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	Cardinal Roger Mahony's Era Is Ending, but Not His Advocacy By Tony Castro Los Angeles Daily News February 24, 2011 http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_17476250 [See photo gallery] In recent weeks, the Sunday morning masses celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony at the downtown cathedral have drawn larger-than-usual crowds, heavily populated by the poor and undocumented of Los Angeles. Those two constituencies, after all, make up the centerpiece of his quarter-century legacy as the leader of the Los Angeles Archdiocese - a post he will officially turn over Sunday as his 75th birthday forces his retirement. In those years, the archbishop marched with Cesar Ch vez, championed immigrant rights and called for changes in the country's immigration policy. But Mahony's legacy was tarnished by the clerical abuse scandal involving more than 500 victims and a record $660 million settlement. He also was accused of failing to report abusive priests to civil authorities and keeping them working in parishes without informing parishioners. Even some of his most ardent admirers acknowledge that Mahony's accomplishments were overshadowed by the abuse scandal. "Cardinal Mahony will be remembered for many things but I think two things will stand out - his building of the cathedral and his handling of the sexual abuse crisis in our Church," Monsignor Robert J. McNamara, pastor of St. Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church in Woodland Hills, writes in the bulletin for this coming Sunday. "These were huge issues, in the news again and again, especially the scandals. And like all high-profile people, he had his admirers and critics, perhaps more of the latter than the former. "However he has weathered his storms and one thing I know for sure, is that I would not have wanted to be in his shoes. We wish him well as he retires from administration, and we pray blessings on his successor." In the last days of his tenure, as has been his custom, Mahony made no public statement addressing the scandal. He also declined requests for an interview. However, his blog has been filled about his commitment to immigration reform. "I intend to spend the coming months and years walking in solidarity with the 11,000,000 immigrants who have come to the United States to improve their own lives and the life of our country and to advocate on behalf of the silent millions," Mahony wrote. With Mahony's retirement, the attention has shifted to his successor - Mexican-born Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, who became an American citizen while serving in Texas as a priest for the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. Gomez and Mahony will preside jointly over a ceremony of transition mass at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Priests at parishes in the San Fernando Valley say there is a special symbolism in having a Latino lead the nation's largest archdiocese. More than one-third of the country's 65 million Roman Catholics are Latino, as are nearly 75 percent of the 5 million members of the three-county Los Angeles archdiocese. "I think there's a recognition that the church needs to put forward Hispanic leadership when a very significant portion of our population in the church is Hispanic," said Father Peter Nugent, pastor of St. John Eudes Church in Chatsworth. "(Gomez) seems to be in tune with priorities that have been established in the archdiocese - evangelization of God's message, immigration reform and making the church a voice in that discussion." Additionally, say church-goers, the clerical abuse scandals that battered the archdiocese's image do not appear to have deflated attendance at Valley parishes brimming with Latino immigrants. "The cardinal is human, but he is a man of God, and he is continuing Jesus' ministry," said Consuelo Estrada, a parishioner at Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima. "If he has done any wrong, God forgives him." Gomez also becomes the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Committee on Migration and Refugees. Mahony has said he looks forward to collaborating with his successor in pressing for immigration reform. "Over the years, immigrant peoples have become very dear to me, and Jesus continues to call me to walk with them on their journey," Mahony wrote in his blog. Those writings also offer fresh insight into Mahony, whose sensitivity to immigrants rights was shaped during his childhood in the San Fernando Valley. He recalls talking with the Mexican-American men and women who worked the poultry processing plant owned by his parents, Victor and Loretta. "They became my friends," Mahony wrote. "(Then) during my years as a seminarian at Saint John's Seminary in Camarillo, several of us seminarians were able to accompany priests to the farm labor camps where Mass was offered for the braceros, the temporary farm workers mostly from Mexico." In 1975, while serving as auxiliary bishop of Fresno, Mahony was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to chair the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board. He worked to resolve disputes between growers and Chavez's United Farm Workers union. Mahony was appointed bishop of Stockton in 1980 and archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985, becoming the first native Angeleno to hold the office. He was elevated to cardinal by Pope John Paul II on June 28, 1991. After the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana was badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, Mahony shepherded the construction of Our Lady of the Angels, which was dedicated on Sept. 2, 2002. James Kellenberger, a professor at California State University, Northridge, who specializes in the philosophy of religion, believes Mahony's contributions to the Latino community alone would be a noteworthy legacy for many. "Pretty clearly, Cardinal Mahony has reached out to the Latino community and sought to have priests that can minister to them," said Kellenberger, who is the author of "Relationship Morality and God." "I would suppose that Mahony had some of the input in the decision (to appoint Gomez as his successor). I'd be surprised if he didn't have some say." Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and studied accounting there before receiving a doctorate in theology at the University of Navarra in Spain. Gomez is only one of 28 Hispanic bishops in the United States. Hispanics comprise 9 percent of all bishops, but more than 35 percent of all American Catholics, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The archdiocese of Los Angeles is traditionally headed by a cardinal - considered a "prince of the church" and a member of the body that elects the pope. Several parish priests and worshippers expressed confidence that Gomez will be elevated to that position in the near future. If that happens, he would become the first Hispanic cardinal in the United States. "I was born in Mexico, my sisters still live there," Gomez said at a news conference last April, his first after being named to succeed Mahony. "And I am very proud of the Mexican love for life and family and faith that first turned my heart toward God." Since his arrival in Los Angeles, Gomez has given every indication that he intends to champion immigrant rights as Mahony did. "Cardinal Mahony is irreplaceable. I'm not replacing him, I'm succeeding him and following in his footsteps," Gomez told the hundreds of worshippers who welcomed him at a gathering after a Memorial Day Mass at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery. In his homily that day, Gomez also laid out his philosophy for his upcoming tenure. "Faith," he said, "is going to give us the most essential part of (Catholicism): Love of God and love of one another." Church-goers who met Gomez that day, like those who have become acquainted with him in the past 10 months, came away impressed with his self-deprecating humor about his unfamiliarity with Los Angeles. "I'm still trying to find my way around," he said that day, eliciting laughter. "San Fernando sounds familiar because San Fernando is the name of the cathedral in San Antonio." Kate Springthorpe, a parishioner of Saint Finbar Catholic Church in Burbank, was at that event and now says she's impressed with the seamlessness of the transition. "These are so rare, but it's going even better than we could hope for," she said. "Archbishop Gomez is an answered prayer, and he's bringing new hope. "It's a big change going from an Irish archbishop to a Hispanic archbishop, but it's going to work. Los Angeles is made up of so many personalities and so many cultures - and this is just one more part of it."
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