Angelus News | October 16-23, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 26

ANGELUS 

MIRACLE 

AT THE MISSION 

The mystery of San Gabriel’s ‘La Dolorosa’ 

October 16-23, 2020 Vol. 5 No. 26

Contents 

Pope Watch 2 

Archbishop Gomez 3 

World, Nation, and Local News 4-6 

Scott Hahn on Scripture 8 

Father Rolheiser 9 

A White Mass for those on the pandemic front lines 14 

The unexpected joys of coronavirus weddings 18 

Photos: A long-awaited day for LA’s new deacons 22 

John Allen: Behind the new vision of ‘Fratelli Tutti’ 24 

An Angeleno’s East Coast racism epiphany 26 

Greg Erlandson ponders political homelessness 28 

Kris McGregor: Secrets to keeping the faith 30 

Heather King discovers the charms of ‘Lotusland’ 32

ON THE COVER 

When a centuries-old mysterious painting of “La Dolorosa” was pulled out of the 

rubble of the fire-wrecked Mission San Gabriel, workers were surprised. But was its 

discovery miraculous? On Page 10, historian Gregory Orfalea explains the image’s 

forgotten role in the evangelization of California, and details the race against time 

underway to prepare the mission for its 250th birthday celebration. 

IMAGE: 

Archbishop José H. Gomez toured Christ the 

King Catholic School near Hollywood Oct. 2 

while celebrating a blessing ceremony for the 

renovated campus. The school was founded in 

1959 and today serves TK-8th-grade students. 

DANIEL MACIAS 

VICTOR ALEMÁN

POPE WATCH 

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October 16-23, 2020 

Vol. 5 • No. 26 

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A failed man’s prayer 

The following is adapted from the 

Holy Father’s catechesis on prayer, 

given during his weekly General Audience 

in the Paul VI Hall, Wednesday, 

Oct. 7. 

Scripture presents Elijah as a man 

of crystalline faith: His very name, 

which may mean “Yahweh is God,” 

encloses the secret of his mission. He 

will be like this for the rest of his life: 

a man of integrity, incapable of petty 

compromises. 

His symbol is fire, the image of 

God’s purifying power. He will be the 

first to be put to the test, and he will 

remain faithful. He is the example of 

all people of faith who know temptation 

and suffering, but do not fail 

to live up to the ideal for which they 

were born. 

Prayer is the lifeblood that constantly 

nourishes his existence. Elijah 

is the man of God, who stands as a 

defender of the primacy of the Most 

High. And yet, he too is forced to 

come to terms with his own frailties. 

In the soul of those who pray, the 

sense of their own weakness is more 

precious than moments of exaltation, 

when it seems that life is a series of 

victories and successes. This always 

happens in prayer: moments of 

prayer that we feel lift us up, even of 

enthusiasm, and moments of prayer 

of pain, aridity, trial. 

This is what prayer is: letting ourselves 

be carried by God, and also 

letting ourselves be struck by unpleasant 

situations and even temptations. 

Prayer is not about locking oneself 

up with the Lord to make one’s 

soul appear beautiful: no, this is not 

prayer, this is false prayer. Prayer is a 

confrontation with God, and letting 

oneself be sent to serve one’s brothers 

and sisters. 

The proof of prayer is the real love 

of one’s neighbor. And vice versa: 

Believers act in the world after 

having first kept silent and prayed; 

otherwise, their action is impulsive, it 

is devoid of discernment, it is rushing 

without a destination. 

The pages of the Bible suggest that 

Elijah’s faith also made progress: He 

too grew in prayer, he refined it little 

by little. The face of God came into 

focus for him as he walked. He manifests 

himself not in the storm, not in 

the earthquake or the devouring fire, 

but in “a light murmuring sound” (v. 

12). 

Or better, a translation that reflects 

that experience well: in a thread of 

resounding silence. This is how God 

manifests himself to Elijah. 

God comes forward to meet a tired 

man, a man who thought he had 

failed on all fronts, and with that 

gentle breeze, with that thread of 

resounding silence, he brings calm 

and peace back into the heart. 

In some evenings we can feel useless 

and lonely. It is then that prayer 

will come and knock on the door of 

our hearts. We can all gather a corner 

of Elijah’s cloak, just as his disciple 

Elisha collected half his cloak. And 

even if we have done something 

wrong, or if we feel threatened and 

frightened, when we return before 

God with prayer, serenity and peace 

will return as if by miracle. 

Papal Prayer Intention for October: We pray that by the virtue of baptism, the laity, 

especially women, may participate more in areas of responsibility in the Church. 

2 • ANGELUS • October 16-23, 2020

NEW WORLD 

OF FAITH 

BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

A Gospel vision for the human family 

Pope Francis’ new encyclical letter, 

“Fratelli Tutti,” is a deep and searching 

reflection on the meaning of human 

community and how God wants us to 

live together in society. 

It comes at a time in this country 

when there is a widespread feeling 

that social trust has broken down. It is 

a moment when people have lost faith 

in our institutions and leaders, and our 

politics and media have become angry 

and divisive. 

Often, it seems, we now look with suspicion 

at those who disagree with us; 

we treat them like enemies. It seems to 

many of us that our society has lost not 

only the ability to work together for the 

common good, but also any sense of 

what the common good might be. 

Beyond the differences between 

candidates and parties in this election 

year, beyond the real inequalities and 

injustices in our society, and beyond 

the fear and uncertainty for the future 

caused by the pandemic, these are the 

deeper issues that we must confront in 

American culture and public life. 

And while “Fratelli Tutti” was not 

written specifically to address this 

country, as I have been reflecting on 

this new letter I think our Holy Father 

offers us a way forward. 

It is a long and complex document. 

In many ways, it serves a compendium 

of Pope Francis’ teachings on social 

questions over these eight years of his 

papacy. 

At the heart of the pope’s letter, 

though, is the simple and beautiful 

vision of the Gospel — that God our 

Father has created every human being 

with sanctity and dignity, with equal 

rights and duties, and that our Creator 

calls us to form a single human family 

in which we live as brothers and sisters. 

Living as we do in a big country and 

in a complex mass society, we can be 

tempted to think that what we do as 

individuals does not matter or make a 

difference. 

That is not true, the Holy Father 

reminds us. So much depends on how 

we live out our faith in Jesus Christ. 

If we believe that God is our Father, 

then we must believe and act as if all 

men and women are our brothers and 

sisters. If we believe that Jesus died for 

the love of every person, then we know 

that “no one is beyond the scope of his 

universal love,” as the pope writes. 

Along with St. Francis of Assisi, 

who he said inspired his letter, the 

pope points to the example of the 

20th-century saint, Blessed Charles 

de Foucauld, who lived among the 

Muslims in the deserts of Africa and 

was martyred there. 

Like St. Francis, Blessed Charles 

prayed to be “the brother of all.” And 

that is how we should live our lives. 

The pope wants us to see that we are 

responsible to care for one another, 

that we are called to create a shared 

community in which the sanctity and 

dignity of every human person is cherished 

and respected. 

In this way of social friendship, the 

little things in life matter. The pope 

speaks of the importance of simple, 

everyday kindness. 

But kindness, for the pope, is not 

simply a personal virtue. Kindness can 

change the world. “Precisely because 

it entails esteem and respect for others, 

once kindness becomes a culture 

within society it transforms lifestyles, 

relationships, and the ways ideas are 

discussed and compared,” he writes. 

The pope offers a hopeful vision for 

the renewal of politics, what he calls a 

“better kind of politics,” rooted in love 

for the human person. 

But we should not “expect everything 

from those who govern us,” he says. We 

have a Christian duty to change the 

world, beginning in our neighborhoods 

and local communities, but also taking 

an active role in the affairs of our 

nation and being concerned for people 

everywhere in the world. 

“Jesus asks us,” the pope writes, “to 

put aside all differences and, in the 

face of suffering, to draw near to others 

with no questions asked. … I must 

myself be a neighbor to others.” 

In the Gospel vision, as the pope sees 

it, charity cannot be separated from 

working for justice. “It is an act of charity 

to assist someone suffering, but it is 

also an act of charity, even if we do not 

know that person, to work to change 

the social conditions that caused his or 

her suffering,” he writes. 

There is much to challenge us in this 

new letter and I hope that you will 

have a chance to reflect on the Holy 

Father’s words. 

Pray for me this week and I will pray 

for you. 

And let us ask our Blessed Mother 

Mary to pray for our country as we 

enter the final days of this election 

season. May she help us to renew our 

country in the spirit of fraternity, where 

we see one another as Pope Francis 

tells us, “brothers and sisters all.” 

To read more columns by Archbishop José H. Gomez or to subscribe, visit www.angelusnews.com. 

October 16-23, 2020 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD 

Italian ‘gamer’ beatified in Assisi 

Bishop Vincenzo Guo Xijin 

Bishop of Chinese underground 

church retires 

From the perspective of the Chinese government, nothing 

has changed in the Diocese of Mindong. But for Catholics, 

they are losing a bishop. 

Bishop Vincenzo Guo Xijin announced his retirement as 

auxiliary bishop of Mindong, a position he has held since 

2018, in the wake of an arrangement requested by Pope 

Francis as part of the Sino-Vatican Agreement, which has 

sought to reconcile underground Catholics in China with 

those part of the state-sanctioned church. 

However, Bishop Guo never joined that church, meaning 

the government never recognized his episcopacy as legitimate. 

Bishop Guo’s retirement comes as a further attempt 

to unite the fractured church in China. 

Bishop Guo said he will now retire to a life of prayer but 

will remain available to hear confessions. 

“In any circumstance or change, you must never forget 

God,” Bishop Guo wrote to the faithful in the letter 

announcing his retirement. “Do not ignore the Lord’s 

commandments, do not harm the integrity of the faith, do 

not slow down the salvation of the soul, which is the most 

important thing.” 

ASIA NEWS 

The Catholic Church now has its first “blessed” of the 

millennial generation. 

Carlo Acutis, an Italian computer whiz born in 1991, was 

beatified Oct. 10 at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in the 

presence of thousands of pilgrims, most of whom followed 

the ceremony outdoors due to coronavirus (COVID-19)-related 

restrictions. 

At a young age, Acutis taught himself how to program and 

went on to create websites cataloguing the world’s eucharistic 

miracles and Marian apparitions. He loved video games 

but also the Eucharist, which he called “my highway to 

heaven.” 

He died of leukemia at the age of 15 after offering his suffering 

for the pope and the Church. 

In recent weeks, scores of pilgrims had been visiting his 

tomb in a church in Assisi. His remains, entombed behind a 

clear pane of glass, are clothed in street clothes. 

“The Church rejoices, because in this very young Blessed 

the Lord’s words are fulfilled: ‘I have chosen you and appointed 

you to go and bear much fruit,’ ” Cardinal Agostino 

Vallini said in the homily at his beatification Mass. “And 

Carlo ‘went’ and brought the fruit of holiness, showing it as 

a goal reachable by all and not as something abstract and 

reserved for a few.” 

