles.
Enforcement cannot criminalize undocumented workers because "it will just force people more underground and into the shadows," he said.
Mahony joined bishops from Orange, San Bernardino, New York and Tucson to discuss the church's continued support for illegal immigrants and federal legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship and guest worker program.
"The only solution to this problem, to this challenge is international cooperation," said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, chairman of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
The group, which recognizes that many undocumented workers come to the United States from Mexico, said it would continue to work with church leaders in that country to address the economic problems that cause people to some to the United States illegally.
Cardinal Mahony Reponds to Senate's Passing of Immigration Bill
Jun 15, 2006
Cardinal Mahony: U.S. Senate Immigration Bill is imperfect, but still a step toward reform.
(abclocal.go.com, May 25, 2006) Though it contains a number of punitive provisions that are objectionable, Senate Bill 2611 is an important step toward achieving effective immigration reform in our nation that is just, fair and humane.
On the positive side, the Bill includes a number of provisions that I, and my fellow U.S. Catholic bishops, have supported for years. A path to citizenship is provided to many of the 12 million undocumented persons in the U.S., including 1 million farm workers. Family reunification and a temporary worker program are also positive provisions included in the Bill.
But the Bill also contains provisions that are unnecessarily punitive in nature, and will not help to fix our nation's broken immigration system. Objectionable provisions include mandatory detention along the border, and an expansion of the expedited removal of asylum seekers. The construction of a 370-mile-long wall and the deployment of National Guard forces along our border with Mexico, incorrectly applies a military solution to a problem that is socio-economic in nature.
We will redouble our efforts as a church over the next few months to encourage our representatives in Congress to adopt immigration reform legislation that is just, fair and humane. We will work hard to convince them that they should not support unnecessarily harsh and punitive provisions that will do little to nothing to help our nation achieve meaningful immigration reform. I will oppose a final bill that comes out of the House-Senate Conference Committee if it removes or significantly weakens the legalization provisions of the Senate Bill, including the path to citizenship.
Our nation stands at an important juncture in its history. I encourage all of our Catholic people to continue to pray for our legislators at this time. Let us also pray for the millions of hard-working immigrants and their families -- our brothers and sisters -- whose lives will be profoundly affected by the laws our legislators will enact.
Cardinal gets mixed reaction for backing illegal immigrants
May 06, 2006
That Cardinal Roger Mahony attended grammar school here, in the modest St. Charles Borromeo parish more than a half-century ago, was a fact lost on many parishioners on a recent Sunday.
(Chicago Tribune, May 1, 2006) LOS ANGELES -- But little else is forgotten about the neighborhood-kid-done-good whose national profile has been on the rise, largely for his willingness to take on controversy, especially his recent stands on illegal immigration.
It mattered little whether parishioners had just attended mass in English or Spanish April 23: Roman Catholics interviewed were sharply divided about Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles, who has said that if Congress were to pass laws to punish anyone helping undocumented workers, priests in his 288 parishes had his blessing to violate the measures.
Laura Allee, 41, of Burbank disagreed with Mahony, saying illegal immigrants "should stay where they belong," in their native countries.
A Salvadoran immigrant who became a citizen a year ago, Allee added: "Even though I'm of Hispanic origin, I don't share the issue with him.
"This is a country of laws," said Roberto, 38, a University of Southern California oncology researcher who declined to give his last name.
But a Catholic couple visiting St. Charles Borromeo, a Spanish baroque church, said Mahony was right to condemn the proposed laws.
With husband Al Di Paolo at her side, Bonnie Thompson, 53, of Van Nuys, said, "I think it's really good. ... I don't see how they're going to enforce them any way."
Mahony, 70, who leads the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, is scheduled to participate in Monday's planned mass protests in Los Angeles except not the one to be held downtown.
Rather, after celebrating noon mass at Los Angeles' Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Monday, Mahony will go to a barrio, marching on foot almost 4 miles from MacArthur Park down the city's grand Wilshire Boulevard.
The first native Angeleno to become cardinal here, Mahony has often been said to have a common touch among Latino immigrants. It has served him well as "the center of gravity of the Catholic Church" in the United States moves to the Southwest where Latinos are seen as a growth ministry, said Rev. Allan Figueroa Deck, president of the Loyola Institute for Spirituality in Orange, Calif.
When newly ordained in the 1960s, Mahony sought a remote post in rural Fresno, Calif., where he worked with immigrant farm laborers and their then-leader, Cesar Chavez.
His leanings toward farm workers began as a boy on his father's chicken farm in the San Fernando Valley, where St. Charles is located, when the area was largely agricultural. Mahony became acquainted with the mostly Mexican immigrant workers and learned Spanish, said archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg.
On Ash Wednesday, Mahony used the cathedral, which critics have nicknamed "the Rog Mahal" because Mahony spent $189 million to build it, to announce his opposition to the proposed anti-immigration laws.
Joe Knippenberg, an online columnist for the conservative American Enterprise, called Mahony a political grandstander.
"What Cardinal Mahony did there was run the risk of becoming a mere political actor and then sort of trading the prophetic voice for a mere political voice," Knippenberg said. "What's the difference between a church worker who defies what he or she sees as an unjust law or human smuggler who defies what he or she sees as an unjust law?"
Chrism Mass: Cardinal affirms evangelization efforts by all
Apr 27, 2006
Calling the annual Chrism Mass his favorite liturgy of the year, Cardinal Roger Mahony led a celebration April 10 in which he encouraged all in ministry --- clergy, religious and lay --- to continue Christ's work of evangelization and to stand with the oppressed.
(The Tidings, April 14, 2006) Several thousand faithful were gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, including five auxiliary bishops, several hundred archdiocesan priests, a couple dozen deacons and their wives, religious and scores of laity. The cardinal said it was his favorite liturgy, because all areas of pastoral leadership were represented at the Chrism Mass symbolizing the Catholic Church's unity.
"We celebrate together tonight that unity and that harmony as we bless these oils for the sacramental rites of the church," said Cardinal Mahony. "In a certain sense Jesus comes as the Anointed One tonight to anoint all of us and to help us be a part of his special mission."
In the evening's Gospel reading (Luke 4: 16-21), Jesus reads from the Hebrew Scriptures in a Nazarene synagogue and proclaims his mission to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set free the oppressed.
Cardinal Mahony reflected on how this mission of Jesus is being realized, beginning with the need to evangelize and share the good news with others as well as to use the sacramental oil to "go out across the Archdiocese and in a special way heal the sick."
He continued to observe how Catholics are proclaiming Jesus' message at this particular historical moment in the life of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the U.S. by standing with the oppressed.
"Who are the oppressed today?" asked the cardinal. "Certainly our immigrant people."
A couple of hours earlier that afternoon the cardinal opened an interfaith prayer vigil for humane immigration reform outside of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church (La Placita) in Los Angeles attended by several thousand immigrants and supporters, as well as many priests, religious, and Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.
During the liturgy, the cardinal said he was proud of priests, religious and laity "who have stepped forth as leaders to create an atmosphere that will help and hopefully move towards just and humane immigration reform.
"I'm very proud of all of you, because this anointing by the anointed one must flow over all peoples, especially those in the shadows, in the margins. We must be there for them," said the cardinal. "Like Jesus we will encounter misunderstandings, the opposition, the rejection, the isolation. But if we're going to be true to our calling, the spirit of the Lord God is upon us. The Lord has anointed us and sent us forth."
Prior to blessing the holy oils for sacramental use throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the coming year, Cardinal Mahony also gave special recognition to priests celebrating their Golden and Diamond Jubilees.
Honored for 50 years of service to the people of God were Father Jerome Bouska, Augustinian Recollect Father Robert Huse, Father Fernando Iglesias, Salvatorian Father Tulio Maya, Father James Rothe and Msgr. Andrew Tseu. Augustinian Recollect James Brown was lauded for his 60 years as a priest.
As is customary at the Chrism Mass, priests and deacons renewed their commitment to their vows.
Mahony is correct on immigration
Apr 21, 2006
There’s a certain irony in the criticism leveled at Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony regarding his recent statements on the immigration legislation before Congress.
(National Catholic Reporter, April 7, 2006) Referring to a provision of the House-passed immigration legislation, Mahony wrote in The New York Times March 22, “Providing humanitarian assistance to those in need should not be made a crime, as the House bill decrees. As written, the proposed law is so broad that it would criminalize even minor acts of mercy like offering a meal or administering first aid.”
Mahony said he would urge his priests to disobey such a provision should it become law.
The editors of the conservative National Review, in a March 23 editorial titled “Cardinal Errors,” challenged Mahony. “The cardinal points to a provision of the bill that makes it illegal to ‘assist’ an illegal immigrant to ‘remain in the United States.’ (The person providing such assistance would have to know, or recklessly disregard, the assistee’s legal status to have committed an offense, by the way, not that the cardinal shares that information with his readers.) That provision is directed at those who traffic in illegal immigrants.”
Conservatives frequently complain when judges abandon the plain language of a statute and substitute their own interpretation, or their view of the legislative history, for the actual words used by the legislators who wrote the law. But here they accuse Mahony (and by implication all church leaders, Catholic or otherwise, who have made the same point) of “bearing false witness” because the cardinal asserts that the House bill actually says what it says.
Thankfully, the immigration legislation approved March 27 by the Senate Judiciary Committee explicitly rejects the House’s effort to make humanitarian assistance a crime.
President Bush, who launched this debate two years ago, is treading politically treacherous terrain. To his right are the nativists -- the build-the-wall and Minuteman crowd -- whose passion outweighs their numbers but who also represent what is in some ways mainstream Republican thinking on immigration. To his left are the cheap-labor Chamber of Commerce types and, increasingly, evangelical Christian conservatives who take the biblical injunction to welcome the stranger seriously.
Perhaps it is his Texas roots, or his sympathy with business’ desire for people who will work cheaply, or his eye on the 40 percent of Hispanics who voted for him last time around -- the reason doesn’t really matter -- but the president has demonstrated a surprising level of nuance on this issue. “It says something about our country that people around the world are willing to leave their homes and leave their families and risk everything to come to America.” He’s right. And for his tone, if not every detail of his approach, the president should be applauded.
Mountains of misinformation and wrong impressions, however, have formed on either side of the debate. To hear some opponents of immigration reform, the United States has become downright hostile to any kind of immigration and at the service of those who want to close the door behind us. The fact is that immigration numbers have increased not only steadily but by significant percentages since 1970, when the United States was home to 9.6 million foreign-born residents. According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the figure rose to 14.1 million in 1980; to 19.8 million in 1990; to 31.1 million in 2000; and to 33.5 million in 2003, a figure representing 11.7 percent of the U.S. population. That number does not include the undocumented.
At the same time, those who follow the lead of Republican Sen. Bill Frist see the entire matter in terms of security. More guards and guns and stricter enforcement will cost more, it will make some feel as if we’re doing something to control immigration and it will placate those who think we have to be tougher on lawbreakers.
But for the significant cost it will require, it will do nothing to get at the deeper issues: what Americans are willing to pay for planting and harvesting and other work now done by migrants; the revenue stream that Mexicans and other Latin Americans have become for their home countries; the effects of globalization that are, for instance, forcing people off farms in their home countries and into cities where there are no jobs.
In the two years since President Bush announced his intention to deal with immigration issues in a comprehensive fashion, the U.S. bishops and other members of the religious community have been among the most consistent and sensible advocates of true reform. Their focus has been threefold: Find a means to legalize the status of the 10 million to 12 million undocumented persons who live in the United States; provide a mechanism to allow additional foreign workers to come to the United States under conditions that protect their rights; and ease the restrictions on family reunification that currently exist for foreign-born permanent residents and citizens. The Senate bill, while imperfect, goes a long way to achieving each of those objectives.
Mahony, as a religious leader, has every right, even obligation, to raise issues of justice regarding immigrants and to announce that the church will not cooperate in draconian provisions of a proposed law. He is not telling people how to vote, nor is he using sacramental blackmail against legislators who might disagree.
He is using an argument straight from the church’s social justice tradition. And from the numbers that have turned out to demonstrate and the support he is receiving from the Catholic community and elsewhere, it seems to be a rather persuasive argument.
Cardinal urges Catholics to boycott May 1 immigration-related boycott
Apr 20, 2006
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony asked people not to support a boycott of work, school and businesses planned for May 1 to draw attention to immigration issues.
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com, 4/17/2006) LOS ANGELES – Some organizations that are working to bring attention to pending immigration legislation are following up several weeks' worth of massive rallies and marches nationwide with a call for the boycott.
Cardinal Mahony recommended instead that people mark May 1, the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker, by devoting time to understanding "the dignity of work, the value of education and the important role immigrants play."
In a statement issued April 16, he especially encouraged Catholic parishes, schools and other church entities to take those steps.
Meanwhile, one Mexican bishop whose diocese is on the border near El Paso, Texas, encouraged Mexicans to boycott U.S. companies and products May 1.
