Well, this will be interesting! Prayers for Archbishop Gomez.
Full story here.
The Vatican has chosen Archbishop Jose H. Gomez — who was born in Mexico and became an American citizen while serving in Texas as a priest for the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei — to become the next leader of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the country.
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez
The choice is an acknowledgment that the church’s future in America depends on the growing numbers of Hispanic faithful, and that the Vatican is intent on elevating leaders who are solid theological conservatives.
At his first news conference as the archbishop-designate, at the city’s modern downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Tuesday, Archbishop Gomez … focused on his passion for evangelism, his support for comprehensive immigration reform and the distance he himself had traveled as an American immigrant.
“I was born in Mexico, my sisters still live there,” he said, his voice shaking, “and I am very proud of the Mexican love for life and family and faith that first turned my heart toward God.” While talking about his background, the archbishop abruptly stopped to sip from a cup.
“This is getting a little emotional — forgive me,” he said, adding jovially, “By the way, it’s just water.”
Archbishop Gomez, who is currently the archbishop of San Antonio, was named coadjutor bishop of Los Angeles, which means he will succeed Cardinal Mahony when the cardinal retires on Feb. 27, his 75th birthday.
As the leader of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which traditionally is headed by a cardinal, Archbishop Gomez is likely to receive a red cardinal’s hat as well. If that happens, he would become the first Hispanic cardinal in the United States, experts on the church said Tuesday.
With this appointment, Pope Benedict XVI has further solidified his imprint on the leadership of the church in the United States. In only five years as pope, he has appointed dozens of bishops in this country, including new archbishops in the large and influential dioceses of Baltimore, Detroit, New York and Washington.
Alejandro Bermudez, director of the Catholic News Agency, based in Denver, said of Archbishop Gomez: “He is definitely a man of the Holy Father, loyal to the Holy Father theologically, but on the other hand, he is extremely pastoral. Anybody who is expecting him to come in as a flamethrower or something like that is wrong. That’s not his style.”
Cardinal Mahony led the Los Angeles Archdiocese for 25 years and is considered one of the last remaining prominent prelates of the American bishops’ “social justice” era, when the bishops mounted major political initiatives to encourage economic equality and the rights of farmworkers and unions. He marched with César Chávez and championed immigrant rights, and last month joined a large rally in Washington for changes in immigration policy.
But his leadership was tarnished by accusations that he failed to report abusive priests to civil authorities and kept them working in parishes without informing parishioners. After more than 500 victims came forward with allegations of abuse by priests in Los Angeles, Cardinal Mahony signed a $600 million settlement in 2007 — more than any other diocese has paid to settle abuse claims.
Archbishop Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and studied accounting there before receiving a doctorate in theology at the University of Navarra in Spain. In Spain he was ordained as a priest of Opus Dei, an elite Catholic organization founded in Spain that teaches that an ardent work ethic and devotion to demanding spiritual practices can lead to personal holiness.
Archbishop Gomez served as the senior official for Opus Dei in Texas before he was named an auxiliary bishop in Denver in 2001. He is the first Opus Dei priest to become an American bishop, said Brian Finnerty, the United States communications director for Opus Dei. Four other American bishops are members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, an Opus Dei affiliate.
There are 28 Hispanic bishops active in the United States, making up only 9 percent of the bishops, although Hispanics make up more than 35 percent of all American Catholics, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In San Antonio, Archbishop Gomez sometimes tangled with Catholic liberals who insisted that the church was expansive enough to accommodate dissenting views on such issues as abortion and gay rights.
But people who have worked with Archbishop Gomez describe him as more interested in practical matters than ideology.
On Olvera Street, just a few blocks from the cathedral in Los Angeles, where tourists and locals, many of them Mexican-Americans, gather in a festive market setting, Evelyn Rodriguez, 31, said she was cheered by the appointment.
“I think it’s important for people to feel connected to the church,” said Ms. Rodriguez, a cashier, who said she was an active Catholic. “Someone who speaks the language and understands the culture is going to be different. I think he is going to pick up the pieces here.”
But Bernabe Velarde, who owns a fruit stand in the market, was more cynical.