An image of Carlo Acutis was unveiled at his beatification Mass. 

DANIEL IBAÑEZ/CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY 

New accusations, denials for Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu 

Following his sudden resignation 

as head of the Vatican’s saint-making 

body amid financial scandals, Italian 

Cardinal Angelo Becciu has been 

linked to new instances of misusing 

Vatican funds. 

Italian media reported in early 

October that Becciu transferred 

several hundred thousand euros to an 

account in Australia during Cardinal 

George Pell’s trial on charges of sexual 

abuse. Since Becciu and Pell are 

known to have clashed over Vatican 

financial reform, the reports suggest 

that the funds were used to facilitate 

Pell’s prosecution. Such a charge, 

however, remains unattributed and 

unproven. 

Becciu is also alleged to have sent 

600 thousand euros to Cecilia Marogna, 

a woman from his home island 

of Sardinia. Marogna claims the funds 

were compensation for her work, 

which included building “high-level 

networks” for the cardinal in the 

Middle East and Africa. 

An Oct. 7 statement from his lawyer 

stated that Becciu, who is currently 

under investigation by Vatican authorities, 

“reiterates the absolute falseness 

of any allegations that circulated in 

the press, and confirms his lack of involvement 

in any illegal activities.” 


NATION 

Tennessee priest takes first steps to sainthood 

The sainthood cause for a Tennessee priest who died from yellow fever has taken 

an important step forward. 

Knoxville Bishop Richard Stika formally appointed members to a tribunal, which 

will investigate the life of Father Patrick Ryan, who died in 1878 from the disease 

after ministering to the sick of Chattanooga during an outbreak that same year. 

Father Ryan’s cause for canonization opened June 14, 2016, but the creation of 

this tribunal is a major step for the Irish-born missionary to the U.S. Its findings 

will inform the Vatican whether Father Ryan can be declared to have lived a life 

of heroic virtue, the first step on the way to sainthood. 

“It is amazing how God in a time of crisis reminds us of how good he has been 

in the past and how he works through us as human beings so that his grace may 

be concrete and help people in need,” Father J. David Carter, a member of the 

tribunal, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. 

ROSARY BREAK — Archbishop Paul Coakley (far left) and staff at the Archdiocese of Oklahoma 

City gathered in a chapel to follow the “Rosary for America” broadcast via YouTube Oct. 7, feast 

of Our Lady of the Rosary. The event combined video recordings of laypeople and several U.S. 

bishops praying different parts of the rosary, among them Archbishop Coakley. 

A Catholic school comeback in Boston? 

Demand for Catholic education in Massachusetts appears to be soaring, as parents 

look for in-person education options for their children. 

The Archdiocese of Boston has permanently closed 10% of its schools this year 

amid the pandemic. But recent months have seen a surprise. 

“We were bracing ourselves for that possibility [of more closures] and that it 

could be a large number of schools,” Superintendent Thomas Carroll for the 

Archdiocese of Boston told masslive.com. “And when you get an extra 4,000 kids, 

that changes everything.” 

Though the increased demand for Catholic schools has been strongest in Boston, 

with almost 4,000 new students, the dioceses of both Springfield and Worcester have 

also reported increased enrollment. All three dioceses credit the rise to families seeking 

out in-person education opportunities amid coronavirus (COVID-19) closures. 

ARCHDIOCESE OF OKLAHOMA CITY 

Father Patrick Ryan 

The battle over 

Brooklyn’s ‘hot spots’ 

A legal battle is underway between 

Brooklyn’s Catholic diocese and 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo 

over new regulations restricting 

attendance at houses of worship in 

the borough’s coronavirus (COV- 

ID-19) hot spots to only 10 people. 

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio had 

unsuccessfully requested a temporary 

restraining order against the 

new regulations, charging that they 

were an arbitrary and unnecessary 

violation of religious liberty. Members 

of Brooklyn’s Borough Park 

Jewish Community also protested 

the regulations. 

“If this latest executive order 

stands, parishioners won’t be able 

to go to Mass this Sunday, even 

though the diocese has done 

everything right to ensure safe 

conditions in its churches,” said the 

diocese’s attorney Randy Mastro 

Oct. 8. 

After a judge turned down the 

diocese’s request Oct. 10, Bishop 

DiMarzio questioned why the 

state had not limited capacity in 

proportion to church size instead, 

since many churches have room for 

upwards of 800 people. 

As of press time, the diocese said 

it was looking at other “options” 

to challenge the “disrespectful” 

regulations. 

FILE PHOTO 


LOCAL 

UCLA expert tapped for 

Vatican academy 

Pope Francis appointed literary expert 

Maryanne Wolf to the Pontifical 

Academy of Sciences, the Holy See 

press office announced Oct. 12. 

Wolf, the director of the Center 

for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and 

Social justice at UCLA, will be an 

“ordinary member” of the academy. 

Ampersand, the online magazine 

of the UCLA Graduate School of 

Education and Information Studies, 

said the appointment recognized 

Wolf’s work “in applying science 

to education, in tandem with Pope 

Francis’ expressed goal of utilizing 

science to improve the lives of the 

world’s impoverished populations, 

particularly children.” 

Wolf is the co-creator of one of the 

leading tests for dyslexia across all 

languages, and designed a reading intervention 

program for children with 

dyslexia. She is also the author of two 

books and more than 160 scientific 

papers. 

Maryanne Wolf 

RON SEARCEY/UCLA ED & IS 

Msgr. Lawrence Edward Donnelly 

Archdiocese mourns 

passing of ‘Father Larry’ 

Msgr. Lawrence Edward Donnelly, 

a longtime and beloved priest of the 

Archdiocese of Los Angeles, died Sept. 

23 at the age of 96. 

“Father Larry,” as he was fondly 

known, discovered his vocation to the 

priesthood at an early age. After eighth 

grade, he hitchhiked to the junior 

seminary every day until his ordination 

in 1949. 

Father Larry was a chaplain at USC 

for four years, a job he loved, despite 

his devotion to Notre Dame football. 

For 25 years he was pastor of 

St. Michael Church in Los Angeles, 

defending the church from robberies 

and riots. 

One of Father Larry’s personal mottos 

was “sicut parvuli,” meaning “as little 

children.” To read more about his life, 

visit the LA Catholics section of AngelusNews.com. 

 

COURTESY MARIA VARGO 

A godsend for locked 

down learners? 

When Sophia Scott faced a free 

summer due to coronavirus (COV- 

ID-19) closures, she decided to use 

the time wisely. Within weeks, the 

17-year-old founded Quaranteens, 

a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to 

providing individual, virtual tutoring 

services in a wide array of subjects to 

K-12 students — all free of charge. 

Scott designed her own website, 

enlisted fellow Marymount High 

School classmates and built relationships 

with local education-focused 

charities to spread the word about 

her services. 

An analysis from the Los Angeles 

Unified School District (LAUSD) 

found that lower-income students 

“minimally accessed” their schools’ 

online education resources after the 

spring shutdowns, resulting in the 

risk of “lost learning” that “could take 

students years to recoup.” 

“While distance learning was 

going smoothly for me, I knew it 

wasn’t going smoothly for a lot of 

students, especially those who didn’t 

have access to the same resources I 

did,” Scott told Angelus. “So, I just 

decided I needed to help them in 

any way I could.” To read more about 

Quaranteens, visit the LA Catholics 

section of AngelusNews.com. 

A new tool for aspiring evangelizers 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has launched “Missionary Discipleship 

Pathway,” a series of evangelizing experiences for Catholics seeking a 

deeper relationship with their faith. 

Based on the model of the Gospel stories of St. Peter, the virtual program 

focuses on three stages of becoming a missionary disciple: To hear Jesus’ 

call, to give one’s life to Jesus, and to go and make more disciples. 

To learn more or register for the program, visit LACatholics.org/missionary-discipleship-pathway. 

 

Sophia Scott 

SOPHIA SCOTT 


SUNDAY 

READINGS 

BY SCOTT HAHN 

Is. 45:1, 4–6 / Ps. 96:1, 3, 4–5, 7–8, 9–10 / 1 Thes. 1:1–5b / Mt. 22:15–21 

The Lord is king over all the earth, 

as we sing in Sunday’s Psalm. Governments 

rise and fall by his permission, 

with no authority but that given from 

above (see John 19:11; Romans 13:1). 

In effect, God says to every ruler what 

he tells King Cyrus in today’s First 

Reading: “I have called you . . . though 

you knew me not.” 

The Lord 

raised up 

King Cyrus 

to restore 

the Israelites 

from 

exile, and to 

rebuild Jerusalem 

(see 

Ezra 1:1-4). 

Throughout 

salvation 

history, God 

has used foreign 

rulers 

for the sake 

of his chosen 

people. 

Pharaoh’s 

heart was 

hardened to 

reveal God’s 

power (see 

Romans 

9:17). Invading 

armies were used to punish Israel’s 

sins (see 2 Maccabees 6:7–16). 

The Roman occupation during Jesus’ 

time was, in a similar way, a judgment 

on Israel’s unfaithfulness. Jesus’ famous 

words in the Gospel this week, “repay 

to Caesar,” are a pointed reminder of 

this. And they call us, too, to keep our 

allegiances straight. 

The Lord alone is our king. His 

kingdom is not of this world (see 

John 18:36), but it begins here in his 

Church, which tells of his glory among 

all peoples. Citizens of heaven (see 

Philippians 3:20), we are called to be a 

light to the world (see Matthew 5:14), 

working in faith, laboring in love, and 

enduring in hope, as today’s Epistle 

counsels. 

We owe the 

government 

a concern 

for the common 

good, 

and obedience 

to laws, 

unless they 

conflict with 

God’s commandments 

as interpreted 

by the 

Church (see 

Acts 5:29). 

But we 

owe God 

“Render unto Caesar,” by Maerten de Vos, 1532-1603, Flemish. 

everything. 

The coin 

bears Caesar’s 

image. 

But we bear 

God’s own 

image (see 

Genesis 1:27). We owe him our very 

lives, all our heart, mind, soul, and 

strength, offered as a living sacrifice of 

love (see Romans 12:1–2). 

We should pray for our leaders, that 

like King Cyrus they do God’s will (see 

1 Timothy 2:1–2), until from the rising 

of the sun to its setting, all humanity 

knows that Jesus is Lord. 

Scott Hahn is founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com. 

Scott Hahn is founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com. 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

8 • ANGELUS • October August 16-23-30, 16-23, 2020 2019

IN EXILE 

BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

Spirituality and the second half of life 

One size doesn’t fit everyone. This 

isn’t just true for clothing: It’s also true 

for spirituality. Our challenges in life 

change as we age. Spirituality hasn’t 

always been fully sensitive to this. True, 

we’ve always had tailored instruction 

and activities for children, young 

people, and for people who are raising 

children, carrying a job, and paying a 

mortgage, but we’ve never developed 

a spirituality for what happens when 

those years are over. 

