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PDF versionLatino Opus Dei archbishop to head Los Angeles
Apr. 06, 2010
Archbishop Jose Gomez (CNS photo)
The pope April 6 named Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio, Texas, to take over the Los Angeles archdiocese when Cardinal Roger Mahony retires.
The appointment of the Mexican-born Gomez as coadjutor for Los Angeles puts him in line to become the highest-ranking Latino in the American Catholic hierarchy.
Gomez, 58, is the first, and currently only, full member of Opus Dei to be ordained a bishop in the United States.
At a future consistory, the pope would likely name Gomez a cardinal, given that Los Angeles is such a large and important archdiocese whose leader has traditionally worn a red hat.
Mahony, the current head of the archdiocese, is 74. The mandatory retirement age for bishops is 75.
Mahony will introduce Gomez today at a 10 a.m. press conference West Coast time inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
“I welcome Archbishop Gomez to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with enthusiasm and personal excitement,” said Mahony. “The auxiliary bishops and I are looking forward to working closely with him over the coming months until he becomes the Archbishop early in 2011.”
Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and studied theology at the University of Navarra in Spain. On January 23, 2001, Gómez was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Denver.
Gómez was appointed Archbishop of San Antonio on December 29, 2004.
In 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential Hispanics in the United States, and in 2007 he was on a CNN's list of "Notable Hispanics" in a web special celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
On July 25, 2008 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a consultant to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at The Catholic University of America. Gomez is the Chairman on the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Gotcha Mahony! No more
Gotcha Mahony! No more left-wing antics for LA....
As if it were a surprise. It
As if it were a surprise. It was a no brainer. People in South Texas have been talking about him leaving for LA for the past two years. Be careful what you ask for !
Go back and pray a little
Go back and pray a little harder. Your lack of compassion is not very Jesus like.
Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga pray
Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga pray for us!
Why does the USCCB have a
Why does the USCCB have a sub-committe on the Church in Latin America? Does the USCCB subscribe to the ideas that the USA should have the world as its Empire? Next thing there might be sub-committees on the Church in Afganistan, in Irael, in Iraq, and other places, all under the auspices of the USCCB.
Subcommittee in Latin America
Subcommittee in Latin America ....
The church constantly builds membership in poor third world countries ! Recruits priests from there too.
Moses, the reason the USCCB
Moses, the reason the USCCB has a sub-committee on Latin America is, among other things, that Latin America is our geographic neighbor in the Americas. We provide a lot of support and aid to our impoverished brothers and sisters there. As part of the Americas, we collaborate with them on Church matters. Latin Americans are the largest group immigrating to the US and we coordinate with the Latin American bishops and others on ministering to those immigrants. It is actually quite a pastoral effort and NOT EMPIRE building. It's all about discipleship - you know, loving your neighbor. They're our closest neighbor. May God bless you always.
Isn't the reason that we have
Isn't the reason that we have an on-going influx of Latin Americans and we should understand their needs?
This is a good move.
This is a good move. Congratulations, Archbishop Gomez!
Great news!.... He is from
Great news!.... He is from Opus Dei , so we can be sure that he knows that what this world needs is holy priests, not community leader style priests.
Excellent choice.
Our Pope is right!!!!! As usual
Josefina
and what does the community
and what does the community of the people of God need now?
professionally pious pharisees
or ones who walk with
WWJD?
I absolutely agree with you!!
I absolutely agree with you!! Thanks for your response.
I'm voting with the WWJD
I'm voting with the WWJD crowd.
A completely unwareanted
A completely unwareanted slander from someone, a religious (? - God, I hope not), who doesn't know the Archbishop, whose reputation is precisely of a holy and gentle pastor!!! Who is the Pharisee in this situation, Frere.
Are you implying that the
Are you implying that the Archbishop is Pharisaical? If so, why?
@frère charles du désert OSB
@frère charles du désert OSB OBLAT (Congrégation de Subiaco): Amen!
Deo gratias!
Deo gratias!
Glad he is going out of San
Glad he is going out of San Antonio ! He tries to turn back time on everything. He is a controlling entity of liturgy interpretation. He has demonstrated very little personality or people skills. He writes very long edicts, memoirs and is considered smart. He is not the "Spring" side of the church. LA get ready for silk, ornate vestments, control of you money going to seminarian education that is heavily reservist and mostly priests from Latin America candidates. Lots of lace on vestments too. If you want to go back in time...this is your man !
Let's hope so!
Let's hope so!
