Angelus News | August 2-9, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 27

BILLY HARDIMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
LOCAL
Graduates from Tepeyac Institute’s 2019 program in Phoenix.
Tepeyac aims for impact in LA
A civic leadership program is spreading west in hopes of helping lay
LA Catholics grow in both their professional development and their
faith.
Tepeyac Leadership, Inc. (TLI), will open enrollment for its inaugural
program in Los Angeles during October and November, with
the program set to begin in the spring of 2020. An open house will be
held Oct. 1 at Cathedral High School.
“Today, the development of lay Catholic professionals and equipping
them to become virtuous leaders to advance the mission of the
Church and serve the common good in secular society is vital,” said
Archbishop José H. Gomez, offering prayers and support to TLI and
those who participate.
Currently, TLI has a program in operation in the Diocese of Phoenix,
where Bishop Thomas Olmsted has reported “seeing a big
impact.”
“It is our prayer that the Holy Spirit will place in the hearts of participants
a mission of leadership that they will gladly embrace and fulfill
through God’s grace,” he said. “The true call of the laity, the authentic
vocation of lay Catholic men and women, is to be ambassadors of
Christ in the world, living among everyone else in secular society,
while striving for holiness, sanctifying the world.”
A reminder to our readers
During the summer months of July and August, the print edition
of Angelus is published biweekly. The next issue will be August
16, followed by September 6 (an extra week is skipped due to
Labor Day), after which we return to our weekly schedule.
Heartbreak on
the highway
A highway crash involving a Northern
California priest led to a disturbing find
inside his car: more than $18,000 in
cash stored in church collection bags.
Upon further investigation, Church
officials found more than $95,000 in
the office and home of Father Oscar
Diaz, pastor of Resurrection Church in
Santa Rosa, following the June 19 car
accident.
In a July 22 press release, Santa Rosa
Bishop Robert Vasa said that evidence
had been found showing that “money
was stolen in a variety of ways from
each of the parishes where [Diaz] had
served as pastor.”
Diaz, who fractured a hip in the crash,
admitted to the embezzlement and has
been suspended from ministry. Although
he is under investigation by the
police, he has not yet been arrested for
any crime.
California court wins
for pro-life activist
The state of California’s case against
underground pro-life activist David
Daleiden may be weakening.
The 30-year-old Catholic faces more
than a decade in prison after being
charged with more than 15 felonies
related to his undercover filming of
abortion-industry workers at conferences,
restaurants, and at work in their
facilities.
But on July 22, Daleiden was handed
a victory when a federal judge ruled
that Daleiden and fellow activist Sandra
Merritt can defend their actions as
journalism.
A week earlier, the same judge
reduced the amount of a Planned Parenthood
lawsuit against Daleiden from
$20 million to less than $100,000, the
National Catholic Register reported.
The Thomas More Society, which is
representing Daleiden pro bono, argues
that Daleiden used standard undercover
journalism techniques to expose
wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood.
6 • ANGELUS • August 2-9, 2019