Why is one needed? Jesus seemingly 

didn’t have one. He didn’t have one set 

of teachings for the young, another for 

those in mid-life, and still another for 

the elderly. He just taught. The Sermon 

on the Mount, the parables, and 

his invitation to take up his cross are 

intended in the same way for everyone, 

irrespective of age. 

But we hear those teaching at very 

different times in our lives; and it’s 

one thing to hear the Sermon on the 

Mount when you’re 7 years old, another 

when you’re 27, and quite another 

when you’re 87. Jesus’ teachings don’t 

change, but we do, and they offer very 

specific challenges at different times of 

our lives. 

Christian spirituality has generally 

kept this in mind, with one exception. 

Except for Jesus and an occasional 

mystic, it has failed to develop an explicit 

spirituality for our later years, for 

how we are meant to be generative in 

our senior years and how we are to die 

in a life-giving way. But there’s a good 

reason for this lacuna. 

Simply put, it wasn’t needed because 

up until this last century most people 

never lived into old age. For example, 

in Palestine, in Jesus’ time, the average 

life expectancy was 30 to 35 years. A 

century ago in the United States, it 

was still less than 50 years. When most 

people in the world died before they 

reached the age of 50, there was no 

real need for a spirituality of aging. 

There is such a spirituality inside 

the Gospels. Even though he died at 

33, Jesus left us a paradigm of how to 

age and die. But that paradigm, while 

healthily infusing and undergirding 

Christian spirituality in general, was 

never developed more specifically 

into a spirituality of aging (with the 

exception of some of the great Christian 

mystics). 

After Jesus, the desert fathers and 

mothers folded the question of how to 

age and die into the framework of their 

spirituality. For them, spirituality was 

a quest to “see the face of God” and 

that, as Jesus makes clear, requires one 

thing, purity of heart. So for them, no 

matter your age, the challenge was the 

same: trying to achieve purity of heart. 

Then in the age of the persecutions 

and the early Christian martyrs, the 

idea developed that the ideal way to 

age and die was through martyrdom. 

Later, when Christians were no longer 

physically martyred, the idea took hold 

that you could take on a type of martyrdom 

by living the evangelical counsels 

of poverty, chastity, and obedience. 

They believed that living these, like 

the quest for purity of heart, taught you 

all you needed to know, no matter your 

age. Eventually, this was expanded 

to mean that anyone who faithfully 

responded to the duties in his or her 

life, irrespective of age, would learn 

everything necessary to come to sanctity 

through that fidelity. 

As a famous aphorism put it: “Stay 

inside your cell and it will teach you 

all you need to know.” Understood 

properly, there’s a spirituality of aging 

and dying inside these notions, but 

until recently there was little need to 

draw that out more explicitly. 

Happily, today the situation is changing 

and we’re developing, more and 

more, some explicit spiritualities of 

aging and dying. Perhaps this reflects 

an aging population, but there’s now 

a burgeoning body of literature, both 

religious and secular, that’s taking up 

the question of aging and dying. 

These authors, too numerous to 

mention, include many names already 

familiar to us: Father Henri Nouwen, 

Father Richard Rohr, Kathleen Dowling 

Singh, David Brooks, Cardinal 

Joseph Bernardin, Father Michael 

Paul Gallagher, Sister Joan Chittister, 

Parker Palmer, Marilyn Chandler 

McEntyre, Paul Kalanithi, Erica Jong, 

Katie Roiphe, and Wilkie and Noreen 

Au, among others. Coming from a 

variety of perspectives, each of these 

offer insights into what God and nature 

intend for us in our later years. 

In essence, here’s the issue: Today, 

we’re living longer and healthier late 

into life. It’s common today to retire 

sometime in our early 60s. So what’s 

next? What are these years for? What 

are we called to now, beyond loving 

our grandkids? 

Abraham and Sarah, in their old age, 

were invited to set out for a new land 

and conceive a child long after this was 

biologically impossible for them. That’s 

our call, too. What “Isaac” are we 

called to give birth to in our later years? 

We need guidance. 

Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher, award-winning author, and president of the Oblate School of Theology 

in San Antonio, Texas. Find him online at www.ronrolheiser.com and www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser. 


The miracle of 

Mission San Gabriel 

A perfectly timed surprise beneath the rubble of LA’s oldest Catholic 

church sets the stage for a historic jubilee year celebration 

BY GREGORY ORFALEA / ANGELUS 

DANIEL MACIAS 


On Sept. 15, 2020, as workmen were clearing away 

rubble from the baptistry of the fire-wrecked Mission 

San Gabriel, they found something under the burnt 

timbers and plaster that startled them. 

There in the debris, underneath a burnt crossbeam, was a 

painting showing the Virgin Mary in dark clothes in front of 

a foreboding dark landscape: Our Lady of Sorrows. 

Amazed, they went and found the mission director, Terri 

Huerta. The timing of the discovery, she immediately realized, 

could not have been more appropriate. 

“My God,” she exclaimed. “This is the feast day of Our 

Lady of Sorrows.” 

The painting, in fact, was the only one in the church that 

survived the mysterious July 11 fire. Most of the mission’s 

priceless paintings and sculptures had been removed months 

earlier for restoration work in anticipation of the mission’s 

250-year jubilee celebration planned for next year. Only 

Our Lady of Sorrows, hung above the baptistry, had been left 

exposed. 

And she survived, despite some holes and blistering around 

her clearly Hispanic “morena” (“brown-skinned”) face. The 

insurance company has pledged to restore her, along with 

any other damage to artwork suffered from the fire. 

The surprise discovery comes as a small, seemingly miraculous 

silver lining in a devastating episode of the mission’s 

history. So has the more than $200,000 raised through 

donations to help rebuild the mission. 

OPPOSITE PAGE: Workmen at Mission San Gabriel moments after discovering 

the mysterious image of “La Dolorosa” on Sept. 15, the feast of Our 

Lady of Sorrows. 

ABOVE: The smaller painting depicting “La Dolorosa,” also at Mission 

San Gabriel, which is said to have halted a Tongva attack on Spanish 

missionaries in 1771. 

GREGORY ORFALEA 

Investigators are still looking into the possibility of arson, 

not yet proven, though, according to Jill Short of the Archdiocese 

Construction Department, “No one has been able to 

link it to an accident, like an electrical short.” 

After 2 ½ months since the fire, reconstruction, not to 

mention restoration, has yet to begin. For now, the process 

remains in the debris clean-up phase. 

“The damage to the roof, which is pretty much gone, the 

walls, the choir loft and altar, the ceilings all blackened and 

charred is pretty substantial,” Huerta said. 

There is no dollar estimate yet of costs for the rebuilding, 

though the team thinks it will take at least a year to complete. 

As a result, the jubilee festivities next fall may need to 

take place outside the church. 

I asked Huerta if the painting of the dark-clad Lady of 

Sorrows was the one famously unfurled to the Tongva Indians 

nearly 250 years ago, on Aug. 15, 1771, the feast of the 

Assumption, just as San Gabriel was being founded by the 

Franciscans. 

Franciscan missionary Father Francisco Palou described 

the scene in his 1785 biography of St. Junípero Serra, 

“Relacion,” writing that the Tongva were “conquered by that 

beautiful image” displayed to them by the Spaniards. 

“They threw down their bows and arrows and the two chiefs 

rushed forward to place at the feet of the Sovereign Queen 

the beads they wore around their necks to show their great 

esteem,” wrote Father Palou. 

“They called together the Indians of the nearby villages, 

whence a growing number of men, women, and children 

came to see the Most Holy Virgin. They came bearing various 

seeds which they placed at the feet of the most Blessed 

Lady, thinking she would consume them as other humans 

did.” 

In a word, so effective was the expression of sorrow, the 

Tongva thought the image alive. 

That image, however, was not the one found in the rubble, 

but rather one that was removed from the church before 

the fire, Huerta explained. Would I like to see it? She didn’t 

have to ask twice. 

So, in a sense, there are two miracles at Mission San Gabriel, 

one in 1771, the other in 2020, each involving a different 

“La Dolorosa” (“Lady of Sorrows”). 

To further complicate things, Father Palou related another 

painting, one of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, that 

so amazed the Kumeyaay in San Diego around the same 

time that their women tried to nurse the baby, again thinking 

the image was real. Its whereabouts are unknown. 

I inspected the smaller “La Dolorosa” unfurled for the 

Tongva. It is quite striking. Mary’s eyelids hang down her 

eyes, themselves in shadow, there are clear tears on her 

cheek, and her hands are clasped, praying. 

It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that the Tongva saw 

Mary begging, rather than praying. Father Palou’s “triumph” 

may have been more empathy and desire to help rather than 

powerlessness. Mary’s lips are full, swollen from grief. 

According to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s 

Diva Zumaya, who conducted a recent inventory of the 

mission’s artwork, the two “La Dolorosas” date back to the 

18th century, though exact dates and the artists have not yet 


The rear of Mission San Gabriel after debris from the July 11 fire was 

cleared. 

been determined. Zumaya also believes the “La Dolorosa” 

unfurled for the Tongva has been heavily painted over. 

The grief Angelenos have experienced 

since learning that the 

literal birthplace of Los Angeles 

was nearly burned to the ground will 

take some time to be restored, too. 

Meanwhile, the bricks and mortar call. 

The intense heat of the fire twisted 

the steel beams installed as part of a 

retrofitting after the 1987 Whittier 

Narrows earthquake. The roof itself, 

made of wood, is almost completely 

gone, with only some bits of insulation 

chicken wire hanging from the few 

black crossbeams that didn’t fall. 

There has been discussion about what 

kind of roof will replace it, as well as 

the threat posed by the nearby, and potentially 

flammable, palm and pepper 

trees on the mission grounds. 

There is also damage from the 

firefight itself to contend with. When 


firefighters hacked through the south-facing door the night 

of the fire, they did so strategically, using a chainsaw rather 

than axes to cut a tall rectangle in the wood to reach and 

open the door. 

But the water from the fire hoses left a mark: the baptistry’s 

tiled flooring, which sank several inches from trapped water, 

must be repaired, as well as the sacristy’s floor, which fell 6 

to 8 inches. 

An archaeological dig as deep as 3 feet will take place in 

both places, in partnership with Native American monitors 

(as law requires). Could Tongva remains be there? Huerta 

said no one knows for sure, but Tongva Indians are buried in 

the “camposanto” (“cemetery”) outside, though there are no 

records as to who they are or how many. 

Statues of the top three of the six saints in the “reredos,” a 

large altarpiece above the altar, were damaged badly. These 

were St. Gabriel, St. Anthony, and St. Dominic; the three 

that escaped injury were the Immaculate Conception, St. 

Francis, and St. Joachim. Murals of the four evangelists — 

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — in the four corners of 

the baptistry, need to be cleaned and possibly restored. 