Bishop Renato Ascencio Leon of Ciudad Juarez, who heads the Mexican bishops' migration committee, in a Good Friday homily called on Mexicans to join the boycott of U.S. products and companies, both in the United States and in Mexico.
"Mexicans who live on this side should show solidarity with the immigrants, the way Guatemalans, Nicaraguans and other Central Americans are doing," he said, according to Mexican newspapers.
Cardinal Mahony's statement included lists of activities for various groups as alternatives to the boycott.
For example, he suggested that employers set aside an hour during the day when employees can gather in small groups to discuss what they know about immigration, or provide materials employees can use to write to members of Congress about their concerns.
Schools might make use of a course syllabus on immigration to help students understand the issues, he said. Students and families could participate in a Day of the Worker celebration being held that day on the grounds of the La Brea Tar Pits.
"Our collective efforts to help enact immigration reform that is just, humane and workable demands that we channel our energies in ways that educate the people of our communities and help influence in positive ways our representatives and senators in Congress," Cardinal Mahony's statement said.
In a section on suggestions for principals and teachers, the statement emphasized that "boycotting school on May 1 will not bring about just and humane immigration reform -- sometimes, boycotts could even work against positive reform."
As alternatives, he encouraged teachers to talk about immigrants in their own families, to bring in ethnic foods and to have students write letters to lobby Congress.
Cardinal joins fight for undocumented workers' rights
Apr 06, 2006
One day, Roger Mahony, then about 12 years old, was working in his father's poultry processing plant in the San Fernando Valley when law enforcement agents searching for undocumented immigrants raided the facility.
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(Washington Post, April 3, 2006) LOS ANGELES -- ''I will never forget them bursting through the doors," Mahony recalled. ''I was terrified by it. And I thought, these poor people; they're here making a living supporting their families. . . . It had a very deep impact on me throughout the years."
Now Cardinal Roger Mahony, he leads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the country, and Mahony recently placed himself and the church in the national debate on immigration.
On March 1, during Ash Wednesday Mass, Mahony attacked a House bill that would turn most people and institutions that aid undocumented immigrants into felons. Calling it ''blameful, vicious" legislation, he vowed a campaign of civil disobedience in the archdiocese's 288 parishes if it becomes law.
Protest organizers and participants credited Mahony's fire from the pulpit -- and the educational campaign he initiated in January throughout his archdiocese -- with playing a critical role in organizing opposition.
They say his efforts helped prompt half a million people, including many undocumented immigrants, to feel safe enough to participate in one of the biggest demonstrations ever in downtown Los Angeles in March, calling for a more liberal immigration bill.
Los Angeles was one of more than a dozen cities in which demonstrators coursed through the streets. Earlier last week, a Senate committee approved an alternative measure with a guest-worker program that would help many illegal immigrants eventually win permanent residency or even US citizenship. ''I think this is a good beginning, but we are not stopping now," Mahony said in an interview.
Mahony became archbishop in 1985. Much of his religious career has been devoted to Hispanic migrants and the civic activism he countenanced last month. In the early 1960s, Mahony attended a seminary near citrus farms in the San Fernando Valley.
He honed his Spanish by practicing with fruit pickers brought to the United States on the ''bracero" guest-worker program that ended in 1964, in part because the workers were exploited ruthlessly.
A year after Mahony became a priest in Fresno in 1964, Filipino and Mexican farm workers launched the Delano Grape Strike, leading to the formation of the United Farm Workers and elevating labor leader Cesar Chavez to international prominence. At the time, no government agency claimed jurisdiction over agricultural workers.
From the start of the strike, Mahony worked on the Bishop's Committee on Farm Labor and mediated between strikers and farm owners. In 1975, Jerry Brown, then governor, appointed Mahony as the first chairman of the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
''For many, many years he has been totally involved in so many ways trying to give attention to the Hispanic community," said the Rev. Anastasio ''Tacho" Rivera, who ran the Spanish ministry section of the archdiocese for years.
Cardinal speaks for charity and justice
Apr 04, 2006
It was simple and direct. "Denying aid to a fellow human being violates a law with a higher authority than Congress - the Law of God." By Leo Sandon.
(Tallahassee Democrat, March 31 2006) So the cardinal archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, declared in a New York Times op-ed piece March 22. Having previously raised eyebrows by stating he would instruct priests to disobey any law subjecting lay workers and them to criminal penalties for performing their humanitarian mission, he then clarified his position in no uncertain terms.
Mahony was responding to a border-security bill that would make more than 11 million illegal immigrants felons under federal criminal law - with no provision for them to obtain legal status. The bill also stipulates that anyone who assists an undocumented immigrant can incur a five-year prison sentence.
Mahony insists that minor humanitarian assistance should not be a crime. Not allowing church workers to offer a meal or administer first aid to someone in need is draconian to the point of being immoral. Even if it's legal.
So the cardinal is authorizing civil disobedience should the House bill, in its present form, become law. In so doing he stands in a religious tradition that includes this sometimes necessary Christian judgment: "We must obey God rather than any human authority." (Acts 5:29) One sometimes has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
Religious folk, of course, have no monopoly on such acts of conscience. Civil disobedience is a notion with an honorable lineage that includes Socrates, participants in the Boston Tea Party and Henry David Thoreau.
But Mahony does not stop with taking a firm stand against what he considers harmful legislation. He goes on to argue for comprehensive reform of the immigration system.
He states that the church does not support illegal immigration, a situation that serves neither the immigrant nor the common good. Rather, the church advocates the creation of structures for legal migration and the legal status of immigrant workers. He laments that workers often are exploited by employers, even as they work in industries vital to our economy, yet "have little legal protection and no opportunity to contribute fully to our nation."
Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee came up with a bipartisan proposal that seems to measure up to the scope and nature of the system the archbishop envisions: legalizing the status of undocumented residents; establishing a track toward eventual citizenship if the immigrant meets the requirements of regular employment, passes a criminal background check, learns English and pays fines and back taxes; and allowing approximately 400,000 foreigners to immigrate to the U.S. each year as temporary workers and ultimately granting them citizenship.
If Congress musters the courage to take action on the immigration problem this year, the legislation will be some form of compromise between the House bill and the Senate committee's proposal, between hard-nosed border control and comprehensive reform. This week we've seen how polarized the nation is over immigration policy. We are awash in argument.
Among the calmer and more constructive voices, Cardinal Mahony spoke early in behalf of both charity and justice. His comments evidence an appreciation for the complexity of the issue that nevertheless does not shrink from taking a reasoned position.
He speaks from a venerable Roman Catholic tradition of social justice rooted in Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, ultimately in the eighth-century Hebrew prophets. And he speaks from an American Catholicism that traditionally champions the interests of immigrant workers. He is more interested in fairness and opportunity than "increasing penalties" and "erecting walls along our border with Mexico."
The cardinal archbishop has reminded us that law and order exist to support justice.
Cardinal Puts Church in Fight for Immigration Rights
Apr 03, 2006
One day, Roger Mahony, then about 12, was working in his father's poultry processing plant in the San Fernando Valley when law enforcement agents searching for illegal immigrants raided the facility.
(Washington Post, April 2, 2006) LOS ANGELES -- "I will never forget them bursting through the doors," Mahony recalled. "I was terrified by it. And I thought, 'These poor people; they're here making a living supporting their families.' . . . It had a very deep impact on me throughout the years." One of his father's workers was taken away.
Now Cardinal Roger Mahony, he leads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the country, and Mahony has recently placed himself and the church in the middle of the national debate on immigration.
On March 1, during Ash Wednesday Mass, the Hollywood-born clergyman attacked a House bill that would turn most people and institutions that aid illegal immigrants into felons. Calling it "blameful, vicious" legislation, Mahony vowed a campaign of civil disobedience in the archdiocese's 288 parishes if it becomes law.
Protest organizers and participants credited Mahony's fire from the pulpit -- and the educational campaign he initiated in January throughout his archdiocese -- with playing a critical role in organizing opposition. They say his efforts helped prompt half a million people, including many illegal immigrants, to feel safe enough participate in one of the biggest demonstrations ever in downtown Los Angeles on March 25, calling for a more liberal immigration bill.
Los Angeles was one of more than a dozen cities in which demonstrators coursed through the streets. Earlier last week, a Senate committee approved an alternative measure with a guest-worker program that would help many illegal immigrants eventually win permanent residency or even U.S. citizenship. "I think this is a good beginning," Mahony said in an interview, "but we are not stopping now."
He is tall and stoop-shouldered. His face fixed in an almost permanent smile, Mahony became archbishop in 1985. Much of his religious career has been devoted to Hispanic migrants and the civic activism he countenanced last month.
In the early 1960s, Mahony attended a seminary a stone's throw from citrus farms in the San Fernando Valley. He honed his Spanish by practicing with fruit pickers brought to the United States on the "bracero" guest-worker program that ended in 1964 in part because the workers were ruthlessly exploited. Mahony recalled the paychecks of the laborers. Seven days of work for $11.08 with a laundry list of deductions -- for the rent of a cot, a blanket, towels, silverware, meals.
A year after Mahony became a priest in Fresno in 1964, Filipino and Mexican farm workers launched the Delano Grape Strike, leading to the formation of the United Farm Workers and elevating labor leader Cesar Chavez to international prominence.
At the time, no government agency claimed jurisdiction over agricultural workers, so the church stepped in. From the start of the strike, Mahony worked on the Bishop's Committee on Farm Labor and mediated between strikers and farm owners. In 1975, then-Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. appointed Mahony as the first chairman of the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board -- a recognition of the unique role that Mahony and the church had played in fighting for the rights of migrant workers.
"For many, many years he has been totally involved in so many ways trying to give attention to the Hispanic community," said the Rev. Anastasio "Tacho" Rivera, who ran the Spanish ministry section of the archdiocese for years. When Mahony was appointed archbishop two decades ago, Rivera recalled that there were two priests in the archdiocese's Spanish office. Today, with Latinos estimated to make up about three-fourths of the archdiocese's 5 million members, there are more than 20 priests.
"L.A. is the second-largest concentration of Mexicans next to Mexico City. . . . this has to be an important issue for him," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. "This is the church at its best, out to defend the defenseless. And they're Catholic."
Religious observers say that for the church at large and Mahony in particular, the immigration debate provides an opportunity to stress values that have recently received little attention. For the past few years, Reese said, some in the church's leadership have been "appalled" at how Republican politicians used opposition to abortion to capture the Catholic vote in 2002 and 2004. By putting itself squarely on the liberal side of the immigration debate, Reese said, the church's hierarchy can "go on the record and show that the Roman Catholic Church is not in the back pocket of the Republican Party."
Mahony seemed to agree when, in the interview, he married the church's position on immigrant rights to its antiabortion stance.
"People unfortunately always want to place the pro-life agenda in two boxes: abortion and euthanasia," he said, speaking of two issues opposed by most Republicans. "But our pro-life agenda encompasses a broad spectrum of issues, and [immigration] is one of them." Another aspect of that agenda is the church's opposition to capital punishment. In March 2005, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, for the first time in 25 years, launched a campaign against the death penalty -- another issue where it and many Republicans diverge.
Mahony said the scandal involving molestation of children by priests had caused the church to focus on itself. "You have to keep in mind in 2002 the sexual abuse thing arose and that predominated the church . . . and also kept us away from some of our traditional activities," he said. Now, he contended, the church has been made safe for children, so its leadership is eager to focus on other social issues.
Mahony has been criticized by parishioners and other Catholics for his stance in the scandal. He directed a tough legal battle against the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, which wants access to the diocese's personnel records to investigate possible felony child-molestation charges against as many as 100 priests.
The archdiocese wants to keep the records closed. Analysts close to the church said that by taking a strong, principled stance on a different prominent issue, especially one such as immigration that harkens back to his past, Mahony is reminding his flock of the breadth of his achievements and his longtime commitment to social justice.
Asked if he took his position on Ash Wednesday with an eye to turning his legacy away from the sex abuse scandal and back toward issues that have informed his religious life, Mahony shook his head. "I don't believe in legacies at all," he said. "I don't see anything in the gospels that speaks about legacies, except everlasting life."
Cardinal Mahony Urges Catholics To Pray Wednesday
Apr 03, 2006
Cardinal Roger Mahony asked Cathonics to pray for lawmakers debating immigration reform this week and to fast on April 5th in a show of solidarity with illegal immigrants.
(CBS, Apr 2, 2006) LOS ANGELES - Cardinal Mahony, an outspoken critic of proposed legislation that would punish clergy and others who help undocumented workers, said he would mark the day of fasting by celebrating a special mass at 12:10 p.m. on April 5th at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
The outcome of immigration debates in Congress will have far reaching effects for all Americans and “those among us who are not citizens but who believe in the American dream,” he said.
"It is crucial that we focus our minds and hearts on our goal: achieving just and humane immigration reform, reform that respects the dignity of each and every person," he said.
The cardinal has a record of directing his parish to disobey laws that would criminalize people who provide aid to illegal immigrants.
