Angelus News | March 12, 2021 | Vol. 6 No. 5

ANGELUS
GUIDED
BY GOD
Attacked by
gunmen in Nigeria,
an LA priest lives
to tell his story
March 12, 2021 Vol. 6 No. 5

March 12, 2021
Vol. 6 • No. 5
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ON THE COVER
JOHN MCCOY
When Father Al Ezeonkeya left LAX for his native country of
Nigeria last December, he could not have imagined the nearly
fatal adventure that awaited him. On Page 10, Ann Rodgers
tells the untold story of an LA priest’s brush with death in
Africa and the secret operation to bring him back to California.
THIS PAGE
VICTOR ALEMÁN
Archbishop José H. Gomez visited the Queen of
Angels Center for Priestly Formation in Torrance
Feb. 24 to celebrate Mass with seminarians and
bless the altar of the center’s new chapel. Also
present was Auxiliary Bishop Marc Trudeau.
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CONTENTS
Pope Watch................................................ 2
Archbishop Gomez.................................. 3
World, Nation, and Local News....... 4-6
In Other Words......................................... 7
Father Rolheiser........................................ 8
Scott Hahn.............................................. 32
A note from the editor.......................... 33
16
22
24
26
28
30
Meet the COVID-19 ‘last responders’ of LA’s Catholic cemeteries
Pope’s hopes for a Vatican culture change may lie with this new cardinal
Lent comes to illuminate our sufferings. This Jesuit’s book can help
Robert Brennan: Netflix’s ‘Cecil Hotel’ and our pandemic-induced silos
What ‘Minari’ teaches us about the theology of failure
Heather King ponders the temptations of Lent from an LA overlook
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH
A crisis to reveal our heart
On Feb. 18, Pope Francis delivered
a video message to participants of
the Los Angeles Religious Education
Congress, celebrated virtually Feb. 18-
21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was the first time a pope has ever
addressed what is considered the
largest annual Catholic gathering in
the world. The text of the message was
slightly edited for brevity.
There is no doubt that we are in
a difficult time for all, and it is
a time of crisis. How relevant,
in this context, is the appeal made by
this congress: Proclaim the Promise!
We need to proclaim and to remember
that we have God’s promise, and God
always keeps his promises.
We must also remember that every
woman and man, and every new
generation, brings the promise of new
relational, intellectual, cultural, and
spiritual energies.
The pandemic has marked the
life of the people and history of our
community. Faced with this and other
situations, it is necessary to build
tomorrow, to look to the future and,
to do so, it takes effort, strength, and
dedication on the part of everyone.
We need to act in the style of the
Samaritan, which involves letting
ourselves be affected by what we see,
knowing that suffering will change us,
and we must engage with the suffering
of others.
The witness of generous and
gratuitous love that we have witnessed
throughout these months, so many
testimonies, have left an indelible
mark on consciences and also on
the social fabric of society, teaching
us how much closeness, care,
accompaniment and sacrifice are
necessary to nurture brotherhood.
They were the proclamation and
fulfilment of God’s promise.
Let us remember a universal
principle: You never come out of a
crisis the same, you come out better or
worse, but you never come out of it the
same. In crises, one’s heart is revealed:
its solidity, its mercy, its greatness, its
meagerness. Crises confront us with
the need to choose and to commit
ourselves to a path.
In this our time, by acknowledging
the dignity of each human person,
we can contribute to the rebirth of a
universal aspiration to fraternity. We
need a community that supports and
helps us, in which we can help one
another to keep looking ahead. How
important it is to dream together, and
to look ahead!
I greet young people especially. I
invite you to hope, which speaks to
us of something deeply rooted in
every human heart, independently
of our circumstances and historical
conditioning. You young people, be
the poets of a new human beauty, a
new fraternal and friendly beauty!
And let us remember this other
reality: Dreams … are built together.
Let us dream, then, as a single human
family, as fellow travelers sharing the
same flesh, as children of the same
earth, which is our common home,
each of us bringing the richness of his
or her beliefs and convictions, each of
us with his or her own voice, brothers
and sisters all.
I entrust you to the tenderness of
Mary, mother of the Church, and I
heartily impart my blessing. Thank
you ministers and teachers for what
you do and please do not forget to pray
for me. Thank you.
Papal Prayer Intention for March: Let us pray that we
may experience the sacrament of reconciliation with
renewed depth, to taste the infinite mercy of God.
2 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