Huerta says the long-delayed restoration needs will “piggyback” 

onto the reconstruction and repair to take advantage 

of the general shutdown of the mission. In addition to the 

painting, restoration work will be tackling another surprise 

finding after the fire: The curious layers of coral and red 

paint near the altar that reveal serpentine, squiggled patterns 

underneath. 

“The best example of original artwork and patterns found 

under a drab interior were found at Mission San Miguel,” 

said Mel Green, the lead structural engineer for the rehabbing 

of Mission San Gabriel. “There’s got to be something 

underneath the dull paint of the mission walls that we could 

find and bring out.” 

Huerta is going to keep as a display some of the missing 

plaster to show the stonework underneath. The south door 

that let in the firefighters can be restored. 

Some red glass on the doors in the back of the church near 

Scaffolding covering the sanctuary area of Mission San Gabriel. 



The Twelfth Station of the Cross at Mission San Gabriel, painted by a Tongva artist. 

the choir loft may be changed in color. All such changes 

must be approved by the San Gabriel Historical Commission. 

Some exploratory work may be done on the north-facing 

wall, where there has long been speculation there was an 

original niche or windows covered up (or “Victorianized,” 

according to Short) during the secularization period. Originally 

with domes, it then went to a flat roof, and finally was 

gabled in the late 19th century. 

The salvaged image of “La Dolorosa” after an initial 

cleaning by conservators. 

Great art, and devotion, 

always seemed to rise out 

of San Gabriel’s ruins. 

Traditionally, there are seven 

“sorrows” associated with Our Lady 

of Sorrows: Mary’s heart pierced at 

the prediction of Jesus’ fate at his 

presentation in the Temple; the 

flight into Egypt fleeing Herod; 

searching for a lost Jesus in Jerusalem; 

meeting him on the road 

to Calvary; standing at the cross; 

receiving Christ’s body; and finally, 

the burial of her Son. 

There was certainly sorrow during 

the early years of Mission San 

Gabriel’s inception for Our Lady 

of Sorrows to redeem. Besides 

the earthquakes and this fire, St. 

Junípero wrote to the Spanish 

viceroy at the time that “a plague of 

evils” had broken out in San Gabriel, 

desperate to turn it around. 

Nevertheless, on Oct. 11, 1771, 

when fires burned across the Los 

Angeles basin and it seemed as if 

the Tongva were preparing a major 

attack, two chiefs came to the mission 

to sue for peace, stunning Fathers 

Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera, 

who asked for a transfer due to soldier 

transgressions. 

Fathers Antonio Cruzado and Antonio 

Paterna, who relieved them, managed 

to slowly win back Indian trust, and 

Mission San Gabriel went on to be 

the richest and most productive of all 

the missions, with vast vineyards (the 

first in California were not in northern 

California, but in Los Angeles), 16,500 

head of cattle, and a horse farm of 

1,200. 

By 1817, 1,700 Tongva, Serrano, and 

Cahuilla Indians lived and worked at 

Mission San Gabriel, producing large 

vegetable gardens that kept the entire 

mission chain alive, including the Indian 

residents and some in the villages. It 

is fitting that the finest works of Indian 

art from the mission era, the 14 Stations of the Cross, now 

live at Mission San Gabriel, thankfully, under lock and key. 

The Tongva artist painted the Roman soldiers who tortured 

Christ as Spanish “comandantes” (“commanders”), while 

Christ and Mary resemble California Indians. The Twelfth 

Station of the Cross is extraordinary: The bad thief on 

Christ’s left who looks away from the Savior is slumped on 

his cross, as if poorly tied with rope. But the good thief has 

his arms thrust exactly as Christ’s — upward — and he is 

nailed just as Christ. His gaze to Jesus is loving. 

With so much to be done and 

decided ahead of the mission’s jubilee 

celebration next year, Huerta 

sees last summer’s fire as a part of a 

bigger plan. 

“We want Mission San Gabriel 

to be a place of healing,” she said. 

“That we found ‘La Dolorosa’ in 

ashes but surviving on her own feast 

day, it’s encouraging! We have been 

on this journey at San Gabriel for 

a long time, first to renovate and 

improve the property for the jubilee 

celebration of 250 years, and now 

this tragic fire. 

“The end result is that it is going 

to look more glorious.” 

GREGORY ORFALEA 

TERRI HUERTA 

Gregory Orfalea is the author of 

10 books, including the St. Junípero 

Serra biography “Journey to the 

Sun” (Scribner, $28). He is completing 

a novel on Syrian refugees 

and baseball. Anyone with clues 

as to the location of the Virgin and 

Child painting from San Diego 

may contact him at gmorfalea89@ 

gmail.com. 


God’s army of 

HEALERS 

Thanks to the COVID-19 

pandemic, the meaning — and 

message — of this year’s ‘White 

Mass’ is clearer than ever 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS 

During his working hours 

as medical director of the 

Urologic Oncology Program 

at Cedars Sinai Hospital, Dr. Edwin 

Posadas keeps a small cross pinned to 

his coat, an indicator of his Catholic 

faith for patients to see. 

“It’s as much for them as it is a 

reminder to me about what’s important,” 

Posadas said. 

The importance of the healing of the 

spirit — not just the body — is what 

Catholic health care professionals 

like Posadas gather to celebrate at the 

annual Healthcare Professionals Mass 

every October. 

“To see members of your profession 

up at the altar with priests and bishops, 

honored for what they are doing 

in the field, people who make a difference, 

makes you want to follow suit,” 

said Posadas. “They’re putting their 

time and gifts out there, living their 

faith in a way that’s special. It inspires 

me to take things to another level.” 

And at a time when the coronavirus 

Dr. Edwin Posadas 

SCREENSHOT VIA SURVIVORNET.COM 


Nursing students 

from Mount St. Mary’s 

University and women 

religious of the Sister 

Servants of Mary, Ministers 

to the Sick at the 

2017 White Mass. 


envision an opportunity to expand the 

reach for those who have been on the 

receiving end of needed health care to 

offer thanks. 

Elise Frederick, executive director 

of Mission Doctors Association, who 

helped reimagine and revive the event 

over the last decade, said this is a 

poignant moment in history for those 

in the field. 

“This year especially, what could 

be more important than to take time 

to pause, breathe, and give them 

thanks?” said Frederick. “And if we 

just tried to honor one person this 

time, it would be inappropriate because 

we’re all in this together. 

“This has brought out the best 

angels. We see how they strive — not 

always perfectly or easily — but that 

doesn’t diminish how hard this all is 

on them.” 

An American Catholic tradition 

dating back to the late 1800s, the 

Healthcare Professionals Mass in 

Southern California had seen its 

attendance dwindle in the late 1990s. 

But the event made a comeback 

thanks to a renewed commitment 

from the Mission Doctors Association 

and collaboration with the archdiocesan 

Office of Life, Justice and Peace, 

an effort spearheaded by longtime Director 

of Health Affairs Sister Angela 

Hallahan. The Knights of Malta even 

got involved. As a result, attendance 

in recent years has surged again. 

It is typically held near the Oct. 18 

feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist, 

patron saint of physicians and surgeons. 

“I knew I was committed to this 

Mass when there was a moment I saw 

where everyone was standing for a 

blessing of the hands, and off to the 

side I could see this elderly surgeon 

who was crying and so overcome by 

the moment,” said Frederick, who has 

spent nearly 40 years with the nonprofit 

organization that supports the work 

of doctors overseas. 

For Frederick, the event is about 

recognizing medical professionals 

not only as workers, but as ministers, 

something she calls “an act of faith.” 

“Patients notice there is a difference 

when there is that kind of motivation 

in your practice,” she said. 

Posadas, a member of the Catholic 

Medical Association, said other oncologists 

in his field challenge him to put 

his faith in practice. 

“When you see them at the White 

Mass, you get energized, and you see 

you have more of a community. I’m 

not making a difference of one, there’s 

SCREENSHOT VIA SURVIVORNET.COM 

(COVID-19) pandemic has exposed 

vulnerabilities both physical and 

spiritual, this year’s liturgy is set to be 

an especially historic one. 

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, 

the pews of the Cathedral of Our Lady 

of the Angels will not be filled with 

a sea of white lab coats and uniforms 

(hence the name “White Mass”). The 

Mass, which will take place Friday, 

Oct. 25 at 3:30 p.m., presided by 

Archbishop José H. Gomez will be 

livestreamed instead, with Auxiliary 

Bishop David O’Connell serving as 

the homilist. 

And instead of highlighting the work 

of one professional and one layperson 

as in years past, this year’s Mass 

will honor all health care workers: 

physicians, nurses, chaplains, physical 

therapists, mental health caregivers, 

chiropractors, receptionists, dietary 

staff, lab workers, and administrators. 

In such circumstances, organizers 


Members of the Order of Malta process into the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at the 2016 

White Mass. 


Medical pro 

an army out there. And as you get 

more experience in the health system, 

you support each other and are able 

to have more say in how the health 

system is practiced. The White Mass 

is another way to stand up and be 

counted.” 

Posadas said the coronavirus pandemic’s 

relentless strain on all doctors 

and nurses of all specialties put them 

in vulnerable positions when patients 

get into vulnerable positions, often 

asking if their life is worth living. 

“Patients want to hear you speak to 

them as another human being, outside 

the white coat,” said Posadas, a 

parishioner with his wife at St. Victor 

Church in West Hollywood, near his 

hospital. 

“They are at a very delicate point. 

A lot of people in the medical field 

put information in your head about 

how you should act. But I never have 

trouble expressing my beliefs when 

they ask. They are fundamental life 

issues. When you can do that, patients 

are more comforted that you believe 

in something bigger and you’ll follow 

through with them. I’ve never found 

it a barrier to meet eye to eye with 

anyone.” 

Even at a Jewish-affiliated hospital 

like Cedars Sinai, chaplains who are 

Catholic share the halls with ones 

from Protestant, Muslim, Armenian 

Orthodox, and Unitarian faith backgrounds. 

“They have a tremendous Catholic 

staff, and I’m grateful to God for that,” 

said Posadas. “They hold Mass here, 

and I’m never short of having a priest 

if someone is hurting and in need. 

They offer patients, and me, tremendous 

spiritual support.” 

Rebecca Freeman, a board-certified 

interfaith chaplain at the Miller Children’s 

and Women’s Hospital in Long 

Beach, said she is looking forward to 

experiencing the Mass for the first 

time, even if only through a screen. 

Chaplains like herself have felt “under 

siege” this year, having to internalize 

so much of what they experience in 

the halls and rooms of hospitals. 

“We have had a lot to process — 

fears and challenges and logistics with 

the pandemic, and the social narrative 

of the world now — so all that shifting 

and change has created a huge 

emotional response,” said Freeman, 

a graduate of the Franciscan School 

of Theology with a master’s degree in 

divinity. 

“With high stress and fatigue, there’s 

also an elevated sense of wanting to 

connect in a whole way with people. 

This is a time to revisit the connection 

of the mind, body, and spirit with 

our health. It’s important for these 

events to happen and see people have 

a beautiful conversation around the 

self-care of the providers.” 