For Catholics who cannot attend Wednesday’s mass, he urged followers to spend time at home praying for the Congressional legislators.
A Cardinal's Campaign
Apr 03, 2006
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles is speaking out against crackdowns on illegals. How far will his voice carry?
Newsweek, April 10, 2006 - Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, spent last week at the Vatican, where he and other Catholic leaders helped select new cardinals. But his thoughts strayed back home, where more than 500,000 people—mostly Latinos, and many from his flock—marched through the streets of downtown L.A. protesting anti-immigration legislation. "I saw the march from Rome, on CNN," Mahony told NEWSWEEK. "I was thrilled. Not only by the numbers, but by the fact that it was peaceful and sent a strong message to Washington. It put a human face on the issue."
In recent years, the controversial cardinal—whose 5 million-member diocese is the largest in the country—has endured criticism for his handling of the church's sexual-abuse scandal and for spending $189 million on a new cathedral sometimes referred to as the "Rog Mahal." Now, however, Mahony is getting more attention for waging a campaign against proposed laws cracking down on undocumented immigrants. He particularly objected to a provision that would make it a crime to help or hide illegals. In December, he wrote to President George W. Bush, urging him to reject the legislation. Then, on March 1—Ash Wednesday—Mahony went a step further. He told his priests and parishioners that if the law passed, they should ignore it and help immigrants anyway. For an institution that regards obedience as a virtue, it was a radical call to action.
The move was consistent with efforts by many U.S. Catholic leaders to cast immigration as a moral issue. (Mahony says the Vatican has offered no official response, but maintains he got a positive reaction in Rome.) But there are also practical reasons why the church might want to take up the plight of illegal immigrants. Support from the growing population of Latinos in the United States—many of whom crossed the border illegally—could be critically important to the future of the church here. "If the church is going to restore its character and credibility, it had better start taking some risks and speaking out on these issues," says William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "All of a sudden, Mahony is a hero ... I think it's an historic moment."
Spanish-language DJs had a lot to do with the large turnout in L.A. But Mahony's endorsement was important for many who regard the church's instructions as the final word. "I went because he said it was important," said Vilma Martinez, 39, an East L.A. resident who marched carrying an American flag.
Still, Mahony is urging parishioners not to let the demonstrations get out of hand. He is against plans by some community leaders to stage a work, school and consumer boycott on May 1. "Boycotting," he says, "will create a very negative atmosphere."
The cardinal has spoken. Whether Angelenos—and Congress—continue to heed Mahony's pleas will be the real test of his sway over the flock.
Cardinal, bishops draw support in immigration reform debate
Mar 22, 2006
As the discussion and debate on federal immigration reform continued in the local newspapers, Cardinal Roger Mahony --- whose public opposition to a House-passed reform measure has ignited much of the debate --- urged a California Senator to adopt legislation "that is both just and compassionate."
(The Tidings, March 10, 2006) "There are many sound ideas for immigration reform in discussion these days," the cardinal wrote March 1 to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Please take the best of them, and help set aside those that are punitive and not in the long tradition of America's welcome."
In his letter, Cardinal Mahony pointed to Scripture citations from the Old and New Testaments --- Exodus 23: 9 ("You must not oppress the stranger") and Matthew 25: 35 ("I was a stranger and you welcomed me") --- to emphasize that newcomers to this country must be treated with dignity and respect.
"We do not have the option of treating the alien or the immigrant in a punitive manner," the cardinal said.
He included a Parish Resource Kit, produced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and made available to all parishes, in his letter to Sen. Feinstein, to assist in drafting sound legislation. And he noted that, as a senator of the state with the nation's largest immigrant population, she is being looked to "for leadership with your fellow senators on this important issue."
Last week, Cardinal Mahony urged Catholics to oppose H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act that was passed Dec. 16 by the House of Representatives, 239-182. The bill would require humanitarian groups --- including religious organizations --- to find out a person's legal status before offering any assistance, and would place stiff penalties on any individuals who assisted undocumented immigrants.
In interviews with The Tidings and other news agencies since mid-February, Cardinal Mahony noted that such a bill would make criminals out of priests who offered sacraments to worshippers who were undocumented. "We're not going to do it," he told The Tidings, and he encouraged priests to continue to provide pastoral services to undocumented people, even if H.R. 4437 became law.
Public reaction to the cardinal's proposal was widespread, with letter writers to newspapers (including The Tidings) voicing either strong support or opposition. Editorials lauding the cardinal's position appeared in several newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and San Diego Union Tribune.
Ventura County-Star columnist Colleen Cason, in the March 3 edition, noted that "no one needed to show Jesus some stinking badge before he ministered to them…. He only needed to know they bled red, they ached, they thirsted and they despaired."
In Los Angeles, representatives of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights delivered to the Archdiocesan Catholic Center a letter signed by 296 parishioners, thanking Cardinal Mahony for his "voz profética" (prophetic voice) regarding "humane immigration reform…. We are encouraged to know that the Church stands with the stranger in our midst."
Cardinal's 'online chat' set March 31
Mar 22, 2006
Marking the 10-year anniversary of the first such event, Cardinal Roger Mahony will chat online during Congress 2006. Hosted by ChurchWerks, the chat will be held March 31 from 11:15 a.m. to noon live from the Anaheim Convention Center.
(The Tidings, March 10, 2006) The cardinal's first live session --- with questions and answers displayed on a large screen --- was conducted on CompuServe in 1996. Since then the chat has been conducted through AOL Live!, Beliefnet.com, CatholicWeb.com. and, starting in 2004, ChurchWerks.
This year's chat will be moderated by Tidings staff writer Ellie Hidalgo. Questions for the Cardinal are now being collected at www.RECongress.org/chat2006.htm to be submitted at the session. A transcript of this year's chat --- as well as all past years -- can be found online on the RECongress site: www.RECongress.org.
Respalda NYT llamado a desobediencia
Mar 11, 2006
La propuesta, aún en discusión, plantea penalizar la asistencia social a indocumentados
(La Jornada, 4 de marzo de 2006) El diario The New York Times respaldó en un editorial publicado este viernes el llamado a la desobediencia civil lanzado por el arzobispo de Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, en caso de que la iniciativa conocida como ley Sensenbrenner -que propone exigir documentación legal a los inmigrantes antes de darles ayuda- prospere en el Congreso estadunidense.
El rotativo consideró que el enorme flujo de inmigrantes ilegales hacia Estados Unidos y la ausencia de una política federal coherente para manejar la situación han provocado un torrente de respuestas por los gobiernos locales y la autoridad federal; han estimulado las pasiones de los nacionalistas y han incrementado las ansiedades derivadas de los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001.
El desafío de cardenal Mahony señaló, agrega una dimensión moral sobre lo que por mucho tiempo ha sido un debate sobre política y economía, y que "tiene razón" en sostener que el gobierno no puede criminalizar los esfuerzos caritativos de instituciones privadas, como el arzobispado a su cargo, cuya misión es ayudar a la gente sin hacer preguntas.
El arzobispado de Los Angeles, el más grande de Estados Unidos, administra una amplia red de programas de servicio social que ofrecen albergue, alimentación, cuidado infantil, asesoría legal y capacitación laboral a inmigrantes.
El diario considera que hacía mucho tiempo que Estados Unidos no escuchaba un llamado a la desobediencia civil organizada a gran escala, como el expresado por el arzobispo Mahony en su homilía con motivo del Miércoles de Ceniza, cuando exhortó a los fieles a dedicar la Cuaresma al ayuno, las oraciones y la reflexión en torno de la necesidad de una reforma humana a las leyes migratorias.
Si los esfuerzos del Congreso estadunidense logran convertir en un crimen proteger u ofrecer apoyo a los inmigrantes ilegales, recordó el rotativo, entonces el purpurado instruirá a sacerdotes y católicos laicos a desafiar la legislación que impulsan los senadores James Sensenbrenner, de Wisconsin, y Peter King, de Nueva York, que ampliaría la definición de "tráfico de migrantes" de forma que, teóricamente, incluiría trabajar en albergues para desamparados, llevar a un amigo a la parada del camión o cuidar al bebé de un vecino.
''La declaración de solidaridad con los inmigrantes ilegales del cardenal Mahony, para quienes la Cuaresma es prácticamente todos los días, es un llamado a la desobediencia civil, tan valiente como oportuno. Esperamos que se anticipe al día en que los trabajos de caridad se conviertan en un crimen federal", finalizó el editorial.
Cardinal calls for immigrant rights
Mar 04, 2006
A leading member of the Catholic Church has condemned a congressional resolution that, he said, further victimizes immigrants. He also took the occasion to initiate a campaign for immigrant rights.
(People's Weekly World Newspaper, 02/16/06) LOS ANGELES — Cardinal Roger Mahoney, head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, attacked House Resolution 4437 as “a new attack on immigrants [and} a very malicious bill that imposes restrictions and penalties on immigrants [and also] those who offer them any kind of assistance.” The resolution was introduced by Reps. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Peter King (R-Calif.) who chair, respectively, the House committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security. The House passed the resolution Dec. 17.
The bill’s provisions include changing undocumented presence in the U.S. from a civil to a felony offense; broadly expanding the definition of smuggling immigrants to include the provision of services to the undocumented; eliminating many due process rights for documented and undocumented; involving state and local police in enforcement of immigration laws; erecting 700 miles of wall along the border with Mexico; and adding many new military surveillance systems for border patrol.
Mahoney announced that “the Catholic Church and many other organizations and immigrants rights advocates ... are banding together to protect the rights of all ... to see that it [HR 4437] does not go beyond the Senate,” and that the Senate passes measures to increase legalization rights for immigrants.
“2006 will be a great year of struggle for the rights and dignity of immigrants ... and the Church is going to step forward front and center,” Mahoney said. The cardinal’s remarks came during a special mass on Jan. 14 celebrating National Migrants Week.
During the ceremony, which was attended by several hundred people, responsive prayers were presented in Thai, Filipino, Chinese, Indonesian, Arabic, Italian, Lithuanian, Anglo and Korean with the response in Spanish and English.
The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops is participating in the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which includes hundred of labor, civil rights, faith, community and business groups. It opposes HR 4437 and supports legislation that would provide legalization of undocumented workers.
Cardenal de Los Angeles promete resistir ley sobre inmigración
Mar 04, 2006
Un cardenal de Los Angeles dijo que instruirá a sus sacerdotes a resistir un propuesto requisito del gobierno de que verifiquen la situación legal de sus parroquianos antes de ayudarlos.
(univision.com, 01 de Marzo de 2006) "La iglesia está para servir a la gente, no para ser agente de inmigración", dijo el cardenal Roger M. Mahony en entrevista con el diario Los Angeles Times.
La Cámara de Representantes incluyó el requisito en una iniciativa de inmigración que la Comisión Judicial del Senado comenzará a debatir esta semana. El proyecto de legislación también castigaría a aquellas organizaciones sociales que se nieguen a cumplir los nuevos requisitos.
En la entrevista, el cardenal dijo que en su sermón del Miércoles de Ceniza pedirá a las parroquias de la Arquidiócesis de Los Angeles que recen por una reforma de inmigración humanitaria.
"La idea de castigar a las personas que ayudan a los inmigrantes es antiestadounidense", dijo el cardenal.
Añadió: "Si se lleva esto a su extremo lógico y absurdo, tendríamos que pedirle a cada persona que reciba la Santa Comunión que muestre sus papeles".
Los obispos católicos de Estados Unidos apoyan la idea de crear un programa de trabajadores inmigrantes temporales, la legalización de aquellos indocumentados que ya viven en el país y la expedición de más visas para los familiares de los ilegales.
Mahony, nativo de Los Angeles, ha defendido desde hace mucho los derechos de los inmigrantes y se opuso a una iniciativa estatal de 1994 que intentó negarle beneficios públicos a los inmigrantes ilegales. La propuesta fue aceptada por los votantes pero bloqueada por los juzgados federales, que la declararon inconstitucional.
LA Cardinal Mahony lashes out at anti-immigration sentiment
Mar 04, 2006
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony says he would instruct his priests to defy any federal legislation that would require churches to check parishioners for legal status before providing assistance.
(Associated Press, Mar. 01, 2006) LOS ANGELES - Mahony, in remarks made Tuesday, was referring to provisions in the immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives and in the version that the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin debating this week.
The Cardinal denounced what he called a growing "hysterical" anti-immigration sentiment and said he plans to use Ash Wednesday to ask all 288 parishes in the Los Angeles Archdiocese to pray and press for humane immigration reform.
"The whole concept of punishing people who serve immigrants is un-American," said Mahony, a longtime advocate of immigrant rights. "If you take this to its logical, ludicrous extreme, every single person who comes up to receive Holy Communion, you have to ask them to show papers.
"We're not about to become immigration agents."
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops support a guest-worker program, legalizing undocumented immigrants and more visas for migrants' families. Mahony on Tuesday also criticized efforts by immigration control groups including the Minuteman Project to police the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Mahony isn't considering the costs of illegal immigration on low-wage American workers, local governments, public schools and the health care system.