“Because the Latino community is the strongest faith group here,” he said, “it is in the business interest of the church to appoint a Latino. It keeps the parishioners happy.”
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While I have heard some good things about Archbishop Gomez(his distaste for divorce, homosexual acts, abortion, and birth control, as well as his joy for Summorum Pontificum), he puts such emphasis on Hispanic Ministry, it’s as if non-Hispanics are being made to not feel welcome.
Not long before the Holy Father chose Archbishop Gomez to lead our archdiocese, I read that Cardinal Mahony said he wanted his successor to be Hispanic. The truth is, he would’ve been okay with an Asian, an African-American, or anyone “of color”, but he SAID Hispanic because he was aware of how unlike him a lot of the Caucasians the Holy Father chose to lead our sees have been, and he felt a prelate “of color” would be everything he is(he only said he wanted a Hispanic successor because he sensed anyone else “of color” might not have a chance, and a Caucasian would be everything he is not). Cardinal Mahony seems to think one’s views on liturgy are based on ethnicity and/or skin color.
I disagree with both Evelyn Rodriguez and Bernabe Velarde. How effective a prelate Archbishop Gomez is/will be will have NOTHING to do with the demographics of Los Angeles Catholic churches, but what he does. And no, Gomez was NOT chosen because of his heritage! If he was, how come Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted(who’s Caucasian) and then-Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput(Gomez’s old boss when the future San Antonio prelate was Denver’s auxiliary bishop, who is half-Caucasian, half-Native American) also made the Pope’s short list of three to succeed Cardinal Mahony?! What Velarde says makes no sense, and he tries to make the Holy Father look like a Catholic Archie Bunker, which he doesn’t come close to being!
If Bernabe Velarde thinks Hispanics are so prejudiced as to ONLY tolerate one of their own as prelate, he should think again. Many, even most Hispanics are more concerned with having a prelate that will be a good shepherd, no matter what his ancestry, than act like heritage should play at least a minor role in who is chosen to lead a particular see.
Last night, I heard on the local news that Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gambino Zavala, a modernist if there ever was one, resigned because he violated his celibacy vows(he fathered two children). Some people have the nerve to suggest Holy Mother Church be rid of celibacy; that’s like trying to reward a child for bad behavior. On a happier note, Archbishop Gomez may let the FSSP in our archdiocese if enough signatures are sent in. I’d like for you to pray for our attempts to get a personal parish for Latin Mass, and for a worthy(and dare I say, non-modernist) as auxiliary bishop to replace Zavala.
For a guy who was hoping Phoenix’s Bishop Thomas Olmsted would get the Los Angeles epicopate(and was far from happy when he did not get sent to “The Big Orange”, a moderately obscure nickname for Los Angeles), even I have to admit Gomez is not doing a bad job(though his lack of distaste for “ethnic” ministry sits poorly with me). He seems willing to work with those who want the FSSP in Los Angeles(if willing is a strong enough word to describe it).
The fact that Archbishop Gomez was our country’s first Opus Dei-ordained prelate brings something to mind; Kansas City-Saint Joseph Bishop Robert Finn is, to my knowledge, the second(Finn is such a good shepherd I, when I wrote to our late nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, to recommend men to lead dioceses, recommended Bishop Finn, Minneapolis-Saint Paul Archbishop John Neinstedt, and Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry as candidates to succeed Cardinal Francis George as Chicago Archbishop).
Dear eronyeve! I love to know our new and updated page here. I’ll let our community know we have happy ground here. God the father Bless to you all.
As much as Cardinal Mahony said he wanted a HISPANIC successor(though he would’ve been okay with anyone “of color”; he didn’t want a Caucasian because he sensed if a Caucasian was named to Los Angeles, he’d be everything Cardinal Mahony is not, but felt a Hispanic, an African-American, an Asian, et al, would be everything he is) I heard he was NOT happy when Archbishop Gomez was sent here(he is, needless to say, NOT Mahony’s type of Hispanic, and their opposing views on Latin Mass, homosexual acts, and who knows what else, are proof).
Not long after he was named coadjutor for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, I heard Archbishop Gomez wanted to make our cathedral look like an actual church. Let’s hope he does.