Younger participants have also played 

an important role in the rebirth of 

this Mass. High school choirs have 

been invited to sing in recent years, 

and a connection with the Mt. St. 

Mary’s Nursing School has also been 

established, as well as students from 

Providence High School in Burbank, 

the Catholic prep school founded by 

the Sisters of Providence. 

Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, chief 

mission integration officer for the 

Southern California region of the 

Providence Hospital System, said the 

Mass helps meet a need to keep future 

generations engaged. 

“We have so many more young 

people on the horizon, getting them 

ready to enter the medical profession,” 

said Sister Jurecki. 

Last April, as COVID-19 numbers 

16 • ANGELUS • October 16-23, 2020

Medical professionals pray during the 2017 White Mass. 


rose, Sister Jurecki shared a video 

message on the Providence Institute 

for Human Caring website from 

Archbishop Gomez, who offered a 

word of encouragement for health 

care workers: “Trust in Jesus. He is 

with you always. Turn to him. Ask 

his protection and guidance. He will 

never, ever leave you.” 

The simplicity of the statement still 

resonates with her today. 

“I love how the archbishop has been 

such a wonderful supporter of health 

care, going back to when his father 

was a doctor in Mexico,” said Sister 

Jurecki. 

“He has a real commitment to medical 

people in general and is always 

open to support those on the front 

lines. It makes me so proud of the 

commitment of the archdiocese. They 

show they really care, and that we are 

a ministry of the Church in a very real 

sense.” 

For more information on the livestream 

broadcast of this year’s White 

Mass, visit LACatholics.org. 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning 

journalist based in Los Angeles. 

October 16-23, 2020 • ANGELUS • 17 

Be part of their story. 

Lay Mission-Helpers 

serve overseas as 

professionals, including 

teachers, nurses, 

accountants, pastoral 

ministers, and 

computer techs. 

Sign up to attend the 

ROSE GALA 

VIRTUAL AUCTION 

October 24 at 4:00 pm 

Find out more: 

(213) 368-1870 

Visit our website for more 

information and to sign up 

for Virtual Info Day, 

a free webinar. 

www.LayMissionHelpers.org 

03102020_LayMissionHelpers_RoseGalaVirtualAuction_Angelus_1-3pgHoriz.indd 1 

10/12/20 12:17 PM

SHUTTERSTOCK 

In sickness 

and in health 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

The plights and joys of Catholic wedding 

planning during a global pandemic 

BY SOPHIA MARTINSON / ANGELUS 


SHUTTERSTOCK 

The Sept. 12 wedding uniting Krystal Gil and Jack 

Scanlon in the Spanish courtyard of St. Mary Magdalen 

Church in Camarillo was not what either had in 

mind the day they got engaged. 

Processing down the aisle, Krystal beamed like any bride 

on her wedding day would, except a mask concealed her 

smile. Those in the small, socially distanced crowd smiling 

back at her had face coverings on, too, an all-too-familiar 

scene at weddings across the county this year since coronavirus 

(COVID-19)-related restrictions began to be lifted for 

public gatherings. 

“I think the hardest thing was not having my grandparents 

there,” newlywed Krystal Scanlon told Angelus. After getting 

engaged in July 2019, she and her fiancé had planned to 

invite more than 350 guests to their wedding. The pandemic 

forced them to slash that list down to less than a quarter of 

its original size. 

“You envision the people that you love [being] there on 

your wedding day,” she continued, “so that was hard to let 

go of.” 

Countless weddings across the world were postponed, 

altered, or altogether canceled due to the pandemic. But for 

Catholic couples like the Scanlons, the wedding day is more 

than a well-planned family celebration — it’s a sacrament, 

the beginning of a bond created by God. 

So while risks and regulations meant letting go of the wedding 

they had dreamt of for months, if not years, Catholic 

newlyweds across the U.S. shared with Angelus how making 

it to the altar in the time of the coronavirus was a faith 

experience. 

Jack and Krystal Scanlon after their Sept. 12 wedding in the courtyard 

of St. Mary Magdelen Church in Camarillo. 

SUBMITTED PHOTO 

THE ROCKY ROAD 

Soon after their engagement last July, Krystal and Jack 

booked St. Jude the Apostle Church in Westlake Village for 

July 11, 2020. They were still optimistic about those plans 

during the first virus-related closures in March, but as shelter-in-place 

orders dragged on, the families’ concerns grew. 

“There was a time when we kind of put all of the planning 

on hold,” Anitra Gil, mother of the bride, told Angelus. 

“And we just prayed, ‘Okay, God, your will be done. What 

do you want us to do?’ … We surrendered it to God.” 

When St. Jude closed its doors to all services, the family 

scrambled to find another venue in order to avoid postponing 

the wedding date. Keeping their hopes up, they signed 

up for a slot at the San Gabriel Mission Church, a historic 

landmark for Californians and the Gil family specifically. 

“My husband grew up and received all his sacraments and 

went to school at the San Gabriel mission,” said Anitra. “[It] 

has a huge place in our heart.” 

By then, it seemed a new plan was taking shape. That is, 

until, early on the morning of the scheduled wedding date, 

a fire erupted and left the mission in ruins. 

“It’s been a rocky road leading up to where we are now!” 

said Anitra. 

For Krystal, one of the biggest challenges of the tumultuous 

planning process was the uncertainty. “Every time we 

met with a vendor or a church, the constant answer we got 

was, ‘We don’t know,’ ” she said. “It was so difficult because I 

don’t think anyone had a plan.” 

Father Tom Elewaut is pastor of the Mission Basilica San 

Buenaventura in Ventura, a popular Southern California 

church wedding venue. He estimates roughly 1 out of every 

3 couples who planned to marry at the mission this year 

have postponed their weddings until 2021 due to the local 

public gathering restrictions. 

In counseling couples trying to decide what to do, Father 

Elewaut said he encouraged them to see the difficulties as 

an important part of marriage prep. 

“They will face many challenges in their married lives, 

and this pandemic could possibly strengthen their bond to 

each other,” Father Elewaut said. “All things are possible 

with God.” 

In other states, engaged couples facing the same dilemma 

discerned a variety of paths forward. Between March and 

April in Naples, Florida, Kathryn Ruffolo and Philip Allen 

decided to postpone their reception, even before authorities 

had imposed limits on social gatherings. 

“We were more concerned about the health and safety of 

people,” the now Kathryn Allen told Angelus. “We knew 

people would come if we asked them to, but we didn’t really 

want to put anyone in that position.” 

At the time, the couple hoped to keep their April 18 

wedding date so that they could still get married in a small 

ceremony. But the week before, they learned that their 

church could no longer host them, and it was back to the 

drawing board. 

“We postponed [both the ceremony and reception] indefinitely 

at that point to October,” said Kathryn, “which we 

hated.” 

More than 900 miles north in Roanoke, Virginia, another 


Philip and Kathryn 

Allen of Naples, 

Florida, called 

their delayed 

wedding a “blessing 

in disguise.” 

April 18 wedding was able to take place as scheduled, but 

not as planned. At Our Lady of Nazareth Church, Laura 

Williams and Michael Kotchish married in the presence of 

just eight other people. 

“At the end of the day, the most important thing is that we 

want to get married,” the new Mrs. Kotchish told Angelus. 

“Even if we could just have two witnesses, we still wanted to 

go ahead with it, because that was our main focus.” 

While the restrictions at the time limited the religious service 

to 10, they would have allowed the Kotchishes to have 

a reception with up to 50 people. But like the Allens, they 

decided against it out of concern for the health and safety of 

their family members. 

Laura said the hardest part was communicating their decision 

to guests. 

“Sending out that email to our guests, although it was hard, 

and it was a little disappointing, we were definitely given the 

graces to get through it.” 

Looking beyond her own situation helped Laura stay 

positive. “Everybody’s getting impacted by COVID … and 

the last thing that I want to do is just say, ‘Poor me,’ ” she 


said. “But honestly, that [attitude I had] really comes down 

to everybody’s prayers and the graces.” 

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE 

Disappointed at the prospect of waiting at least six more 

months before getting married, Kathryn and Philip tried 

to resume their daily routines. But one day in mid-May, an 

opportunity arose. 

“I think it was a week before [May 23],” said Kathryn, “[my 

mom] saw that the churches were opening back up. She 

asked us, ‘Do you guys want to do this?’ And we said, ‘Yes, 

absolutely! We wanted to do this a month ago!’ And so we 

kind of whirlwind planned … just our intimate ceremony 

that week and got married, which we actually think was a 

blessing in disguise.” 

While only their immediate families could attend the wedding 

at St. William Church, Kathryn has no regrets. “It was 

such a perfect day,” she recalled. “If it were a normal scenario, 

I would have loved our wedding, and it would have been 

perfect the way it was. But we got to spend an entire day 

with our sisters and brothers and family and actually have 

conversations with the 15 people that were there. It was so 

intimate and wonderful. I wouldn’t change it if I could.” 

Laura also found the intimacy of the wedding, as well as 

the casual nature of their small backyard celebration, an 

unexpected joy. 

“We kind of laugh about it and say that it gave us the 

opportunity to get out of our ‘monkey suits’ — you know, 

[Michael had] a suit on, which is so uncomfortable for guys, 

and my dress was so heavy!” she laughed. “So having the 

ability to do that and be so comfortable and just feel like 

ourselves, that was incredible.” 

After pursuing and scrapping several potential plans, the 

Gils and Scanlons finally secured a venue for Krystal and 

Jack’s wedding at St. Mary Magdalen’s. Although the original 

July 11 wedding date turned into a much later Sept. 12 

ceremony, Krystal says the stress of the past several months 

seemed to melt away as she processed down the aisle. 

“COVID wasn’t even on my mind on that day,” she said. 

“All I felt was joy.” 

The Gils and Scanlons are not alone in loving their small 

Rather than delay their April 18 

wedding, Michael and Laura 

Kotchish of Roanoke, Virginia, 

decided to get married in the 

presence of only eight people. 



outdoor wedding. At San Buenaventura, 

Father Elewaut noted, the 

courtyard ceremonies have proved so 

successful that “some [couples] are 

requesting this for weddings in 2021 

and beyond.” 

Although these requests will need 

a bishop’s approval after COVID-19 

subsides (the Church ordinarily requires 

weddings to take place within a 

church sanctuary), the interest suggests 

that the adjustments and innovations 

born from COVID-era weddings have 

proved not just tolerable but appealing. 

Laura now promotes small weddings 

among her friends. When one consulted 

her about whether to move forward 

with her own recent wedding, Laura 

assured her that having an intimate 

ceremony was “the best decision I ever 

made.” 

“The quicker you get married, the 

quicker you can start a family and start 

a future together!” she observed. 

A STRONG FOUNDATION 

Ever since they met and started 

dating at Franciscan University in 

Steubenville, Krystal recalled that she 

and Jack had always tried to keep their 

relationship “really Christ-centered.” 