"Charity is an important tenet of the Judeo-Christian faith, but there are limits," Mehlman said.
Chris Simcox, president of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, said its border patrol efforts were not mean-spirited but were meant to stop drug dealers, human traffickers, gang members and others who prey on U.S. citizens and immigrants alike.
KABC's Doug McIntyre: L.A.'s Cardinal Mahony a "Scumbag," "Molester"
Mar 04, 2006
Los Angeles-area Catholics were instructed by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony to defy a proposed federal law designed to target illegal immigration. Many disagree with the Cardinal's instruction to his priests to break the law.
(newsbusters.org, March 2, 2006) But disagreement can easily transform into cheap, personal attacks when the issue involves the Catholic Church. Witness morning talk-show host Doug McIntyre on KABC in Los Angeles this morning. In an angry tirade against Mahony's public statements, McIntryre pulled out the priest molestation scandal and proceeded to call a Cardinal "a scumbag." In reading his name "Roger M. Mahoney," McIntyre formulated that his middle name was not Michael, but that "the M stands for molester." (The Cardinal has never been charged by law enforcement for actually molesting a child.)
Does every discussion involving the Catholic Church have to resort to the cheap ploy of dragging in the molestation scandal? At what point does this ploy cross the line into simple anti-Catholic bigotry?
The Los Angeles Times has been having its own issues dealing with the issue of illegal immigration. The great LA Times watchdog Patterico has been on the case here and here.
(http://newsbusters.org/node/4246)
Lenten message: Making Room
Feb 28, 2006
The Gospel proclamation for the First Sunday of Lent (Mark 1: 12-15) tells of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry of announcing the good news of the Reign of God. As we begin our Lenten observance this year, we would do well to fix our eyes on Jesus, to enter with him into the spirit of those 40 days in preparation for the celebration of the Easter mysteries. By Cardinal Roger Mahony
(The Tidings, February 24, 2006) At the close of the 40 days, Jesus moves from the wilderness to Galilee. From that point forward, it seems that he is nearly always surrounded by people. Crowds gather around him. Whole groups follow him. They press in on him. We might say that people were always "invading his personal space." We also know from the Gospels that Jesus took time for himself, time away from the throngs, in order to pray. But the Gospels most often portray Jesus together with others.
Those 40 days in the wilderness were devoted to praying, fasting, and undergoing the harshest kinds of temptation. But the 40 days can also be understood as a period of intense preparation, a time for Jesus to make room in himself for all those he would meet in the course of his public ministry, for all those who would draw near to him, come to him, plead with him, ask him for mercy and healing and help.
Our Lenten practices, whatever they may be, are much more than pious devotions. Whether our practice takes the form of "giving up" dessert during Lent, redoubling our efforts at prayer, increasing our contribution to help those in need, fasting, or abstaining from meat, they are all to be understood as a Spirit-assisted effort to empty ourselves of all that would stand in the way of being filled to overflowing with the light and life and love of God. Do we really have room enough for God?
So many of us live amid so much clutter, so much noise. We travel through life at breakneck speed. Lent is the time to empty ourselves not only of the seemingly never-ending stuff, sound and speed in our lives, but also of our pettiness, our prejudice, our anxiety, our fear. It is an opportunity to make room, not only for God, but for those who come our way. How open is our door to those who come to us? Is there room enough in our hearts and our homes for those in need?
To take up our Lenten practice this year in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we face a unique challenge in this call to make room for God. In recent months and in different parts of the world, we have seen the escalation of strong sentiments against immigrants. These sentiments appear to be mounting in our own country as well. How might our various Lenten practices such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, our effort to empty ourselves so as to make room for God, relate to the complex reality of immigration, especially in the face of increasing hostility toward immigrants?
Pope Benedict XVI's first Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est ("God is Love") is helpful to us here. Writing on love as the heart of the Christian faith, our Holy Father says:
…if in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be devout and to perform my "religious duties," then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely "proper" but loveless. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbor and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbor can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me ... Love of God and love of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment ... No longer is it a question, then, of a "commandment" imposed from without calling for the impossible, but ... a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. (Deus Caritas Est, no. 18).
To the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus' answer is clear. As his disciples, we are called to attend to the last, littlest, lowest and least in society and in the Church. This Lenten season, join me in committing our Lenten practices to making room for the stranger in our midst, praying for the courage and strength to offer our spiritual and pastoral ministry to all who come to us, offering our prayer and support for the ones in our midst who, like Jesus, have no place to rest their heads (Matthew 8:20).
Cardinal Mahony outlines plans for lay parish leaders
Oct 15, 2005
In a pastoral statement released Sept. 30, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles predicted a large increase in lay parish life directors beginning next year. He said such leaders will be called on to shape a parish's evangelical outreach and its vision of the reign of God.
LOS ANGELES (CNS, Oct-5-2005) -- "Much more is called for from a leader than being an effective administrator. Or a 'human resources manager,'" he wrote.
"The one who is designated to be the leader of the parish community is above all one who holds fast to the vision of the reign of God central to the meaning and message of Jesus. And then calls others to be faithful to that vision through the charism of leadership," he said.
The statement, "As One Who Serves," was dated Sept. 4 but it was posted on the archdiocesan Web site and published in The Tidings, Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper, Sept. 30. In late September Cardinal Mahony hosted a meeting of about 70 church leaders from 18 Western dioceses to discuss future parish staffing needs in light of the priest shortage.
In a cover letter to his statement, Cardinal Mahony said, "From one point of view we are facing a crisis. But the diminishing number of priestly and religious vocations has brought with it a deeper realization that it is in the nature of the church to be given diverse gifts, ministries and offices."
"At this time we are being called to discern new modes of parish leadership and a more participatory exercise of ministry in which lay, religious and ordained together seek to build up the body of Christ through the charism of leadership," he said.
He said an archdiocesan task force, headed by Auxiliary Bishop Gerald E. Wilkerson, has been working on the issue and along with the neighboring San Bernardino Diocese has conducted workshops around the archdiocese on lay parish leadership.
The task force "has outlined an overview of this form of parish leadership, the reasons for its emergence, the promises it holds, as well as some of the practical implications of moving in this direction," Cardinal Mahony said.
"Some few parishes in the archdiocese are already being led by competent lay persons," he said. "However, beginning on July 1, 2006, this number will likely increase considerably."
"A parish led by a parish life director is not proposed as the model for ministry now or in the future, but is one response to meet the pastoral needs of our local church at this time, a valid and valuable expression of church leadership for which there is provision in canon law," he said.
In his pastoral statement he focused on the role of a parish life director from a theological standpoint, citing different visions of the Christian community found in the letters of St. Paul.
"The lay leader," Cardinal Mahony said, "brings the life of the world and its noblest concerns to the heart of the parish and in turn directs the lifeblood of the parish -- strengthened and sustained by celebration in word and sacrament -- so that the world is more fully infused with holiness, truth, justice, love and peace."
Outlining the qualities the archdiocese is looking for in lay leaders, he said:
-- "First, the lay leader must have competence in the enterprise at hand. In parish leadership this competence entails not only a thorough knowledge of the workings of the parish but also -- and even more importantly -- a measure of competence in theology, Scripture, ethics, spirituality, church history and canon law.
-- "Second, the life of the parish leader is to be marked by a deep passion for parish ministry, for the persons served by it, as well as for those -- priests, deacons, religious and other lay ministers -- who, together with the leader, serve the parish.
-- "Third, the parish leader must have an ability for communication of the vision of the parish -- and the vision of the reign of God which is at its heart -- to one's colleagues and collaborators, as well as to those well beyond the world of the parish."
The development of lay parish leadership is based on the fact that by baptism all are called to holiness and to sharing in the mission of the church and all receive gifts from the Spirit for the building up of the church, he said.
"I am committed to the implementation of this form of parish leadership, which is not a stopgap measure or temporary solution to the diminishing number of priestly and religious vocations," he said.
In accord with the vision of Church and ministry
Oct 01, 2005
Letter to September the bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay leaders of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, The Tidings, September 30, 2005.
To the Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Religious
and Lay Leaders of the Archdiocese,
Not unlike other Archdioceses and Dioceses in the United States and elsewhere, we in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles find ourselves with fewer priests and Religious available to minister to a growing number of Catholics. From one point of view, we are facing a crisis. But the diminishing number of priestly and Religious vocations has brought with it a deeper realization that it is in the nature of the Church to be given diverse gifts, ministries and offices. All of the baptized have a share in a common mission to proclaim and to serve the coming Reign of God. Some are called to leadership in the Church.
In accord with the vision of Church and ministry expressed in the Pastoral Letter on Ministry, As I Have Done for You, as well as in Gathered and Sent, our Archdiocesan Synod Documents, our Local Church must now find some new ways to respond to the pastoral needs of the people of this Archdiocese.
At the conclusion of our Synod in September 2003, we committed ourselves as a Local Church to Six Pastoral Initiatives. The second of these is concerned with Structures for Participation and Accountability. At the heart of this Pastoral Initiative we affirmed that in order for us to be faithful to Christ's mission today, "the structures of Church life and governance must be renewed, and some new structures established.…"
At this time we are being called to discern new modes of parish leadership and a more participatory exercise of ministry in which lay, Religious and ordained together seek to build up the Body of Christ through the charism of leadership. Under the direction of Bishop Gerald Wilkerson, a Task Force has been hard at work to assure that our parishes are provided with good leadership by competent laypersons and Religious who have the charism to serve as Parish Life Directors, that is, those who are responsible for the welfare of the parish in the absence of a resident priest pastor. I am very grateful to Bishop Wilkerson, as I am to the members of the Task Force: Monsignor Craig Cox, Monsignor Timothy Dyer, Deacon David Estrada, Father Leon Hutton, Monsignor James Loughnane, Sister Edith Prendergast, RSC, Sister Carol Quinlivan, CSJ, Sister Susan Slater, SHCJ, Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson, and Bishop Gabino Zavala.
Through a series of workshops conducted throughout the Archdiocese, the Task Force, in collaboration with Bishop Gerald Barnes and key personnel of the Diocese of San Bernardino, has outlined an overview of this form of parish leadership, the reasons for its emergence, the promises it holds, as well as some of the practical implications of moving in this direction. The theological and ecclesiological foundations for this form of lay leadership are articulated in the Pastoral Statement, As One Who Serves, which accompanies this letter. It is crucially important that all in this Archdiocese are familiar, not only with Gathered and Sent and As I Have Done for You, but also with As One Who Serves. Together these three documents provide a description of the vision of Church, mission and ministry that is guiding, and will continue to guide, the life of our Local Church.
Some few parishes in the Archdiocese are already being led by competent laypersons. However, beginning on July 1, 2006, this number will likely increase considerably. I am fully supportive of the efforts of the Task Force as they begin to identify those parishes that will soon be served through the able ministry of a Parish Life Director. Furthermore, I am committed to the implementation of this form of parish leadership, which is not a stopgap measure or temporary solution to the diminishing number of priestly and Religious vocations.
Two important remarks are in order here. First, a parish served by a Parish Life Director may at a later time be served once again by a resident priest pastor. Second, a parish led by a Parish Life Director is not proposed as the model for ministry now or in the future, but is one response to meet the pastoral needs of our Local Church at this time, a valid and valuable expression of Church leadership for which there is provision in Canon Law.
The Task Force will soon be identifying those who are endowed with this charism as well as the qualifications needed for the exercise of this ministry. I pledge my commitment and my support for the training and formation of our Parish Life Directors, as well as for the successful implementation of this form of leadership, so that the pastoral needs of the people of this Archdiocese can be met by competent ministers of Christ and the Church.
We move forward together with vigor and joy, confident in the Lord's promise to remain with us until the end of days. Join me in heartfelt support of this initiative so that we might be a more effective instrument of the Reign of God in our own time and place.
Assuring you of my prayerful best wishes, I am
Sincerely yours in Christ,
His Eminence
Cardinal Roger Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles
September 4, 2005
Cardinal Mahoney Honors Pro-Abortion “Catholic” Clinton
Sept 30, 2005
The annual service award for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is billed as rewards for “long and distinguished records of service,” according to the Los Angeles diocesan newspaper, the Tidings. Roger Cardinal Mahoney, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, chose to include among this year’s recipients attorney William M. Wardlaw, “a parishioner of Holy Family Church in South Pasadena.”
LOS ANGELES, September 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Wardlaw, according to the diocesan newspaper, is a “business executive who has served on numerous school and organization boards in the archdiocese including Catholic Charities.” What is not mentioned is that Wardlaw is also a major power broker in the state Democratic Party and distinguished himself as President Clinton’s California point man during the 1992 and 1996 campaigns.