Hope so? Sometimes you get
Hope so? Sometimes you get what you wish for. Very secretive, zero transparency, and very money-driven. Being from San Antonio, I will say he is a very astute businessman, albeit a very ambitious one. But I will also say he is well-known to protect the Church first and foremost. That is not to say he will not protect children; but he has made clear he can be trusted as complete servant of the hierarchy. And it is therefore no surprise to anyone here he is moving on up, he definitely knows what he is doing. Draw your own conclusions.
Go back in time? You mean
Go back in time? You mean restoring Catholic identity and Tradition. The progressivism of Vatican II is dying off, we the youth are rebelling against our Vat II parents and the clergy who raised our progressive parents are retiring.
The faithful youth are filling the most traditional seminaries (many of which are overlowing), raising large families and proudly restoring lost tradition.
The new springtime is indeed beginning.
Deo Gratias!
Rebelling againts your
Rebelling againts your parents is nothing new. In fact, it is the oldest and longest held practice in the human family. Be nice if instead we all listened a bit more to one another. You might find that you don't actually know everything...as your distain for the previous generation suggests! Don't be so glad to have them all die off, as you will have no one left to blame...
Wow, this is excellent. I was
Wow, this is excellent. I was a little worried about him, but if this is how the liberals react, I'm happy! I'd rather have lace than tie-dye! (Just imagine a Bishop writing "long edicts." Heaven forbid!)
Personally, I as a young person don't want your "Springtime."
Your post shows an ignorance of how the Church, or any traditional institution, works. Looking back to your past and respecting where you've come from is the surest way to guide you for the future. The so-called sixties and seventies "progressives" (who now wish to worship is churches that are almost universally recognized as ugly and in "worship services" that are banal and perpetually out of date) simply don't realize what a powerful witness the Church's liturgical and architectural tradition is to young people. The "we are church" people and the hippie Catholics, as I sometimes call them, are the ones who are stuck in the past, because their theology and aesthetical judgments are not tied to a tradition that has served the people of God well for 2000 years.
I came into the Church at 19 years old, not because of the ugly architecture and liturgy, but because of the Church's beautiful and edifying traditions. Those are what I long to see restored and respected. May Archbishop Gomez have the grace to do just that!
Controlled liturgical
Controlled liturgical interpretation - Check
Writes edicts, memoirs and is smart - Check
Not on the Spring side of the church - Check
Ornate vestments, seminary education - Check
Sounds like a Bishop LA could use.
monarchical Mexican pay pray
monarchical Mexican pay pray and obey oppressing the campesino ecclesiology check
bizarre near schismatic right wing seminary in Franco Spain check
served under chaput check
this is not what the People of God could use
Hip hip! Hooray!!!!
Hip hip! Hooray!!!!
OPUS DEI!!!?? could have
OPUS DEI!!!??
could have been worse.
could have been Chaput.
But OPUS DEI??
omg . . .
wait a minute
isn't that a supposedly LAY organization with its own personal prelature?
no.
it could not have been worse, and is consistent with the fascist ideology which has infested this generation our one holy apostolic and universal church
oh poor Charles. Would you
oh poor Charles.
Would you like me to call the whaaambulance? Perhaps get you a couple of bacon double whaaaaamburgers? :-)
hey wait a minute, this
hey wait a minute, this bishop has been serving under Chaput in Denver as his mini me. . .
We do get Chaput in LA after all
hold the bacon, hold the burger, hold the cheese, and hold the bun
what did Nicholson say?
between your knees?
and no fries
The agenda is now clear!
The agenda is now clear! OMG!
The legacy of Hunthausen,
The legacy of Hunthausen, Weakland, and the other sniveling dissent-monger weaklings is, we pray, at an end in the US. May it becoem a "Catholic" church, instead.
Frere consistent with the
Frere consistent with the fascist ideology
....
Don't you know that using 'fascist' means you lost the argument based on reason?
WHY does the NCR tolerate
WHY does the NCR tolerate these slanders?
Generalisimo Franco is not
Generalisimo Franco is not dead.
Collegiality is.
Collegiality, deo gratias, is
Collegiality, deo gratias, is a born dead idea.
Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to God!
Playtime's over, children!
Playtime's over, children!
Great news! Let me be the
Great news! Let me be the first (and considering this is the NCR, perhaps the ONLY) one to congradulate you, Archbishop. Guard your sheep well, the wolves are howling in the hills.
Indeed, guard the 'sheep
Indeed, guard the 'sheep well'. For what they'll experience is a wolf in wolf's clothing.