Today, she credits that time as helping 

prepare them to lean on prayer 

throughout their wedding planning 

process, and for lifting the tone of their 

wedding day. While she found that 

the details came together perfectly, 

there was something much deeper to 

cherish. 

“[Everything that day] looked really 

pretty,” she said, “but I think at the 

heart of it, one thing that I saw through 

this whole experience in getting to our 

wedding was that we were starting on 

a really strong foundation because we 

had to overcome so much adversity.” 

For Laura, the simplified wedding 

plan brought more attention to what 

lies beyond the wedding day. 

“The reception, your dress, your 

bridesmaids, your groomsmen, they’re 

all nice to have, but they are not the 

be-all and the end-all,” she said. “And 

the question is, what are you doing to 

prepare for after that day? That’s the 

most important thing.” 

Sophia Martinson is a writer living in 

New York City. 

07042020_Deacon Andrew Hedstrom.indd 1 

Deacon-Elect 

Andrew Hedstrom 

Your family 

Congratulates you, 

Andrew Hedstrom! 

May you continue 

to follow God’s call. 

1Timothy, 3:10 

4/28/20 12:23 PM 


Beginning 

lives of service 

PHOTOS BY VICTOR ALEMÁN / 

ANGELUS 

From left to right: New transitional deacons Jihoon Kim, Sergio Hidalgo, Patrick Ayala, George Perez, CJM, Cesar Guardado, Michael Masteller, 

Andrew Hedstrom, Francis Kim, and Matthew Miguel with Bishop Alex Aclan after the ordination Mass. 

Nine men were ordained transitional 

deacons Oct. 10 by Auxiliary Bishop Alex 

Aclan. 

Like the presbyteral and permanent deacon 

ordinations this summer, the liturgy was celebrated 

outdoors in the Cathedral Plaza of Our Lady 

of the Angels due to coronavirus (COVID-19) 

regulations. 

Of the nine new deacons, eight were ordained 

for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and one for 

the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (also known 

as the “Eudists”). 

In his homily, Bishop Aclan noted that the fact 

that the ordinations were postponed to October, 

the month traditionally dedicated to the Virgin 

Mary, is a reminder to rely on her intercession 

“during this very strange time” of the coronavirus 

pandemic. 

The transitional deacons will be continuing 

their studies at St. John’s Seminary in addition to 

ministering at parishes around the archdiocese in 

preparation for their expected ordination to the 

priesthood next year. 

The deacons-elect prostrate in prayer during the ordination liturgy. 


Deacon Francis Kim 

makes the promise of 

obedience during the 

Rite of Ordination. 

Bishop Aclan presents the Book of the Gospels to Deacon Andrew 

Hedstrom. 

Bishop Aclan imposes hands on Deacon Sergio Hidalgo. 

The new deacons gather and embrace after their ordination ceremony. 

October 16-23, 2020 • ANGELUS • 23

Pope Francis signs his new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” after 

celebrating Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, Oct. 3. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/VATICAN MEDIA 

No time to 

go it alone 

The pope’s new encyclical calls for a 

unified approach to healing a postpandemic 

world. Will the world listen? 

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. / ANGELUS 

ROME — Given that Pope Francis’ 

new encyclical letter “Fratelli 

Tutti” is among the longest 

papal encyclicals ever published, with 

287 separate points and more than 

43,000 words, one temptation may be 

to think it’s just too complicated to be 

digested quickly and thus to file it away 

as a “rainy day” project for another 

time. 

Functionally, of course, that means 

never getting around to it at all; as 

Creedence Clearwater Revival famously 

put it, “Someday never comes.” 

“Fratelli Tutti” is undeniably complicated, 

addressing a diverse set of 

topics from the idea of a “just war” to 

global economics, but according to 

British Archbishop Paul Gallagher, at 

the heart of it all is a relatively simple 

message: “We’re all in this together.” 

“At a time when there’s a danger with 

all the threats we have, beginning with 

the coronavirus (COVID-19), of a 


CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/VATICAN MEDIA 

tendency, perhaps particularly in the 

developed world, of saying, ‘Let’s close 

down. Let’s resolve our problems from 

within, [because] only on our own do 

we have the ability to do that,’ the pope 

is saying, ‘No, we have to approach 

this as a human family. We have to 

renew our confidence in our profound 

humanity,’ ” Archbishop Gallagher 

said Oct. 6. 

Gallagher ought to know what the 

pope has in mind: He’s the Vatican’s 

secretary for relations with states, 

equivalent to the secretary of state in 

the U.S., and thus he’s charged with 

translating Pope Francis’ broad vision 

into the nitty-gritty of geopolitics and 

diplomatic heavy lifting. 

Archbishop Gallagher spoke in an exclusive 

interview with Crux, a partner 

of Angelus. 

Pope Francis traveled to the Umbrian 

town of Assisi in central Italy Oct. 3 to 

sign the new encyclical on the eve of 

the feast of St. Francis, his namesake 

and Assisi’s most famous son. The title 

is a reference to one of St. Francis’ 

admonitions to his new community in 

the 13th century, insisting that they’re 

to regard one another as brothers. 

Under the cloud of the coronavirus 

pandemic, the pope made the trip in a 

strictly private manner to avoid creating 

crowds and thus a risk of spreading 

the disease. He celebrated Mass in the 

small crypt of the Basilica of St. Francis 

that contains the saint’s remains, 

and then signed the new document in 

the presence of just a handful of Franciscan 

friars and Poor Clare sisters. 

“Fratelli Tutti” is just the third 

encyclical letter by Pope Francis, after 

“Lumen fidei” (“The Light of Faith”) 

in 2013, a text largely written under 

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and 

“Laudato Si’” (“Praise Be to You”) in 

2015, another document inspired by 

St. Francis and his love of creation. 

The new encyclical is dedicated to the 

theme of human fraternity, including 

its enhanced importance as a result 

of the common global threat posed 

by COVID-19 and its socio-economic 

fallout. 

“Fratelli Tutti” includes criticisms of 

populism, liberalism, and free-market 

capitalism, while voicing support for 

multilateral efforts and policies that 

prioritize the most vulnerable, including 

migrants and refugees. 

As an antidote to neoliberalism, 

Pope Francis presents the traditional 

Catholic notion of the universal 

destination of goods, which means the 

right to private property always carries 

a “social mortgage.” That’s consistent 

with popes since Pope Leo XIII in the 

late 19th century, though Pope Francis 

offers a novel twist by linking it to 

questions of national sovereignty raised 

by today’s immigration debates. 

“Seen from the standpoint not only 

of the legitimacy of private property 

and the rights of its citizens, but also 

of the first principle of the common 

destination of goods, we can then say 

that each country also belongs to the 

foreigner, inasmuch as a territory’s 

goods must not be denied to a needy 

person coming from elsewhere,” he 

says in paragraph 124. 

In a time of crisis, Archbishop 

Gallagher believes, Pope Francis “is 

trying to give a new vision, moving 

forward from many of the other things 

he’s been teaching in these years of his 

pontificate.” 

“It’s trying to say, let’s reengage, recommit, 

to dialogue, to reaching out to 

people, to seeing the true humanity of 

everybody at this particular time.” 

In effect, Archbishop Gallagher 

argued, “Fratelli Tutti” is Pope Francis’ 

antidote to fear. 

“We have a lot of people in the world 

today who are very fearful for the 

future, who fear for the future for their 

children and grandchildren, fearful 

that what we’re about is going to bring 

more and more conflict to the world, 

and I think the pope is saying it doesn’t 

necessarily have to be so,” said the 

66-year-old archbishop, who’s held his 

present position since 2014 after diplomatic 

assignments on behalf of the 

pope in Australia, Guatemala, Burundi 

and the Council of Europe. 

It’s important to note that like 

“Laudato Si’,” “Fratelli Tutti” doesn’t 

begin with any indication of to whom 

the document is addressed such as 

“venerable brothers in the episcopate,” 

a formula used in past papal encyclicals. 

That’s likely because Pope Francis 

doesn’t want to limit the audience, and 

really he’s addressing it to the entire 

world. 

Archbishop Gallagher said that as part 

of that picture, the pope has a vision of 

religious believers and humanists without 

any particular religious convictions 

coming together. 

“Pope Francis is a Jesuit, and on the 

top of the [Jesuit-run] Gregorian University 

[in Rome] it reads “Religioni 

ac bonis artibus” (“Religion and good 

arts). That’s a humanistic concept,” 

Archbishop Gallagher said. 

“It’s bringing these two things 

together for the good, and ultimately, 

we would believe, for the salvation of 

humanity,” he said. 

Ultimately, Archbishop Gallagher 

said, the message of “Fratelli Tutti” lies 

in the imminently simple idea that this 

is no time to go it alone. 

“I think that’s what he’s trying to say: 

Let’s not lock ourselves away, let’s not 

go into our cocoons, but let us move 

forward on all sorts of issues, and face 

up to the issues, without fear,” he said. 

A simple message for such a complicated 

document, perhaps, but no 

easier to achieve for its simplicity. In 

the end, though, what happens next 

isn’t up to Pope Francis so much as it is 

to the rest of us. 

John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux. 

The cover of the English edition of Pope Francis’ 

new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti.” 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/USCCB 


My K Street epiphany 

As a Mexican American from the Southwest, he shrugged off racism for 

years, but an incident during law school changed his carefree attitude 

BY ANDREW RIVAS / ANGELUS 

K Street NW at 19th Street in Washington, D.C. 


My mother and father are 

first-generation Americans. 

Both sides of my family came 

to the United States from Mexico. I 

was born in Los Angeles, grew up in 

Phoenix, and have lived in California 

most of my adult life. This means that 

I’ve spent a large part of my life in 

places where the dominant culture is 

Hispanic. 

I grew up surrounded by a large 

extended family: my mother’s maiden 

name is Garcia, so I like to joke that I 

am related to about half of the people 

who live in the Southwest. 

Still, I grew up listening to stories 

of how my parents and grandparents 

were discriminated against during 

World War II. I myself was called a 

“wetback” to my face growing up, but 

didn’t think much of it, perhaps thanks 

to the strong support system of family, 

friends, and a familiar culture that I 

enjoyed. 

If someone made the mistake of 

judging me by the color of my skin, I 

shrugged my shoulders and considered 

that to be their problem, not mine. 

In other words, racism was never all 

that relevant to my life. At least that is 

what I believed until I moved to Washington, 

D.C., to attend law school. 

Soon after I arrived and started living 

on Capitol Hill, I found myself in 

need of a new pair of eyeglasses. I 

ventured down to K Street — a fairly 

affluent business district with lots of 

shops, restaurants, and some of the 

most powerful law firms on the planet 

— to see what I could find. 

When I walked into the eyeglass 

store, the first thing I noticed was a 

woman behind a glass counter talking 

to a gentleman who was looking down 

into the counter between them. 

The lady excused herself and immediately 

walked over to me asking, “Can 

26 • ANGELUS • October 16-23, 2020

I help you?” 

