Mahony to Visit Stockton Sunday, by Sue Nowicki, Modesto Bee, December 1, 2010

Mahony to Visit Stockton Sunday

By Sue Nowicki
Modesto Bee
December 1, 2010

http://www.modbee.com/2010/11/30/1452113/mahony-to-visit-stockton-sunday.html

Cardinal Rogery Mahony celebrates a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles in this May 2006 file photo. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, the largest payout to date in the sexual abuse scandal

More than 10,000 people from parishes throughout the Stockton Diocese are expected to participate in the 30th annual procession honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe on Sunday.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Diocese will be among them, invited because he began the event 30 years ago when he was the bishop there. He and Bishop Stephen Blaire will celebrate the Mass — mostly in Spanish with some English prayers and readings — at the Stockton Arena after the procession.

"I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends," Mahony said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

The event begins at St. Mary's Church in Stockton at noon, with the Mass starting at 2:30 p.m. The annual celebration, which this year will include 23 floats, recalls the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico, in December 1531, when she left her image on his cloak. For 479 years, her image has been a symbol of unity, peace, compassion and hope.

Participating parishes include St. Jude's in Ceres; Holy Family, St. Stanislaus, Our Lady of Fatima and St. Joseph's in Modesto; Sacred Heart in Turlock; St. Mary's in Oakdale; and Sacred Heart in Patterson.

"It's a big event, especially for the Latino community," said Digna Ramirez-Lopez, director of the diocese's Hispanic Ministries.

"The people have a deep faith and devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, who always unites the people and provides hope. Now, when people are going through difficult situations with economics and losing their homes, losing their jobs, this is a way to know that we may continue to struggle, but it will be better tomorrow."

Event 'unites the diocese'

Mahony said he began the procession after he saw how well-received a similar event was in his former diocese in Fresno.

"It caught on, and I'm very pleased to see it carry on," he said. "It does three things: It celebrates the importance of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a special gift for the Western Hemisphere, not only for individuals but all of us. It provides a grace-connecting point and unites the diocese. And it encourages us to live out our faith in a very meaningful way to attract others to follow Christ."

Mahony was bishop in the Stockton Diocese from 1980 until 1985, when he was named archbishop of the Los Angeles Diocese, the largest in the country. He was elevated to cardinal in June 1991.

While in Stockton, he was a respected but controversial figure for his stand on social justice issues. He worked on behalf of higher pay and better conditions for migrant workers and sanctuary cities for South American immigrants, and he followed Catholic pro-life teachings against abortion, war and capital punishment.

He continued similar projects in Southern California and reached out to the gay community in his early years there.

Overshadowed by scandals

But in the past decade, Mahony's work has been overshadowed by the priest sex abuse scandals in the Stockton, Fresno and Los Angeles dioceses. He was deposed, for example, in lawsuits over the notorious pedophile ex-priest Oliver O'Grady, who still plagues the Stockton Diocese.

And he agreed to pay $660 million from the Los Angeles Diocese in 2007 to 508 people who said they had been abused by priests or other church employees. It was the largest settlement of such cases in the country.

Mahony is scheduled to retire March 1 when he turns 75, the mandatory retirement age, according to papal policy. The next Archbishop of Los Angeles will be José H. Gomez.

"Primarily what I'm looking forward to is to set aside the Big Three: Administration, personnel issues and finance, and just do ministry," he said. "It's like dying and going to heaven."

Mahony said he plans to stay in his native Los Angeles, making hospital visits and focusing on his greatest passion: immigration reform. He also plans to spend more time at his cabin near Fish Camp, which he built with another priest while serving in the Fresno Diocese.

"My hope is to get up there much more frequently," he said. "I especially like the fall and the spring, and I've been too busy at those times of the year to get up there."

Despite Mahony's controversial record, especially on the priest abuse issue, the diocese doesn't expect protests to accompany his first official return to the diocese since the funeral of former Bishop Donald Montrose in 2008.

"I don't," said Ramirez-Lopez. "What I have received so far are phone calls from people who are really pleased and happy that he is coming."

Bee staff writer Sue Nowicki can be reached at 578-2012 or snowicki@modbee.com.