What is the theology of Opus
What is the theology of Opus Dei? "Lay people, mind your place. Let the hierarchy tend to the governance of the church. They know what is best, for right or for wrong." Thank God I don't live in Los Angeles anymore. Thank God I'm not Roman Catholic anymore.
More ultraconservative
More ultraconservative thinking at work here. Is anyone surprised? The only surprising thing is that the laity keep putting $$ in the collection basket! I guess brainwashing works.
It's naive to think that
It's naive to think that simply changing the guards that protect the pope and his heirarchy first (their vow of obediance to the pope) NOT kids, it's going to make any meaningful change.
Perhaps there may be some feelings of temporary relief that Mahony is gone. Then what? Likely Mahony will be promoted to the Vatican with Cardinal Law, and IF US prosecutors get around to filing charges against Mahony (current US Attorney investigation on Mahony), the Vatican will protect him with countless legal technicalities and delays for extradition.
I wonder, though I hope not, that then the US Attorney will then through up his hands and say, well gee, case closed, Mahony's gone (criminal escaped), out of site out of mind. And then Mahony, like Law will be put in charge of the vulnerable again....another hen house to guard for the fox.
SHAPING THE church the way
SHAPING THE church the way Pope Benedict XVI (His Excellency Joseph Ratzinger wants): more secretive, clerical, cultic, monarchial and whatever enriches the priests’ culture. Out are nuns (except those that wear habits), women (except those that wear mantillas), deacons (except those who serve priests’ needs), and laity (except those who only pay, pray and obey). There will be no progressive bishops for at least 100 years!
There will be no progressive
There will be no progressive bishops for at least 100 years!
One can only hope!!!
John Out are nuns ... Truly
John Out are nuns
...
Truly an ironic comment. The habit-less orders have been in free fall for decades, unable to attract the novices that habited sisters get? Somehow that's the hierarchy's fault?
It's not the men's fault; the sisters are failing on their own, as are religious brothers and many historical orders of priests.
"There will be no progressive
"There will be no progressive bishops for at least 100 years!"
For which I thank God every Day!!!
If there were never another
If there were never another progressive/modernist Bishop ever it would still be too soon. Forty years of wandering in the desert is enough.
This appointment further
This appointment further reveals Benedict's plan for the church. Turn back the clock to pre-Vatican II, gut that council and restore "the good old Tridentine days" of Catholicism. This will fail of course. The scope, intensity and depth of the child abuse debacle will unhinge his papacy and de-empower the corrupt, criminal cabal which runs the church.
Dream on, John. Axios!
Dream on, John.
Axios!
John The sexual abuse
John The sexual abuse scandal will blow away the remainder of the 1970s mythical spirit of VII. The scandal will be the only legacy that bout of madness will leave behind. The data are clear from the John Jay report that abuse allegations peaked in the early 1980s as JPII started to bring order back to the Church, and has continued to return to levels last seen in the, ahem, 'good old Tridentine days'.
Of course, the spirit of VII will have destroyed the many Church physical assets, aided and abetted by American anti Catholicism. It is what it is. But younger Bishops like Bp Gomez or Bp Dolan or Bp Bambera are taking the reins, free of the constraints that the 1960s and 1970s conceit of the 'spirit of the times' put on the older generation, including the VII peritus Benedict or VII participant and author JPII.
Thank God. Now listen to the
Thank God. Now listen to the NCR dissident types whine. Liberals are not the future of the Church because liberalism is incompatible with authentic Catholicism.
and imperial militarism
and imperial militarism is?
how is that stephan, where in your gospel do you find it?
Please explain exactly what
Please explain exactly what you mean by authentic Catholicism.
After Cardinal Mahony’s
After Cardinal Mahony’s enablement of pedophiles and pederasts, it will be great to have an Archbishop who will protect children again.
Amen!
Amen!
No one who understand the
No one who understand the issues involved in protecting children--rather than protecting the church--would choose an outfit like opus dei as their flagship. This is not meant to judge the man, whom I know nothing about, but the symbolism is--again--about as off-base as the Vatican could get. They are taking so many missteps that it is frightening for those who know something about what it takes for an institution to protect children.
Cardinal Happy-Think will
Cardinal Happy-Think will finally depart.
I am watching the response of the Reporter, hoping and praying that the disappointment is very loud, which indicates a good choice, inspired by the Holy Spirit. If pejorative, hostile editorials emerge soon, I well know that it was a GREAT choice.
The 1970s will be coming to a close, even in LA. But, the man can do only do so much, so fast. Who could transform the neo-K-Mart cathedral into something reverent ?