Wardlaw’s wife, the Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw, was appointed judge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by Clinton and served on the Clinton-Gore Presidential Transition Team. Mrs. Wardlaw has also been the recipient of prestigious awards including one from the rabidly pro-abortion anti-family organization National Organization of Women.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Wardlaw are members of the elite “F.O.B.,” club (Friends of Bill [Clinton]), and have been guests of the Clintons in the Lincoln bedroom. William Wardlaw was appointed by Mahoney in 1999 to the committee raising funds to pay for the diocese’s massive new concrete Cathedral, mocked by Catholic commentators as the “Taj Mahoney.”
Clinton will be remembered as the Abortion President and his administration as one of the most scandal-plagued periods of US presidential history. During Bill Clinton’s presidency, the Democratic Party became synonymous with abortion advocacy, both domestically and in overseas eugenic population control programmes. Bill and Hillary Clinton are seen as heroes by the abortion movement.
Anglican scholar and historian, Philip Jenkins, in his 2003 book, The New Anti-Catholicism, identifies the close connection between the US Catholic hierarchy and the Democratic Party as a source of what he calls, “liberal anti-Catholicism,” which he says has in many cases created an insoluble conflict of interest pitting the bishops against their Church. As the Democrats become more and more the “party of abortion” and gay “rights,” the Catholic bishops who continue to support them, says Jenkins, since Roosevelt’s leftist “New Deal,” are more and more at odds with the moral and social tenets of the Catholic Church.
This conflict became blatant during the Bush/Kerry presidential race when few US bishops were willing to speak out against John Kerry’s militantly pro-abortion policies.
Mahoney’s decision to grant awards to one of Clinton’s most intimate supporters flies directly in the face of a declaration to which he was signatory - 2004’s “Catholics in Political Life.” That document states, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”
Mahoney’s record as Archbishop of Los Angeles is itself a litany of financial, sexual and political scandals that has raised a clamour from pro-life organizations and Catholic groups demanding his resignation. Homosexual lobbyists had reason to celebrate when in June 2004 the Cardinal ordained proudly active homosexual, Eric Stoltz, as a deacon.
Cardinal Mahoney’s Cathedral Guards Remove and Threaten Pro-life Youth During Honours for Pro-abort Mayor
Jul 09, 2005
Faithful Catholics were outraged last week, when a group of young pro-life Catholics were removed and threatened with arrest at the Los Angeles Cathedral where notoriously liberal Roger Cardinal Mahoney was “celebrating” a pro-abortion politician.
LOS ANGELES, July 5, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On July 1, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was holding inauguration ceremonies for Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor-elect of Los Angeles, who is pro-abortion and yet claims to be Catholic. A group of about a dozen young adult Catholics attempted to gain entry to the Cathedral and were stopped and threatened by cathedral security guards.
The group was part of American Life League's 2005 Crusade for Life walks during which they trek from San Diego to Sacramento spreading the truth about the incompatibility of Catholicism and support of abortion. This project normally includes stops in Catholic churches along the way where they usually expect to receive a friendly welcome.
American Life League president, Judie Brown, a long-time critic of the Cardinal demanded his resignation. “It is an outrage,” she said, “that an event honouring a pro-abortion Catholic public figure that openly supports the killing of the pre-born would occur at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral.”
It was not until the arrival of civil authorities that the young Catholics were allowed in to the church. Los Angeles police explained to the Catholic church’s hired security that the group had a right to enter for purposes of peaceful protest.
“How ironic that the Cathedral security guards wanted to arrest the students and the LAPD had to step in and point out that such an act would be unconstitutional," said Brown. “The truths of the Church will always stand strong, regardless of who attempts to stifle them...even a cardinal.”
Brown said, “It is even more shameful that Cardinal Mahony and others would attempt to censor faithful Catholic students from proclaiming the truth.”
American Life League, however, will have to get in line behind a list of lay Catholic organizations demanding justice over Mahoney’s offenses. The Coalition for Concerned Catholics is also demanding that Mahoney resign. In early June, the Coalition protested the Chicago meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops when they announced they would decline to discuss the problem of homosexual predators in the priesthood. Bob Heineman, spokesman of the Coalition said, “Hundreds of priests have been disciplined; removed from the priesthood. Some even jailed. Yet, not one bishop has been disciplined for his cover-up.”
Earlier this spring, Cardinal Mahoney received a warmly appreciative note from the anti-Catholic homosexual activist group, the Rainbow Sash Movement, who praised him for his support for their cause. Because of the Cardinal’s support, the press release said, the group decided not to wear their rainbow sashes in protest of the Church’s teaching on human sexuality to the L.A. Cathedral Mass on the feast of Pentecost.
Roger Mahoney is known to have been the second most powerful bishop in the United States after his now-deceased mentor, the late Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago who headed the USCCB. Between the two men, the appointments of bishops, seminary rectors, and other influential positions in the US Church has been largely controlled by a small and secretive clique. This clique has been dubbed the “lavender mafia,” by liberal Catholic writer and sociologist, Fr. Andrew Greely. A similar clique of powerful church authorities is also known to have existed in Canada since at least the 1960s.
The results of these machinations has been exposed in Michael Rose’s bombshell 2002 book, “Goodbye Good Men.” The book revealed a clerical underworld in which homosexual promiscuity and sexual harassment has been rampant. It revealed that many U.S. seminaries systematically have excluded normal, faithful Catholic men and harassed and demoralized seminarians who supported the Church's teaching on sexuality and the priesthood.
But the outraged lay Catholic groups may have to get in line behind the civil authorities. Recent estimates show that the Diocese of Los Angeles, the largest in the US, will be liable for close to $1.5 billion in clergy abuse suits. In 2002, the Los Angeles District Attorney, Rockard Delgadillo, asked the L.A. police to investigate the Cardinal for possible criminal charges for covering up criminal misconduct by his priests.
Last week, Fr. Thomas Doyle, a priest who worked for the Vatican diplomatic corps, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the explosion of abuse revelations will make the Boston scandal pale by comparison. “The epicenter is California,” Doyle said. “One diocese just paid out $36 million, and the Diocese of Orange paid out $110 million. When Los Angeles bursts, it will make Boston look like an altar boys' picnic.”
Cardinal Roger Mahony Welcomes the Rainbow Sash Movement
May 18, 2005
Joe Murray the US Convener of the Rainbow Sash Movement was contacted by Tod M. Tamberg, Director of Media Relations, Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The following is that communication:
"May 13, 2005
Dear Joe,
Just a note to say that, as in the past, members of the Rainbow Sash Movement who come to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels this Sunday will be most welcome to attend any of our Masses. Over the years, Cardinal Roger Mahony has consistently spoken to the faithful in Los Angeles about being respectful and inclusive of our Catholic brothers and sisters who are gay and lesbian. All of us struggle to be better Christians, but I think a good number of our parishes in the archdiocese are places where people feel welcome and included, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Tod M. Tamberg
Director of Media Relations
Archdiocese of Los Angeles."
L.A. cardinal says pope might reform process for Synod of Bishops
Apr 24, 2005
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said he would be surprised if Pope Benedict XVI did not reform the church's process for the Synod of Bishops.
VATICAN CITY (CNS, Apr-22-2005) -- Cardinal Mahony said that the way the pope, who was dean of the College of Cardinals, ran cardinals' meetings before the conclave indicates he knows and understands how to get a real, representative exchange going.
"He certainly has heard enough over the years about the format and process of the synod," Cardinal Mahony told Catholic News Service April 22. "It needs to be rethought, and there needs to be a way for far more interaction."
Many cardinals and bishops have said that the current format of the Synod of Bishops -- every participant speaking for eight minutes on any subject, without the interventions being thematically organized and without time for questions or discussion in the synod hall -- dilutes the impact of the discussion.
When the world's cardinals met after Pope John Paul II's funeral and started talking about the pastoral challenges the church faces, Cardinal Mahony said most of the initial speakers were from Europe or North America.
The future pope paused the discussion and asked for cardinals from southern Africa, English-speaking Africa, French-speaking Africa and different areas of Asia to prepare presentations on the pastoral challenges they face.
"I thought that was extremely helpful," Cardinal Mahony said, "and that gave me an insight into what he is looking at for synods."
The future pope went out of his way to ensure a geographical mix "because that was not the way it was going," he said. "He wanted to make sure the whole church was being heard across the board, and he did it very well."
South African Cardinal Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban also told CNS he expected Pope Benedict to be open to the idea of more regional gatherings of bishops, particularly in response to the cardinals' request for more concrete signs of collegiality and the responsibility the pope and bishops share.
Cardinal Mahony said he did not think that at 78 years old Pope Benedict would travel as much as Pope John Paul did in the early years of his pontificate.
"I think he will choose, prioritize strategically where he will go so that he has the greatest impact," the cardinal said. "I think there is a lot he wants to do here (in Europe), too, and there is a lot to be done."
However, the cardinal said he is absolutely certain Pope Benedict's will not be a Eurocentric papacy.
"He is very interested in the Southern Hemisphere. I would not be surprised to see a new round of the synod assemblies of continents because he is very anxious to help especially the southern part of the world -- Africa, Asia, Latin America," he said.
Cardinal Mahony also said the cardinals gathered inside the Sistine Chapel during the conclave were treated to wafts of smoke every time the door to the stove was opened to add more ballots.
Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna told an Italian newspaper, "It's a good thing there were no art historians inside" to see the smoke drift up to Michelangelo's recently cleaned frescoes.
Cardinal Mahony said there really was not that much smoke, but added that he thinks the Vatican should have tested the system for burning the ballots and smoke cartridges before the April 18-19 conclave began.
"The bigger problem with the smoke was that there were two stoves, and the cartridges with the color -- black or white -- need longer to light than the ballots do. So next time they have to make sure they get the one with the color going first, so that when people see the smoke, the first wisp is black or white, then they can start adding the ballots," he said.
"To be honest with you, I do not think they practiced this. They should have practiced this," the cardinal said.
The major challenges facing the Church
Apr 17, 2005
On Oct. 15, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles sat down with a group of reporters at the North American College, home to U.S. seminarians studying in Rome.
(National Catholic Reporter, October 24, 2003) A reporter asked if John Paul was still in charge of the Church.
"He's a man of great inner strength," Mahony responded. "Today he's captured in a body that is weaker. But he is so committed to carrying out his role as Peter among us. … From all I can see, he certainly is very much in control."
As evidence that John Paul's mind remains clear, Mahony said that when he met the pope this week, he told him he brought greetings from the people of Los Angeles. He said John Paul responded by recalling his 1987 trip to Los Angeles, especially his encounter with people from the world of the media in Hollywood.
"I'm not sure I could remember what I was doing in 1987," Mahony joked.
Mahony was then asked to list the major challenges facing the Church. He listed: uneven growth, with some regions of the Catholic world experiencing dramatic increases, and others facing empty Churches; offering the celebration of the Eucharist to all Catholics in an era of priest shortages; and promoting a spirit of "new evangelization."
I asked if his second item was a polite way of saying that mandatory celibacy should be re-examined.
His answer? "No."
Mahony was asked if he felt the time had come for a Third World pope.
"The Holy Spirit is going to let us know," he replied. "But there's no question that one-half of the Church today is from Latin America," suggesting that this might be a good place to look.
I asked how many of the cardinals he knew personally. He said perhaps 50 to 70, meaning a little over half. Mahony said that because he entered the College of Cardinals in 1991, he has by now acquired a bit of seniority.
"At least when the conclave comes, I'll get a room with a bathroom," he joked.
LA's Cardinal Roger Mahony recovering after Rome hospitalization
Apr 16, 2005
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, hospitalized in Rome for four days to treat a ruptured blood vessel in his leg, has been released and is expected to participate in the conclave to select a new pope, his archdiocese said Saturday.
(Associated Press, Apr. 16, 2005) VATICAN CITY - Mahony, 69, fell and hurt his leg during a vacation in Northern California. He sought treatment at a Vatican clinic on April 9, the day after the funeral for Pope John Paul II, and later went to another clinic in Rome where doctors determined he did not have a blood clot or fracture, according to the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese. He was released Wednesday morning.
Mahony has returned to the Pontifical North American College, the U.S. seminary where American cardinals are staying in Rome, according to church officials. He resumed participating in the daily meetings held by the College of Cardinals ahead of the papal election, which is to begin Monday.
Mahony leads the largest archdiocese in the United States.
He was hospitalized in April 2002 for a blood clot in his lung, which may have been caused by a flight to Rome for an emergency summit the pope had convened to address the clergy sex-abuse crisis.
A Legacy of Life, Light and Love
Apr 08, 2005
Twenty-five years ago the world was stunned and elated by the election of Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, as Bishop of Rome, the first Polish Pope. Today, we are not altogether surprised, but profoundly saddened nonetheless by the news of the passing of His Holiness Pope John Paul II into eternal life. By Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.
(The Tidings, April 8, 2005) For all of us here in Los Angeles, we remember with vivid memories the visit of Pope John Paul II September 15-16, 1987. The Holy Father was with us for 48 hours, celebrating outdoor Masses in the Memorial Coliseum and in Dodger Stadium. He hosted a gathering of Ecumenical and Interreligious leaders, as well as leaders in the entertainment industry. One of the most memorable events was his meeting with young people at Universal City. The young people and the Pope there were linked by television to other groups of young people in Seattle, Denver and St. Louis. All were involved in prayer, song and dialogue with the Pope.