“Thank you, yes,” I replied, happy 

with what I perceived to be quick 

customer service. “I am looking for a 

new pair of glasses, but I’m not sure 

what I want.” 

She walked me over to a wall covered 

with different styles of eyeglasses and 

started to describe them. It was at that 

point that a tall black man, probably in 

his late 20s or early 30s, dressed professionally 

in a nice suit, walked inside. 

“Excuse me,” the lady said to me, 

and then she walked right over to the 

gentleman. 

I didn’t think anything of the fact 

that she left me on my own. I simply 

continued to look at the array of glasses 

in front of me. 

As the clerk approached the black 

man I heard her say, “Can I help you?” 

“No,” he answered politely. “I’m not 

sure what I’m looking for. I just want 

to look around.” 

“Of course,” she replied, and then 

she followed him closely as he walked 

around the shop. 

I could tell that the young man was 

uncomfortable with being shadowed. 

At one point I heard him say, “I really 

don’t need any help.” 

The clerk again replied, “Of course,” 

but remained just a few feet away from 

him wherever he walked. 

It didn’t take long for the young black 

man to become irate, finally saying 

loudly, “Oh hell, I don’t need this 

s**t!” before storming out of the store, 

slamming the door behind him. 

I remember initially thinking the 

young man had been rude. The clerk 

then came back to where I was standing 

and smiled, and said, “If you don’t 

watch them, they will rob you blind.” 

As long as I live, I will never forget 

my reaction to what she said. 

“I must have heard that wrong!” I 

thought. I couldn’t believe that any 

adult could actually utter such a racist 

statement, and with a smile no less. 

Did she really believe that because he 

was black, he would steal from her? 

For all she knew, the well-dressed man 

could have been a lawyer in one of 

those K Street firms, perhaps even one 

working to stop criminal behavior. 

“So are there any styles you like?” she 

asked me. 

I was totally confused as to what to 

do at that moment. Was I supposed to 

simply ignore what she had just said to 

me? How was she able to casually say 

something so racist and then ask me 

what eyeglass style I liked? 

That was when it hit me: I realized 

that the gentleman who was in the 

shop before me, the one still standing 

by the glass counter, was white, as was 

the clerk. 

It dawned on me that she had walked 

back to me, the Mexican, and stayed 

with me as I shopped. If she believed 

black people will “rob you blind,” did 

she think brown people would also 

steal from her? 

Rivas with his aunt Isabelle and cousin Monica 

at his graduation from the Columbus School of 

Law in Washington, D.C., in 1995. 

Looking back, I wish I could say I 

responded with Christian grace and an 

informed moral conscience, pointing 

out to her that it was wrong of her to 

treat him in such a way because of his 

skin color. 

Sadly, I froze, and after babbling a 

bit, I murmured, “No thank you,” and 

walked out of the store. 

I remember feeling incredibly alone 

in that moment. No matter where 

I looked, there was no sign of the 

support system like I had out west. 

Nothing and no one was familiar: not 

a single “panaderia” (“bakery”) to comfort 

me with a delicious smell of “pan 

dulce” (“sweet bread”), not my mom, 

COURTESY ANDREW RIVAS 

dad, or extended family. 

I also felt incredibly ashamed. All 

of my life I had ignored any racism 

directed toward me because I had the 

comfort of a strong support system. 

But how many times did my carefree 

attitude cause me to ignore the racism 

around me directed at others? 

My initial response to the young 

black man storming out of the store 

was to assume he was the one being 

rude. Even after the clerk’s incredible 

comment, I wanted to believe that I 

had misheard what she said. 

How many times had I seen someone 

cross the street in order to avoid 

a black man or politely laugh when 

a friend told an off-color joke about 

Asians? Or how many times did I fail 

to push back when a family member 

said they didn’t want to go to that parish’s 

“wetback Mass?” Yes, Hispanics 

say stuff like that, too. 

That day in the eyeglass store was an 

epiphany. The shame that grew inside 

of me also helped me realize that I 

couldn’t just shrug my shoulders any 

longer. 

There are people in the world who 

actually judge others because of the 

color of their skin and treat them 

poorly because of it. That treatment 

is alienating, and causes individuals 

and entire communities to live in fear 

and anger. One need only turn on the 

television or open a web browser to 

see images of this tearing our country 

apart. 

I wish I could offer clear-cut answers 

as to how to eradicate racism, but I 

can’t. Instead, I humbly offer my story, 

so those individuals who, like me, 

never thought racism was relevant, 

can start to take notice of the pain and 

suffering it inflicts. 

Hopefully, more people will understand 

that far too many of us are 

focused on what makes us different, 

rather than embracing how much we 

all have in common. 

Let’s also pray that they happen for 

people like the clerk on K Street. Her 

days were spent helping people improve 

their vision: Hopefully, in time, 

she will see more clearly, too. 

Andrew Rivas is the executive secretary 

of the California Catholic Conference 

of Bishops. 


INTERSECTIONS 

BY GREG ERLANDSON 

The homeless Catholic voter 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/RAPPH ALSWANG 

John Carr Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades Jayd Henricks 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BOB ROLLER 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BOB ROLLER 

As Catholics, we should be feeling 

the love these days. Everyone 

wants our vote. 

There is “Catholics for Biden” and 

“Catholics for Trump,” and no shortage 

of pundits and pontificators ready 

at a moment’s notice to tell us who we 

absolutely cannot vote for, and who we 

must vote for. 

That does not include, however, 

the Catholic bishops, contrary to the 

negative stereotype of some and the 

fond wish of others. They say so in writing. 

In their quadrennial document, 

“Forming Consciences for Faithful 

Citizenship,” the bishops state this 

up front: “We bishops do not intend 

to tell Catholics for whom or against 

whom to vote. Our purpose is to help 

Catholics form their consciences in 

accordance with God’s truth. We recognize 

that the responsibility to make 

choices in political life rests with each 

individual in light of a properly formed 

conscience. …” 

The kicker, of course, is the “properly 

formed conscience.” That takes work. 

In the “Faithful Citizenship” document, 

they run through the issues as 

well as the principles, and it is their 

hope that we will do the same. (You 

can read the document yourself at 

usccb.org) 

The bishops’ worry is that many 

Catholics decide which party to 

support and then ignore (or even 

adopt) those parts of their platforms 

that are not in agreement with Church 

teaching. 

For those who take the Church’s 

social and moral teachings seriously 

— all of them — the current standoff 

between the two major parties leaves 

them standing out in the cold. 

“For years, I have said that I often feel 

politically homeless as a pro-life, social 

justice, consistent-ethic Catholic,” 

says John Carr. The former director 

of the Department of Justice, Peace 

and Human Development in the 

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 

(USCCB), Carr wrote an essay in 

America magazine recently looking at 

the election choices through the prism 

of “Faithful Citizenship” giving a qualified 

endorsement of Joe Biden. 

Writing in rebuttal, Jayd Henricks, 

the former executive director of 

government relations at the USCCB, 

forcefully rejected Carr’s conclusion, 

but shares his alienation. “John Carr 

and I agree on much: Catholics are politically 

homeless. … Catholics should 

not be driven by partisanship.” 

And Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the bishop 

of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana, 

and chair of the bishops’ doctrine 

committee, recently weighed in as 

well. “There are parts of the traditional 

platforms of both the Republican and 

Democratic parties that are in accord 

with Catholic social teaching,” Bishop 

Rhoades said in a Sept. 24 talk at Holy 

Cross College in Indiana. 

“There are also parts of each platform 

that are not. This creates a dilemma 

for many faithful Catholics. They feel 

politically homeless.” 

Bishop Rhoades looked at a wide 

range of issues, from abortion and 

the death penalty to immigration and 

economic inequality. He lays out the 

relevant Catholic teachings, making 

it clear that there are no easy answers 

when it comes to which party gets our 

vote. 

For Carr, the deciding issues in this 

election are racism and the character, 

competence, and integrity of the candidates. 

Choosing Biden does not mean 

abandoning the pro-life cause, he said: 

“To the contrary: A vote for Mr. Biden 

carries with it a duty to work with oth- 


ers to reduce abortions and to support 

priorities, programs, and ministries that 

serve women, children, and families in 

need.” 

For Henricks, it is not just the Republican 

position on abortion, but also the 

issues of religious freedom, defense 

of marriage and traditional sexual 

norms, as well as “support for Catholic 

schools, not to mention enterprise 

zones for poor communities and a 

commitment to maintaining law and 

order.” 

Two Catholics steeped in the principles 

of “Forming Consciences for 

Faithful Citizenship” come to opposite 

conclusions. For many this is maddening, 

but the truth is that good Catholics 

can and do disagree. 

For Bishop Rhoades, the far greater 

concern is “Catholics who choose their 

parties over the Church.” 

“Catholics who are more Democrat 

than they are Catholic and Catholics 

who are more Republican than they 

are Catholic have brought about a 

disunity that hinders our evangelizing 

mission.” 

This disunity is a lost opportunity to 

evangelize society with a consistent 

commitment to the Church’s moral 

and social teaching, he said. “If one is a 

Democrat, one should reject and work 

to repeal parts of the party platform that 

are inimical to the truths of our faith. 

The same is true if one is Republican.” 

“I believe that every faithful Catholic 

today feels a certain political homelessness,” 

Bishop Rhoades said. In some 

ways, we could call this the Rhoades 

test. To the extent that we who are 

Catholic voters do not feel homeless, 

we may not yet have the well-formed 

conscience the Church expects of us. 

I think Carr and Rhoades would both 

agree with Henricks’ conclusion, and 

he poses a challenge for all of us: We 

“must vote according to a well-formed 

conscience, but that will happen only 

by putting ourselves in the hands of 

our loving Father through prayer, fasting, 

and service. All three are needed, 

otherwise we will fool ourselves into 

believing our vote is what makes us 

faithful Catholics.” 

Congratulations 

Deacon Matthew Miguel! 

Wishing the love of God 

continues to fill your heart 

and guide you through your ministry. 

a The Easley Family 

02062020_DcnMatthewMiguel_(1)_Angelus_1-3pgHoriz.indd 1 

CONGRATULATIONS, 

Deacon Matthew Miguel 

We wish you many 

blessings and pray 

God will give you 

guidance, wisdom, 

and knowledge 

as you continue 

this journey. 

a 

6/3/20 1:39 PM 

Greg Erlandson is president and editor-in-chief 

of Catholic News Service. 

October 16-23, 2020 • ANGELUS • 29 

Love, Mom & Dad 

02062020_DcnMatthewMiguel_(2b)_Angelus_1-3pgHoriz.indd 1 

6/3/20 1:45 PM

INSIDE 

THE PAGES 

By KRIS MCGREGOR 

A crisis of saints 

How remembering our past 

and the roots of our faith 

can pull us out of despair 

A woman kneels in prayer in front of 

guards wearing personal protective 

equipment outside the Monastery of 

the Nazarenes in Lima, Peru, Oct. 7, 

as churches continue to be closed 

during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA, REUTERS 

Timing is everything, and for 

Father George Rutler, author 

of “Calm in Chaos: Catholic 

Wisdom for Anxious Times” (Ignatius 

Press, $14), the timing of the Church’s 

most recent struggles is part of a pattern 

of crisis and resolution throughout our 

history. 