//
This is a very sad here in LA
This is a very sad here in LA
Why?
Why?
This is a very sad day in LA
This is a very sad day in LA
Prepare for Tridentine 1962
Prepare for Tridentine 1962 rites in a few of your churches. And he does not EVER let women serve as Extra Ordinary Ministers in his masses ...even if it is in your own parish ! Your liturgies will be scrutinized and your music reviewed. It's all about the patriarch. He does not speak English well and seems sensitive that he doesn't. He sees the collection as his - your archbishops appeal amount will be doubled as the amount or even tripled as to the amount he wants. His focus is on seminary, seminary, seminary. He also likes to think that he controls the Universities during political times (ex. St. Mary's University was rented out by democrat H. Clinton as a speaking location, after it was held, he spoke out against it.). Do not give up, just keep on marching !
I assure you, it is an even
I assure you, it is an even sadder day in San Antonio.
Sad day in L.A.? Are you
Sad day in L.A.? Are you kidding? There's dancing in the streets (not at Mass, by the way!). This is a GREAT DAY OF REJOICING in L.A.!!!!
If you are a rejoicing one
If you are a rejoicing one then why can you not properly spell
angelino?
Read Marco PRouty's Cesar
Read Marco PRouty's Cesar Chavez, the Catholic Bishops, and the Farmworker's Struggle for Social Justice,
and ask
why not?
God Bless the
God Bless the Archbishop-elect, but who could want to inherit such a pathetic mess ?
Happy-Think theology, carnival liturgical practices, parishes as reverent as K-Mart; that is, the perfect National Catholic Reporter Archdiocese.
Fortunately, the Latino element will adapt back to orthodoxy readily, even if the Anglos element never does....
apparently for you orthodoxy
apparently for you orthodoxy implies the extremely oppressive monarchical ecclesiology of traditional Mexico, filtered through the Franco filter of that Opus DEi seminary and refined under Chaput plus the criminal secrecy in San Antonio
just the sort of thing a people in pilgrimage to Liberation flees, righteously
Wow, a Catholic bishop in LA.
Wow, a Catholic bishop in LA. How Dare Benedict? Who does he think he is, the pope? Oh wait, he is. The editors of NCR must be crying their beer tonight.
LA is one of the last
LA is one of the last dioceses in the country with an intelligent, thoughtful ordinary who has by and large shepherded a community of relevance. I'm sure it was just too much for Ratzinger and his ilk. One can hope that the history of good pastoral training and well-conducted lay empowerment over many years in the diocese will have created a powerful conduit for the Holy Spirit that cannot be gummed up by such a dark move.
For immediate release: April
For immediate release: April 6, 2010
Statement by Barbara Garcia Boehland of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests 210-621-2177; Cell: 210-725-8329
With Gomez, the Pope is promoting a bishop with a troubling record of recent secrecy and risk regarding child safety. If the Pope is trying to convince us he’s “tough” on abuse, he’s shooting himself in the foot by elevating Gomez.
Just last year, Gomez kept silent about two clerics whose religious supervisors deemed ‘credibly accused’ of sexually abusing teenagers. One of those clerics now apparently works in Rome.
One is Brother Richard Suttle of the Claretian Missionaries, who Gomez is letting live and study in San Antonio. “He sexually abused a teen in the early 1980s in Arizona, according to a public notice from the Phoenix diocese,” wrote the Express-News last year.
The other, Father Charles H. Miller of the Society of Mary “worked at St. Mary's University for more than two decades and was let go in 2007 after his religious order found a claim that he sexually abused a teen in 1980 to be credible. Last year (2008) he was moved to Rome,” the Express News wrote in 2009. Evidently Miller still works for the Marianists there.
In both cases, Gomez let religious orders quietly transfer credibly accused clerics into the San Antonio diocese in recent years. Neither Gomez nor the religious orders apparently warned parishioners or the public.
Then there’s Fr. Larry Hernandez. His religious order suspended his faculties in early 2008 because of credible abuse allegations. Gomez kept it quiet until March 2009.
Furthermore, Gomez hails from the Denver archdiocese which has and continues to distinguish itself by its particularly harsh legal maneuvers against clergy sex abuse victims.
We're very saddened and disappointed by this choice.
Statement by David Clohessy of SNAP (314 566 9790, SNAPnetwork.org)
There are plenty of US bishops who have acted recklessly and secretively in one or two cases during 2009. Unfortunately, the Pope is promoting one who has acted recklessly and secretively in three such cases during the last year.
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