The Pope spoke directly to the wondrous ethnic diversity of Southern California in his homily at Dodger Stadium, and called us to a deeper unity and harmony among all peoples here:
Today, in the Church in Los Angeles, Christ is Anglo and Hispanic, Christ is Chinese and Black, Christ is Vietnamese and Irish, Christ is Korean and Italian, Christ is Japanese and Filipino, Christ is Native American, Croatian, Samoan and many other ethnic groups. In this local Church, the one Risen Christ, the one Lord and Savior, is living in each person who has accepted the word of God and been washed clean in the saving waters of Baptism. And the Church, with all her different members, remains the one Body of Christ, professing the same faith, united in hope and in love.
Some have already dubbed him "John Paul the Great." Of his innumerable achievements, many will remember his indefatigable energy in travel, his longevity, or the canonization of so many saints during his pontificate. Others will focus on his role in bringing down the Iron Curtain. Only the perspective of time, distance and historical reflection will allow the greatness of this life and legacy to be measured.
On being elected 25 years ago, our Holy Father chose the name John Paul, continuing in the footsteps of his predecessors, John Paul I, Paul VI and John XXIII. Each one was imbued with the vision of the Second Vatican Council. In a matter of days, John Paul I won the heart of the world with his open arms and winning smile.
Paul VI, himself named for Saint Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, worked untiringly for a Church renewed by deeper commitment to its Mission, its call to bring the Gospel of Life to peoples of every race, land and language, especially to the poor of the earth, through the work of Evangelization. John XXIII took his name for the Beloved Disciple, John the Evangelist, whose Gospel proclaims Jesus Christ as God's Love and Light in the world. The love and the light of "Good Pope John" made of him an enduring icon of humility, listening, sensitivity and openness to those of different religious traditions, as well as to nonbelievers.
It is in these names, John and Paul, that we may find the key to understanding the real contribution of the life and legacy of our Holy Father. Imbued with the Light and the Love of Christ, he worked unceasingly for the unification of all peoples, seeking reconciliation and unity with those of different traditions, above all, with the Jewish people, our forebears in faith. And he was impelled by Mission, an overarching concern to reach out to peoples throughout the world, heralding the Word of Life in the Church and in the wider world.
The world has watched as the once vital and vigorous traveling Pope has been diminished by the effects of aging and illness. In recent years, some have wondered about his ability to continue his service effectively. But from the perspective of Christian faith, Pope John Paul II was never a more compelling witness to the hope of the Gospel than in his last years and months. Even in his diminishment and dying, our Holy Father offered himself as a gift for the Church and the world, emptying himself, pouring himself out before us, sharing in the life of the One who emptied himself as a gift (Philippians 2: 6-11), and through self-giving unto death, has become Life, Light, and Love for the world.
The commitment of St. Paul summarizes the totality of the self-giving of Pope John Paul II in the service of Jesus Christ and the Gospel: "I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes" (2 Corinthians 12:15).
Cardinal Is First-Class Pope Material
Apr 08, 2005
I wasn't going to say anything until a reader noticed the same thing I did in a story about Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. His Eminence, flying to Rome in the Pope's final hours, was stretched out rather comfortably in first class.
(latimes, April 6, 2005) "I know that it's a little early to be nitpicking about these things," said a reader named Carol. "I thought at some point … you might want to do a column about this, because I think it's just shameful."
In the photograph Carol is referring to, Mahony was sitting with his flack, Tod Tamberg. The cardinal, with his eyes closed and rosary beads in his hands, has his comfy seat tilted so far back that he appears to be crushing the woman in the row behind him.
This may be a bit presumptuous of me, but I think it's only fair to ask the obvious question:
Where would Jesus sit?
You don't have to have spent your formative years in Catholic school, as I did, to know that — if he hadn't walked across the Atlantic — Jesus would have flown coach.
Generally speaking, it's always better for a man of the cloth to sit with his flock than with his flack.
On the other hand, now that the church is in transition with the death of Pope John Paul II, maybe it's high time for a pope who sees himself as a first-class kind of a guy. Mahony is one of 117 cardinals from around the world who, in choosing a successor, will chart a new course for an institution often criticized for being out of touch with its own followers.
Mahony may be reluctant to suggest it himself, but what the church really needs is the man Pope John Paul II referred to as "Hollywood," and I'm more than happy to sing his praises if it boosts his chances of moving to the Vatican.
That's right, I'm backing Cardinal Mahony as the next pope.
Let me explain.
Even though I often disagreed with Pope John Paul II, I respected him for having been unapologetically steadfast in his conservative views on abortion, homosexuality, birth control and divorce. The man believed what he believed, and he stuck to his principles rather than bend with the political breezes.
But church attendance is down, the number of priests is dwindling, Catholic schools are closing, anti-gay teachings have brought cries of hypocrisy, and millions of people died of AIDS and starvation while the pope preached against condoms.
Besides that, you can't get an annulment unless you're Frank Sinatra or former Los Angeles Mayor Dick Riordan.
The church needs to realize it's in trouble. Big trouble. I heard on the radio that Ireland, a longtime priest factory, now has to import padres because the home-grown variety is drying up.
What the church needs, more than ever, is a politically progressive, media-smart leader who can aggressively market the institution even as he keeps a tight lid on its darkest secrets.
Mahony was born for this job.
As for the progressive part, Mahony has been more open-minded than many high-ranking church officials on the subject of homosexuality and on marriage for priests. On the way to Rome, he spoke of a push for a less centralized church.
I e-mailed Mahony flack Tamberg, by the way, to ask about flying first-class, Mahony's reform ideas and his chances of becoming pope, but I got no response. He may have been busy lining up votes for His Eminence.
As for marketing genius, Mahony has no peer. He single-handedly brought the Rog Mahal into being, raising a whopping $200 million that might otherwise have gone to schools and social services for the poor.
Mahony sold crypts under the altar at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for up to $50,000 apiece, hawked paving stones for $5,000, peddled wine under the cathedral's name — and accomplished all of this while managing one of the biggest church scandals in modern history.
The most amazing thing about the scandal, in fact, is that Mahony continues to pass himself off as a national sex abuse reformer, even as he zealously stonewalls investigators trying to get to the bottom of cases involving priests accused of molesting young boys.
Alleged victims have pleaded and prosecutors have screamed for the cardinal to open up his files on accused priests. So have attorneys handling the 544 civil claims pending against the archdiocese.
Mahony shuts out their cries, and yet he endures, head high.
LA Cardinal Weighs In On Terri Schiavo Case
Apr 01, 2005
Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony said Thursday Terri Schiavo was denied the chance to die with dignity because of the legal and legislative battles waged over the removal of her feeding tube.
(NBC4.tv, March 31, 2005) LOS ANGELES -- "It seems to me that the dignity and graces of a natural death have been violated through this endless process, and that what should be a time of quiet and peaceful prayer with a loved one has somehow become the platform for many groups with various agendas," the leader of Southland Catholics said in a statement.
Schiavo, 41, died at a Florida hospice Thursday morning, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed, and 15 years after her husband and family began battling in the courts over whether she should be put to death.
Her plight sparked a national debate over end-of-life issues in which the courts, Congress, Florida Legislature, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush and right-to-life groups all became involved.
A Church official at the Vatican called the decision to let Schiavo die "an attack against life, which is an attack against God."
But Mahony said people "need to engage more fully the moral and technical dimensions of prolonging human life as well as allowing a person to die peacefully according to God's design."
He said Schiavo "has caused all of us to focus more deeply upon the value of each human life from conception through natural death." But he added that her case highlighted the need for people to learn more about their own end-of- life options, and be informed through their religious beliefs about human life and death.
"Terri Schiavo has created a teachable moment for all of us," he said.
He said the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will post on its Web site a sample Advanced Medical Directive people can discuss with family members and sign "so that should they no longer be able to make medical decisions for themselves, designated persons will have full authority to carry out that person's wishes."
"Our Catholic moral tradition always calls us to give the benefit of the doubt to life, not to death," he said. "At the same time, legitimate Catholic medical ethical guidelines exist to help us as we face these very important questions."
Mahony said that "without knowing it, Terri Schiavo has offered us a moment to pause and reflect deeply upon life and death issues -- issues that most of us would not have discussed among ourselves."
Telephone interview with Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles
Mar 21, 2005
On the sexual abuses in the archdiocese of Los Angeles. By Jason Berry,National Catholic Reporter , February 12, 2005.
NCR: Voice of the Faithful has called on Pope John Paul II to meet with a group of abuse survivors. Would you support that idea?
Cardinal Mahony:Well, I hadn't actually given it any thought. I really don't know whether that would be useful or not. I really don't have a final answer. It never occurred to me and I never heard of it. I just hadn't thought of it.
NCR:The National Review Board report criticized the hierarchy for obsessive secrecy about clergy sexual behavior. Is there an unwritten code of secrecy in the priesthood about sexual behavior of clerics? Cardinal Mahony:I don't think so. I think if you look back through the history of the evolution of this terrible sin and crime we've dealt with, there was a fairly common understanding that no one wanted this type of information made public, especially the victims and families, law enforcement and others; it was dealt with in a very private way. But I am not aware of any coordinated effort to be silent. I do know that working with victims in the 1980s, they didn't want publicity, their names in the paper or in parishes. There's been an evolution in how these matters were handled privately and publicly; even today there are victims who don't want their names known.
NCR:What about the priesthood itself? There has been so much attention paid to keeping secrets. Isn't this a problem within the clerical culture, that sexual secrecy seems bound up in how this scandal evolved?
Cardinal Mahony:I wouldn't put it that way. I would say the problem with sexual abuse, in and of itself, is such a private secret undertaking. For priests or anyone involved in grooming a young person involving themselves with sexual abuse, the whole thing is shrouded in total secrecy, and no one, no priest is going to tell another priest what he's doing. And so even victims are caught up this secret thing with the perpetrator; I think the biggest shock for most of the priests, myself included, is to discover that a priest that we knew well had been involved in this secretive lifestyle. I don't think there's any effort to cover it up. By its nature it's such a terrible, secretive, manipulative, and deceptive engagement in someone's life.
NCR:Do you sense that bishops and the Vatican view this culture of secrecy as a burden to the church?
Cardinal Mahony:[Long pause.] Actually, no I don't see that as a problem. One thing is clear in talking with some of the people in the Vatican and that is, they do not understand our system of law and our judicial system here because it's so different from that of Europe. Vatican and European laws are built on the Roman system; our jurisprudence is built on the British system, there are two different views of how to deal with legal issues. I've never encountered anyone in the Vatican who is concerned about secrecy or hiding, rather trying to urge us to deal with it. NCR: Opinion polls find that 80 percent of Catholics want to remove a bishop who grossly betrays the trust, with respect to children and child abuse. Canon law has no mechanism giving lay people an oversight role. How do the bishops think they can restore trust? Cardinal Mahony:The bishops have been doing that since 2002. I think this has been really unprecedented; no other institution in this country has taken an issue, such a moral issue like this, and devoted such focus and attention on reaching out to victims and the spiritual and pastoral care of victims, the prevention, programs to safeguard children, all of the things that need to be done to make the church as safe as possible for children and young people. I think trust is going to be restored by evidence that, in fact, appropriate steps have been taken. I look at our own archdiocese. I'm amazed that 15,000 of our people have been trained in Safeguard the Children, all priests have been through the Virtus training program including myself and other bishops. These steps are extremely helpful in the church's overall response. And what I also find very encouraging is the strong leadership and involvement of the laity on our own Sexual Abuse Advisory Board back in 1994, which changed to the Clergy Misconduct Board in 2002. That lay board has been extraordinarily useful and helpful in shaping the direction of dealing with these problems and coordinating lay people for the Safeguard the Children program. This is all lay leadership; they have really taken hold in a wonderful way. I think all of that is useful.
NCR: How has the clergy abuse crisis affected you, on a personal and spiritual level? Cardinal Mahony: Oh it's been a terrible journey. First of all, not realizing the extent of this problem over many decades; it's so easy to look back through lenses of today to 15, 20, 30 years ago; I just wish I had known then what I know now. Things would have been treated differently. It's the same thing with the helping professions. We thought we were getting the best advice from therapists, and we were; that was their advice at the time. But as it turned out, priests with this problem simply cannot be cured and placed [back] in [ministry]. Those have been a heavy burden. Also, meeting with victims, to hear their stories, and although I haven't met with all of them, I've met with a large number. I've also looked at the taped interviews; the plaintiffs' attorneys here have developed dozens of interviews on DVD I've listened to those, every single one of them. They just cause you to cry. You simply are in disbelief at what has happened to the lives of these people. It has been a very humbling experience. Certainly, ritually, I was absolutely at the bottom, which means total vulnerability to God's grace. And I began to realize this is the ministry Jesus Christ is asking of me and others at this time, to repair this damage, to make sure it won't happen again and to continue the ongoing care of victims.