“One doesn’t have to be a prophet to 

say that there will be anxious times,” 

says Father George Rutler. “That’s 

been the case since our first ancestors 

dropped the ball in the Garden of 

Eden.” 

But the times we’re living in now have 

incited panic and a widespread fleeing 

from the faith for many Catholics, and 

those who are left to pick up the pieces 

are struggling to resolve their feelings 

about the Church’s most current crisis 

with the faith they have long cherished. 

In his book, Father Rutler offers some 

guidance on staying hopeful. 

Kris McGregor: In your book, you 

say, here’s the present situation, but 

don’t let it rob you of your hope. How 

important is hope? 

Father George Rutler: There’s a 

difference between optimism and 

hope. Optimism is wishing things will 

get better, which they may or may not. 

But hope is trusting that God has an 

agenda that only he knows, and he 

works his purposes out. It’s up to us 

to cooperate with that agenda or not 

— we have free will. But sometimes 

in the darkest hour of civilization, he 

becomes even clearer. 

I think the Church, and society 

in general, is going through a mas- 


sive purge. What’s going on now, as 

unpleasant as it is, is like extracting a 

tooth. Once it’s out, you feel better. 

We’re dealing with a spiritual cancer. 

Many Church leaders have failed in 

so many ways — we all have. So Our 

Lord is dramatically intervening and 

taking out this cancer, and that’s why 

I’m hopeful. 

McGregor: So many people say 

they’re losing faith in the Church. Are 

they really losing faith in the Church, 

or are they just lacking confidence? 

Father Rutler: People who say they’re 

losing their faith are just losing what 

they mistakenly thought was faith. 

Faith is a gift from God, and God 

doesn’t give us something and then 

grab it away. We don’t lose faith — we 

throw it away. 

In the American Revolution, Thomas 

Paine wrote that powerful pamphlet, 

“Common Sense,” rallying people to 

be brave in a crisis. 

He wrote, “These are the times that 

try men’s souls.” This is not the time 

for the summer soldier or the sunshine 

patriot. The summer soldier enlists 

because he likes to wear the uniform. 

The sunshine patriot is the one who’s 

loyal in good times, but doesn’t want 

to get involved in a challenge to the 

country. 

And Our Lord is reminding us that 

we’re baptized to be soldiers of Christ. 

We can’t be summer soldiers; Our 

Lord says we have to be soldiers in 

good times and in bad. 

McGregor: What role does “cultural 

Catholicism” play in this crisis? 

Father Rutler: We have a lot of 

cultural Catholicism — weddings, 

baptisms. For a lot of people, unfortunately, 

these are cultural ceremonies 

to get the family together. I’m at a lot 

of weddings, and at one, we had a 

wedding planner. We had a big icon 

of Christ over the altar, and he said, 

“When the bride comes in, could you 

dim Jesus a little?” 

What’s going on here? What do we 

think matrimony is? 

It’s at the end of the spectrum, too, 

in the funeral. When people turn a 

funeral Mass into some kind of sentimental 

gathering where people make 

speeches about how good Uncle Fred 

was, they’ve lost the sense of God, who 

gives us the faith. 

McGregor: A lot of people think 

these political times are the worst it’s 

ever been, but is that really true? 

Father Rutler: George Washington 

was at the point of despair when he 

saw what was happening to the country 

he’d fought to create. Their newspapers 

were as vicious as what we have now. 

We have to remember that St. Joan 

of Arc was about the age of a college 

freshman when she led an army and 

saved France. Alexander Hamilton was 

21 when he was a lieutenant colonel 

fighting in the Revolutionary War. In 

the Second World War, the average 

age of a bomber pilot was about that 

of a college sophomore. None of them 

ran into safe spaces. 

What we need now in the Church 

are people with vision and purpose. 

The weakness and confusion is ripe 

from the very top. But just as you have 

heroes of each generation face the crisis 

of the time, we just pray that these 

people will rise up. It’s a crisis of saints. 

Our Lord has been raised from the 

dead. He says, “Be of good cheer. I 

have overcome the world.” It’s the devil 

who doesn’t want us to know that. So 

these are the times that Our Lord says 

to us, “Will you also go away?” Our 

response has to be the same as that of 

St. Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? 

You have the words of eternal life.” 

Kris McGregor is the founder of Discerninghearts.com, 

an online resource 

for the best in contemporary Catholic 

spirituality. 

What Legacy will YOU 

leave? 

It’s easy to include a gift 

for your favorite 

Parish, School or Ministry 

in your will or trust. 

Father George Rutler in 2018. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ 

To leave a lasting legacy, 

contact us today. 

Kimberly Jetton 

Director of Planned Giving 

(213) 637-7504 

KJetton@la-archdiocese.org 

www.ADLALegacy.org 


THE CRUX 

BY HEATHER KING 

The soul speaks at Lotusland 

A lone Lotus flower blooming in the Japanese Garden of Lotusland in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California. 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

Madame Ganna Walska (1887- 

1984) was the type of Southern 

Californian eccentric 

over whom people from back East love 

to roll their eyes, muttering, “Land of 

the fruits and the nuts.” 

Born Hanna Puacz in Brest-Litovsk, 

Poland, she was an opera singer who 

was married six times. She resided in 

New York and Paris, toured Europe 

and America, and eventually became 

attracted to California. 

She eloped as a teenager with her 

first husband, a Russian count. Her 

fourth, known at the time as “the richest 

bachelor in the world,” proposed 

the day they met. Walska became 

interested in séances, Ouija boards, 

and spiritualism. Her sixth husband, 

20 years her junior, was a yoga guru. 

Done with disastrous unions, she 

purchased a 37-acre Montecito 

property in 1941 and spent the next 43 

years creating the garden — routinely 

named one of the Top 10 in the world 

— now known as Lotusland. 

And the creative energy poured into 

this wondrous space establishes her 

as an artist and a human being of the 

highest order. 

Reserve in advance and be prepared 

to cough up 50 bucks. The day I visited, 

the wrought-iron gates of the estate 

swung open, I checked in at the pale 

pink welcome kiosk, and the magic 

began. 

Stone fountains gurgled soothingly 

with water; luscious vintage glazed tile 

whispered of Morocco, Mexico, and 

Italy. Pergolas dripped with lemons, 

pomegranate trees were hung with lustrous 

fruit. Two hours — the length of 

the allowed visit — was hardly enough 

to take it all in: salmon-colored water 

lilies, rough-cut chunks of translucent 

sea-green glass, giant agaves. 

A pearl-pink Lotusland begonia, 

backlit by a stab of sunlight, glowed 


SHUTTERSTOCK 

in the shade of the Fern Garden. 

Dinosaurs might have ambled through 

the collection of cycads: tropical plants 

that have existed for approximately 

300 million years. Walska is said in 

the 1970s to have sold off some of her 

jewelry to purchase the 450 costly 

specimens, her final addition to the 

garden. 

It was in the Insectary Garden, as I 

bent close to a stand of blue-flowering 

sage, that a tanned, trim figure in a 

tool belt appeared by my side. “Do 

you know how many kinds of bees we 

have in Lotusland?” he asked, in the 

friendliest possible way. I couldn’t say 

as I did: 110. “Do you know how many 

we have in California?” Nope: 2,000, 

give or take. “How about in North 

America?” Sorry, drawing a blank 

there, too: 4,400! 

He pointed out a native bee that was 

to my untrained eye not much bigger 

than a mosquito; a clump of orange 

poppies, still blooming though in 

Southern California we tend to associate 

poppies exclusively with spring; 

and a stand of golden coreopsis. 

This, it turned out, was Corey Welles, 

Lotusland’s plant health care lead. 

When he started 30 years ago he used 

fertilizers and insecticides, but in the 

decades since has been figuring out 

how to heal the soil by “partnering 

with the environment instead of 

fighting it.” 

We stepped through a hedge and 

next thing I knew I was in a land of 

giant pumpkins and towering sunflowers, 

and Welles was talking faster 

and imparting more information than 

my mind could readily take in. The 

pumpkins are fed kelp and compost. 

That tree with the ivory-pink blooms 

was a peach. That hole near my feet? 

A vole lived down there, or did. 

A vole is a rodent with silky fur like 

a mink that can regrettably damage 

plants. An unfortunate incident 

involving a garter snake ensued — I 

opted not to view the photo, or maybe 

it was a video, on Welles’ phone. “We 

have to let ourselves learn about these 

things!” he enthused. “Right,” I replied 

weakly. “The circle of life.” 

“Did I just dream that?” I thought, 

as Welles gallantly deposited me back 

in the main garden. But Lotusland is 

like that. 

Around every corner is a surprise, a 

winding path, a new vista, a gasp-inducing, 

sui generis collection of antique 

stone figures called “grotesques” 

from Walska’s estate in Gallius, France 

(the Theater Garden), or plants exclusively 

in the blue-gray color range 

(the Blue Garden), or bromeliads, or 

palms, or dracaenas. 

Everywhere are unique personal 

touches: the three bronze cranes in 

the Japanese Garden, a narrow waterway 

behind Walska’s house lined with 

blue and white tile and surrounded by 

roses, a tiny stone lapdog-sized dwelling 

in the Insectary Garden that would 

have been perfect to house a statue of 

the Blessed Virgin. 

My love for San Marino’s Huntington 

Gardens is second to none. But 

it’s impossible to imagine railroad 

magnate Henry Huntington choosing 

to showcase his aloe collection, as 

Walska did, by installing a shallow 

kidney-shaped pool and converting it 

into a white-bottomed abalone shell 

pond flanked by two tiered fountains 

of gigantic clam shells and surrounded 

by coral-embedded lava rocks. 

“One need not be in California long 

before he feels his soul beginning to 

stir,” she observed. “The air is magnetized 

… the consciousness awakens … 

the soul must speak.” 

Indeed. 

What with her passion, creative 

powers, and drive, I like to think that 

Walska never forgot her deepest roots. 

She was raised a strict Catholic. 

Congratulations on your ordination to the Diaconate 

MICHAEL COONEY MASTELLER 

Madame Ganna Walska ,circa 1922. 

Heather King is an award-winning author, 

speaker, and workshop leader. For more, 

visit heather-king.com. 


“Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served, 

but to serve, and who came to seek out and save what was lost.” – RITES OF ORDINATION, NO. 123 

o 

May the Blessed Virgin, refuge of sinners, 

mediatrix of all graces and most loving mother, 

guide and watch over you, Michael. 

LOVE AND PRAYERS FROM ALL THE FAMILY 

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8/5/20 8:10 PM

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Angelus News | October 16-23, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 26

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