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	As Mahony Retires, Focus Turns to Gomez The Press-Telegram February 25, 2011 http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_17478249 In recent weeks, the Sunday morning masses celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony at the downtown cathedral have drawn larger 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 Chavez, championed immigrant rights and called for changes in 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," said Monsignor Robert J. McNamara, pastor of St. Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church in Woodland Hills. "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 ... we wish him well as he retires from administration, and we pray blessings on his successor." Immigration focus In the last days of his tenure, 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, attention has shifted to his successor - Mexican-born Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, who became a U.S. 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 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. Additionally, say churchgoers, the abuse scandals that battered the archdiocese's image do not appear to have deflated attendance at 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. In 1975, while 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. The transition 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. Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and studied accounting there before receiving a doctorate in theology at the University of Navarra in Spain. He is only one of 28 Hispanic bishops in the United States. Contact: tony.castro@dailynews.com
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