NCR: The Report to the People of God discusses several priests. Michael Wempe, in 1988, went to the Paracletes for treatment. After that, the report says, “based upon the treating psychotherapist's report [he] was assigned to limited ministry as a hospital chaplain.” I haven't read the therapist's report; but I think many people would say that common sense dictates against letting a pederast go work in a hospital. How do you explain that decision? Cardinal Mahony: Well, again, you just go back to that period of time, where there were assurances given that his situation was one where re-offending was very unlikely. That was the prognosis. And that if he continued his spiritual direction and counseling he was getting, that he would not re-offend. And they recommended that he serve in a limited capacity such as a chaplain to a hospital or prison facility; at the time I believed their prognosis was accurate. And, by the way, to the best of my knowledge I have no evidence that he actually did re-offend, even though there's been an allegation of that in court. We certainly have no reports. And it wasn't until after he was taken out of the ministry that someone made a report and that has been subject to criminal prosecution and is going to trial in the near future. That was the best advice we had at the time. Prognosis was he was highly unlikely to ever re-offend. But had we had zero tolerance in effect, he wouldn't have been assigned anywhere.
NCR: Again, reading from Report to the People of God, p. 12: “The Archdiocese does not seek to protect the conduct of priests from criminal or civil liability; it only seeks to protect these confidential communications.” Isn't that a contradiction if the confidential documents discuss criminal behavior? Cardinal Mahony:Well the confidential documents are not ones in which there is a discussion of criminal behavior. They are really discussions between bishop and priest and vicar and priest of the nature and status of the soul and what he's dealing with. The confidential communications are such that if a priest doesn't have the opportunity to meet with his bishop and discuss his personal problems, then the relationship between bishop and priest is gone. No priest will ever talk to a bishop.
NCR: But if a priest tells you he's molested a child, that's a confidential communication. Cardinal Mahony:Well if he tells me he abused a child I have to report to police. That's the way that's handled. Any priest coming in, knows that if he confesses to a reportable crime I have to report it...
NCR: I'm curious about Fr. Sutphin. You shared living quarters with him after he was accused of abuse, until 2002. Why did you do that? Cardinal Mahony:Well, Fr. Sutphin was another example of someone whose prognosis was favorable; so he at first was the chaplain in one of our rest homes. However, since there were a large number of retired priests living there, they could take care of its pastoral needs. One of Fr. Sutphin's ministries had been dealing with men in jail, so the old cathedral rectory which is right downtown near the jail seemed to be a good place for him to be in residence, and certainly under supervision. Keep in mind too the cathedral closed; so he lived there. Certainly no one ever registered any problems or difficulties. He ministered at the men's county jail for a few years. But it was clear that he was going to retire and go live in Ventura before the new cathedral opened. That was understood. We have absolutely no report of any re-offense on his part the whole time. We moved in here about a year and half before the Cathedral was dedicated.
NCR: With all due respect, Cardinal, I think many parents would wonder what it like is to live in a rectory with a man who has had sex with young boys. Did you feel squeamish? Cardinal Mahony:Well, again, he was undergoing counseling and spiritual direction and he was trying to turn his life around and seemed to be doing a good job at the jail. He was very much liked over there by the officials. Obviously there was always that concern, but he was really under good supervision here and he knew that everyone here knew his background and would be watching in case anything happened. But there was never any indication of that; he seemed to be living out his ministry.
NCR:I realize that you've apologized for mistakes; I'm trying to understand the politics of all this. Wempe, Sutphin, any number of these men could have suffered drastic penalties under canon law before 2002. Why weren't they applied? Cardinal Mahony:Well, really because the whole canonical notion of fitness for ministry was in play. That is, is this person able to assume some kind of limited ministry? And because in many cases the decisions made were that they could not, the recommendation was they could not. There were only a few. In fact in 2002 there were only six priests who were in limited ministry and of that number two retired and the others were in extremely limited ministry. All the rest had been taken out of ministry; the reason this handful was in limited ministry is because of their faithfulness to their counseling and spiritual direction and they gave every indication of not re-offending. That is the only reason they were there. Had we applied zero tolerance literally back in the early '90s they would not have been in those ministries and of course they would not be today.
NCR:Many people, though, wonder why canon law did not cause the widespread removal of so many of these men who went on to create great scandals in the media? Cardinal Mahony:Well, of course, in many cases canon law procedures were brought to bear. As I say, we have many cases where men were removed from ministry. It's just that a very small group whose treatment protocol indicated that there would not be danger in them being involved in some limited ministry. All the rest of them were removed and removed canonically.
NCR:You were quite a supporter of Bishop Ziemann. He resigned from Santa Rose amidst a huge scandal, as you know. Don't you think he should be laicized? Cardinal Mahony:Excuse me, I'm not sure I know what you mean by ‘a great supporter.'
NCR:Well, didn't you sponsor him to become an auxiliary? Cardinal Mahony:Well, he was one of the three auxiliaries appointed here in 1987, but his was no different than the relationship I had with all the other priests in the archdiocese. There was no special relationship with him. But he was one of the three auxiliary bishops appointed in 1987.
NCR:Didn't you support him to become bishop of Santa Rosa? Cardinal Mahony:His name was entered along with several other names as a possible candidate for Santa Rosa, yes. But when he was here during the years I was here; he was only here a few years, we had no reports of any misconduct. In fact he was well liked by the priests and the people. He served in Santa Barbara very well; we never had any report of any difficulties ever.
NCR:Given everything that has transpired, do you think he should be laicized? Cardinal Mahony:That's really beyond my call. That's really not my judgment. I honestly did not follow that closely everything up in Santa Rosa. The media down here - the farther away you are geographically - they just cover it less. I was really never totally informed of everything up there. I think the only one who can make that judgment is the Holy See, to have an investigation themselves to determine what should happen. It's really not my call.
NCR:In a related sense, when a bishop is sued as he is by a priest alleging extortion for sexual favors and then resigns after a scandal like that, shouldn't he at least be reduced from the status of bishop to a priest? In any given case, if his name wasn't Ziemann but Smith, don't you think someone like that should suffer some penalty? Cardinal Mahony:Well, first of all there's no process to reduce someone from a bishop to a priest. To the best of my knowledge, he was taken out of ministry and the Holy See asked him to live in a monastery somewhere. So, losing the diocese, losing his ability to function as a bishop, and minister as a bishop, that is a penalty in itself. The Holy See has apparently decided in this case that that is the best course to take.
NCR:Monsignor Loomis was at one time vicar of clergy, a job that included investigating abuse accusations. He has been removed because of accusations against him, as was Monsignor Curry - two vicars of clergy.
Excuse me, no. Monsignor Curry was not removed and has had no accusations. He's now Bishop Curry.
NCR:I'm sorry. I may have the wrong name. Wasn't there a second vicar of clergy removed?
No.
NCR:I'm sorry. I stand corrected. Cardinal Mahony:Loomis, that case proves that our procedures are working. That's a good example. It doesn't make any difference who the priest is. If there's sufficient credible evidence and the board decides to recommend that he be taken out of active ministry, and they did in his case, and I obviously concurred in their recommendation. So that case proves that the system is working the way it's supposed to be.
NCR:It's my understanding that the SNAP chapter was leafleting the church while he was still in ministry, that there was a pending civil case against him, and after the leafleting, someone else came forward with a charge, and on the basis of the second person making the accusation, that he was then removed. Is that not correct? Cardinal Mahony:You know, I can't remember the exact sequences. A lot of these problems with civil suits filed in 2002-2003, we did not have the names of victims or any way to talk to them. They were simply listed as John Doe. So until our investigators had a chance to talk to someone and get a statement from them, they did not have sufficient information to present to the board. And that eventually happened. That's what led to the report to the board. But it also turned up that all of these allegations occurred before he was ordained a priest; they went back years before that.
NCR:Sutphin, Ziemann, Loomis, these are three men you had close dealings with. How do you explain your judgment of their character? How could you miss what was going on? Cardinal Mahony:Well, first of all, these are all different situations. Take Michael Baker. Baker is the epitome of the deception of manipulation of a person who commits these sins and crimes. He was a superb con artist. He conned everybody, including the psychologist, psychiatrist and everyone else. Everyone thought that was being reported to us about his effective treatment, turned out he was manipulating the system. And he did it well. There was no way to know that at the time. With Bishop Ziemann, all these problems arose not here, not before he was ordained here, but up north. We had no problem with it here in my years. Sutphin, same situation. He's in effective treatment and is in limited ministry without any real sense. All these are different scenarios. Baker was reduced to lay state. There's the nine o'clock bell. [Half hour is up]
NCR:Can I ask just one more question? Cardinal Mahony:Well if I get to say something else. You've gone back to some of these older cases. You haven't touched on what we've done since.
NCR:You've approved the hiring of three former FBI agents to investigate any new charges. Each parish has a Safeguard the Children committee. These are genuine reforms. On the other hand, the archdiocese is waging quite a legal battle to preserve secret files. Isn't this a contradiction? Cardinal Mahony:No, not at all. In fact, this whole thing about files is now down to 20 documents. In California the evidence code has strong privacy privileges. One of them is clergy-penitent communications. The same one the doctors and psychiatrists have, as well as the media, it's the same kind of privilege; priests have a right to that privilege. The courts have upheld all of our privilege demands except for 20 documents, and that's in the hands of the court of appeals. So, it's two or three priests maximum. All the rest of it - see, you've also gotta keep in mind, the document itself is not being given over. The factual data that is necessary for law enforcement or legal proceedings has all been given over; it's just the actual communication itself.
NCR:You mean the actual communication between the bishop and priests? Cardinal Mahony:Yes, but any factual information that's relevant to law enforcement or civil proceedings has been given. So there's nothing in there factually that anyone has found new.
NCR:Why is there such a big fight about it? Cardinal Mahony:Well, because it's the principle, the privilege. You've got to keep in mind, the priests involved, it's their files. The priests have protection in California law. The constitution has a very strict privacy provision in Article One and the Evidence Code has very strict procedures for protecting this kind of information; specifically the priests appropriately exercise their rights and have asked these documents not be given over. NCR:Suppose the archdiocese does not prevail in the legal arguments, are you saying nothing of consequence is in them? Cardinal Mahony: The files are not going to be released. That's not going to happen. No matter what happens. What would happen is the courts would allow the DA or someone else to review documents and that would be it. These aren't going to be released publicly. But we've already assured the District Attorney that there's nothing in there they don't already have and we didn't give them to them.
NCR:Are the proffers then...
You just said there was this one question. You told me that's the way it's going to work. And you keep going with questions.
NCR:[strong] I do apologize, cardinal. I appreciate your time.
The report referred to in the interview, Report to the People of God: Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Los Angeles Archdiocese 1930-2003, is available on the archdiocese's Web site, www.laarchdiocese.org.
Praise of the Second Vatican Council
Oct 16, 2004
Among the finest graces of the just-ending century I would name the Second Vatican Council. Have we yet, more than 30 years after the Council, begun to absorb what the Holy Spirit did there?
Have we understood the way in which that amazing gathering grappled with how the Gospel could be proclaimed and lived in the coming generations? Those of us who experienced the Council and believe it to have been such a grace to our times must ponder how broad and wise were its works, and be proud to take our tasks today from its vision.
Yes, it was a revolutionary grace, a brave moment, a Pentecost for our time. Yes, such moments are traumatic. Did the bishops of the Council know how hard renewal would be? Perhaps if they had, they would not have had the courage to begin, and to think and act in such bold ways! But they did have the courage and the vision. The prophets of this century prepare us to live in the next.
I, along with the vast majority of the People of God, stand in awe of the Council's work. I give thanks that the bishops of the world gathered around those two great popes, John XXIII and Paul VI, and said that Gospel joy is ours and the promise of Jesus is ours; and that it is better to evangelize and love this world than to hide from, ignore, or condemn it.
Pope John Paul II, in calling us to the Jubilee Year, praises the Second Vatican Council and says this:
The best preparation for the new millennium can only be expressed in a renewed commitment to apply, as faithfully as possible, the teachings of Vatican II to the life of every individual and of the whole Church. (Tertio Millennio Adveniente: Apostolic Letter for the Jubilee of the Year 2000, #20)
From: “Gather Faithfully Together”. A Guide for Sunday Mass. Feast of Our Lady of the Angels, September 4, 1997.
Excessive Inculturation
Oct 16, 2004
I want to warn against an excessive “inculturation” that is destroying our liturgy. In the past generation, we have introduced into the liturgy some practices and attitudes from North American society that have no place there.
For example: the hurried pace, the tyranny of the clock, the inattention to the arts, the casual tone of a presider, the “what can I get out of it?” approach of the consumer, the “entertain me” attitude of a nation of television watchers. All these are the wrong sort of inculturation. Their prevalence shows how difficult it is to seek what in the culture offers a true correspondence with the spirit of the liturgy.
From: “Gather Faithfully Together”. A Guide for Sunday Mass. Feast of Our Lady of the Angels, September 4, 1997.
Homosexual Friendly Archdiocese
Oct 14, 2004
In 1993, the Cardinal helped to fund and produce the video A Journey for Understanding Gays and Lesbians in the Church. The video affirmed that there was nothing wrong with any “gay” or lesbian person whatsoever, that “being gay was a blessing and a gift,” and had “something prophetic toward remodeling the Church”.
(Source unknown) In 1996, the L.A. Archdiocese celebrated a Mass for its “lesbian and gay Catholics” during “Gay and Lesbian Pride Week” in West Hollywood, and sponsored a booth at its “Pride Festival.”
In 1997, Cardinal Mahony himself said the Mass and delivered the homily for The National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries at its annual convention in Long Beach.
The same open tolerance for homosexuality prevailed at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, where seminarians spend the first four of their seven years of priestly training. A Newsweek article (May 20, 2002) reported 30-70 percent of the seminarians at St. John’s were “gay and bisexual.”
In an April 27, 2002 interview on Fox News (10), Mahony boasted about the warm and wonderful relationship of the Archdiocese with its “very large gay, lesbian community.” He also affirmed that homosexuals should be allowed to be ordained priests, that a homosexual or heterosexual inclination was irrelevant so long as the person was able to commit himself to a lifelong life of celibacy.
Not Refusing Anyone Holy Communion
Sept 18, 2004
In a show of hostility against Church law, after the Denver Bishops' meeting, Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony made it clear in a written statement to the media that he would not refuse anyone Holy Communion.
(Source unknown, 6 July 2004) [italic]"The Archdiocese will continue to follow church teaching, which places the duty on each Catholic to examine their consciences as to their worthiness to receive Holy Communion. That is not the role of the person distributing the Body and Blood of Christ."
Democrat Convention Invocation
Sept 18, 2004
Breaking with recent precedent, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony agreed to deliver the invocation at the opening of the Democratic National Convention Monday. And already the fallout as begun with pro-life advocates praising or condeming the decision.
(Source unknown, Los Angeles, 14 August 2000) In a Sunday mass attended by Democrat convention attendees, Mahoney urged delegates to have compassion for society's most vulnerable children “threatened both in the womb and in our neighbourhoods.”
“Human life remains threatened in our country most clearly because of legalixed abortion, but also by ... the movement to allow physician-assisted suicide,” Mahony said.
Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese, said Wednesday that Mahony's consent to deliver the invocation on Monday should not be seen as "fudging" on the Church's - and the cardinal's - oft-stated pro-life conviction.
"This is not a big speech about abortion. That's not appropriate for an invocation," Tamberg said. "An invocation is a prayer."
"It's at a political convention, but we're praying to God. . . . It's not a Catholic prayer or a sectarian prayer, but a prayer asking God to come down to all of us and to be with all of us," Tamberg said.
Nonetheless, Tamberg said Gore's invitation was unexpected. "The invitation came [Tuesday] afternoon from the vice president's office, and it was quite a surprise, but it was accepted [Wednesday]," Tamberg said.
Mahony, who formerly chaired the U.S. Bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, has repeatedly denounced abortion.
In 1996 on the 23rd anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision, which struck down pro-life laws across the country, Mahony delivered an address in Pasadena decrying "the scourge of abortion and euthanasia."
He was one of the Catholic leaders who called for a ban on partial-birth abortion, and he urged Catholics to "besiege" Congress and the White House urging them to oppose an "immoral bill" that allowed such procedures.
In the 1996 speech, Mahony referred specifically to the party platforms' stance on abortion. "The present Republican Platform opposes abortion and supports a constitutional amendment to protect human life from the moment of conception," Mahony said to applause. "We need to urge the Republican leadership to retain their long-standing platform language--and to challenge the Democrats to return to their own earlier pro-life roots."
Debate with Mother Angelica
Sept 18, 2004
Late last year Mother Angelica became involved in a debate with Cardinal Mahony, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, as the result of comments she made about a new directive the cardinal issued on September 4, 1997 - the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels.
(5 January 2001) The directive - "Gather Faithfully Together" - was issued as a guide for Sunday Mass for the Los Angeles archdiocese to be implemented by the year 2000.
Mother Angelica said that the document placed too much emphasis on the community and not nearly enough on the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the consecrated species. In fact, the Jesus Presence par excellence, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, appears to be noted only by numeric reference to a section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is not mentioned directly anywhere in the 30+ page document, an apparent oversight that creates a very confusing picture of the celebration of Jesus' eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood, particularly to the faithful for whom the directive was intended.
Mother Angelica initially urged the Catholics of Los Angeles to ignore the Cardinal's directive, then later apologized after the Cardinal demanded she do so. She apologized for overstepping her bounds but then systematically found theological problems with several sections of the Cardinal's new directive. On hearing of this, the Cardinal apparently appealed to the Vatican in December asking for her removal as the head of EWTN.
Chapel Dedicated to 'Victims of Sexual Abuse by Catholic Presbyters'
Sept 10, 2004
On May 25, 2003 Cardinal Mahony dedicated a chapel in the new Los Angeles cathedral (building cost: $150,000,000) to "victims of sexual abuse by Catholic presbyters.
(Source unknown) On May 25, 2003 Cardinal Mahony dedicated a chapel in the new Los Angeles cathedral (building cost: $150,000,000) to "victims of sexual abuse by Catholic presbyters." There is a registry book there, where people can inscribe alleged victims' names.
Cardinal Mahony Welcomes the Rainbow Sash Movement to Communion
Sept 10, 2004
Cardinal Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has notified the Rainbow Sash Movement that his Cathedral will welcome Rainbow Sash Members as part of the Catholic Family to his Cathedral, and when RSM members present themselves for Communion they will receive It.
(PRNewswire, 26 May 2004) The Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) is deeply saddened by the response of Francis Cardinal George to the presence of gay and lesbian Catholics at the Cathedral for Pentecost Sunday, May 30, 2004 at 12:30PM. In wearing the Rainbow Sash we call Cardinal George to honor our experience, we continue to call on him to honor his commitment to Rainbow Sash Movement for ongoing public dialogue, and to work with us for justice and understanding.
Cardinal Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has notified the Rainbow Sash Movement that his Cathedral will welcome Rainbow Sash Members as part of the Catholic Family to his Cathedral, and when RSM members present themselves for Communion they will receive It.
It saddens us to have to say Cardinal George no more understands us, than he does the gay and lesbian Catholic Community, as is exampled by his letter to all his pastors to promote Discrimination of Gay and Lesbian Catholics at the Eucharistic table. To instruct his parish pastors to judge people at the alter rail, and deny them Communion lacks pastoral awareness, as is emphasized by the Church's Teaching on the "Primacy of Conscience." Going to church and receiving Communion is a personal act of faith and we don't think it is good judgment to turn it into a tool of confrontation at the altar rail.
Cardinals George and Mahony both support the Teaching of the Catholic Church, however, one promotes discrimination at the Eucharistic table, and the other does not.
The Rainbow Sash Movement will be entering Churches and Cathedrals around the country on Pentecost as a sign of the universality of the Church. This universality includes gays and lesbians, and gay and lesbian families. We thank Cardinal Mahony for welcoming us.
Card. Mahony Finds no Liturgical Abuses in his Diocese
Sept 10, 2004
In the years since the Second Vatican Council my predecessor, Cardinal Timothy Manning, and I have consistently encouraged and supported the celebration of the Liturgy in accord with the spirit and the letter of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, as well as with subsequent official liturgical documents designed to implement that spirit. By Cardinal Roger M. Mahony. Issued on the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels, September 4, 2004.
Many of you are aware of the recent Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (March 25, 2004) issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. This Instruction deals with certain matters regarding the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist.
But this Instruction cannot be read in isolation. Rather, it is a Congregation document following the extraordinary Letter by Pope John Paul II issued on Holy Thursday (April 17, 2003) entitled Ecclesia de Eucharistia. The title is taken from the first sentence of the Letter: "The Church draws her life from the Eucharist" (no. 1). All of the positive elements of our Holy Father's Letter remain our principal focus when treating of the Eucharist in our time.
Early in Redemptionis Sacramentum the role of the Diocesan Bishop as the "moderator, promoter and guardian" (no. 19) of the liturgical life of the Local Church is clearly stated. "The Bishop governs the particular Church entrusted to him," (no. 22; Lumen Gentium 21, 27; Christus Dominus 3) and it is "within the limits of his competence to set forth liturgical norms in his (Arch)diocese, by which all are bound" (no. 21; Canon 838, §4).
Redemptionis Sacramentum calls us to a two-fold task: to make certain that the Eucharist is celebrated in its fullness in the spirit of Ecclesia de Eucharistia, and to be alert to possible abuses in that celebration. The Instruction is part of the ongoing process in which our understanding of the Liturgy is continually enhanced. It invites us to deepen the reverence and the care with which we celebrate the Eucharist. Adherence to liturgical norms and guidelines assures good order within the Christian community when the Body of Christ comes together to celebrate Christ's mysteries in Word and Sacrament.
In the early 1990s, the Archdiocesan Office for Worship began extensive training programs across the Archdiocese to implement the vision and mandate of the Second Vatican Council: "In the restoration and development of the Sacred Liturgy the full and active participation by all the people is the paramount concern, for it is the primary, indeed the indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, II. 141).
Priests, deacons, religious, liturgical leaders and ministers, parish liturgy committees and others have been continuously trained in all aspects of proper liturgical renewal, with great spiritual and pastoral fruitfulness.
In preparation for the great Jubilee 2000, I prepared a Pastoral Letter in order to assist all parishes in planning and celebrating each Sunday Eucharist with the full and active participation by all the people. Released on September 4, 1997, the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels, Gather Faithfully Together: Guide for Sunday Mass sets down timetables for the implementation of the liturgical vision expressed in the Letter. Where this vision has been implemented a new surge of liturgical vitality has unfolded. The primacy of distributing Holy Communion under Both Kinds is emphasized in paragraphs 74 and 169 of the Letter. Many parishes also took the opportunity to renovate their Church sanctuaries to allow for the fuller celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments.
While we all must constantly re-evaluate our liturgical practice and not allow it to become routine or careless, I have determined that there is no need to make any significant changes in our liturgical practice at this time. Our Auxiliary Bishops, our Deans, and I have been visiting the parishes throughout the Archdiocese regularly over these past years. Especially following the promulgation of Gather Faithfully Together, we have been pleased with the care with which the Eucharist is planned and celebrated. We have not become aware of any serious abuses.
Most of the abuses mentioned in Redemptionis Sacramentum do not pertain to the celebration of the Eucharist in our Archdiocese because of our many efforts to provide intensive and extensive training in proper liturgical norms and practice. However, in order to assist each parish community evaluate its liturgical practices, I am developing a process and a Liturgy Evaluation Form which will allow priests, deacons, religious, parish liturgists and others in liturgical leadership to assess all aspects of liturgical preparation and celebration.
Some have inquired about the continued use of specially designed carafes in which the wine is presented at the Preparation of the Gifts, placed upon the altar, consecrated during the Eucharistic Prayer, and then distributed into smaller chalices for Holy Communion. Our overwhelming experience with this practice over the years has been most positive.
Because our practice has become an Archdiocesan custom of over seven years, with both the Catholic faithful and the ministers accustomed to this practice, I am willing to grant exceptions to no. 106 of Redemptionis Sacramentum for legitimate reasons, such as the following: where the altar table is too small to accommodate many chalices, thus creating a greater danger for spillage; and where the number of chalices is so large that they would visibly detract from the important sign of One Bread and One Cup, as well as increase the danger of tipping over the chalices.
In all cases, the carafes must be artistically designed for the specific purpose of holding the Precious Blood, and all ministers must be fully trained and have demonstrated their ability to pour the Precious Blood without danger. The Liturgy Evaluation Form will assist parishes to evaluate which procedure they should continue.
Ongoing liturgical formation and dissemination of information have been central to the mission of our Office for Worship. Special attention has been given to assist the clergy, religious, and laity in implementing recent and newly revised documents such as the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, issued in English in 2003. Certification programs, workshops, formation days and other educational opportunities are offered to parish liturgical ministers in order to foster vibrant communities engaged in "full, conscious and active participation" in the liturgical life of the Church.
We will continue to support the celebration of the Liturgy in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles fully in accord with the spirit of all our Liturgical Documents, with special attention to our Holy Father's most recent Ecclesia de Eucharistia.
For Cardinal Mahony, Twilight... and "Shadow"
Le cardinal-archevêque de Los Angeles sur le départ avant la fin de son mandat ?
Cardenal Mahony calla sobre el caso Cutié
Lettera quaresimale del cardinale Mahony ai fedeli di Los Angeles
Finanzkrise: US-Kardinal Mahony warnt vor Resignation