NEW WORLD OF FAITH
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
St. Joseph’s lessons
On March 19 we celebrate the
feast of St. Joseph in this Year
of St. Joseph declared by Pope
Francis.
Joseph is my “name saint,” and for
many years I have had devotion to
him in my daily life. In this special
year, and especially during this long
pandemic, I find my prayer and
reflection turning often to St. Joseph.
On earth, Jesus called St. Joseph his
father. So should we. From St. Joseph,
Our Lord learned how to walk, how
to pray, how to work, and how to love.
More than anything, Jesus learned
from his earthly father that the
meaning and purpose of our human
lives is found in doing the will of our
Father in heaven.
When Jesus teaches us to pray
“thy will be done,” we know that he
witnessed this every day growing up,
in the example of his earthly foster
father, not to mention in the life of
Mary, his mother.
We see in St. Joseph what a life
totally devoted to doing the will of
God looks like. He entrusted his
whole life to serve God’s plan of
salvation.
All of us are born with a part to play
in the divine plan. We are not put
here for no reason. Our heavenly
Father calls us each by name, we are
his beloved sons and daughters, and
he gives us a part to play in building
the family of God — his Church and
his kingdom — on earth.
That is why the Savior of the world
came to live a very ordinary human
life in the home of Mary and Joseph.
Because God’s kingdom comes — not
only in the wars and great struggles of
history, but also in the decisions and
details of ordinary life: in our work, in
our participation in schools, churches,
and communities, and in a special
way, in our homes and families.
March 19 also marks the beginning
of the Year “Amoris Laetitia Family,”
which Pope Francis has dedicated for
reflecting on the joy of family love.
Again we reflect that in God’s plan,
salvation comes into our world in the
person of a Child born and raised
in a human family. Our Lord’s plan
continues in the way we love and raise
our own families.
In everything, we are called to
serve God’s plan as St. Joseph did, in
humility, “hidden” from the world.
The political and religious leaders of
his time — the emperor, King Herod,
the chief priests, and scribes — none
of these people knew who St. Joseph
was.
St. Joseph was known only to his
neighbors and family. He was the
carpenter, the husband of Mary, the
father of Jesus. It is the same with
us. Few of us are known beyond our
circles of family, friends, and coworkers.
Salvation history is playing out in all
these places — in our relationships, in
the events of our days, in the people
we encounter. In all these conditions,
God wants to work through us to
accomplish his plan of salvation.
He works through us, even though
he is aware, as we are, of our fears,
weaknesses, and shortcomings.
In “With a Father’s Heart,” his
beautiful and challenging letter for the
Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis writes:
“As we read the infancy narratives …
a superficial reading … can often give
the impression that the world is at the
mercy of the strong and mighty.”
We can feel this way in our own
lives, like God is not in charge, like
our lives are in the hands of “experts,”
authorities, and forces we cannot
control or even influence. These
tendencies were present in our society
before the pandemic. The long
months of enforced isolation and
emergency orders have only increased
these feelings for many of us.
In the life of St. Joseph we see that
even in the violence and chaos of
the events, God continues to work
for the world’s salvation. And for our
We see in St. Joseph what a life totally devoted
to doing the will of God looks like.
salvation, too.
“So too, our lives may at times seem
to be at the mercy of the powerful,”
Pope Francis writes, “but … God
always finds a way to save us, provided
we show the same creative courage
as the carpenter of Nazareth, who
was able to turn a problem into a
possibility by trusting always in divine
providence.”
Trust in God is the key to living with
hope and without fear. So let us try to
live as St. Joseph lived, with love for
Jesus and Mary, and with the intention
to do the will of God in everything.
If at times, like St. Joseph, we do not
fully understand what is being asked
of us, let us remain open to God’s will,
and know he will give us the courage
to do what the moment demands.
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
And let us ask Mary, our Blessed
Mother, to help us to learn the lessons
of her spouse, St. Joseph. Just as her
Son did.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD
Father Ignatius Spencer. | CNS/COURTESY PASSIONISTS
■ A royal ancestor on the
move toward sainthood
The U.K.’s Prince William and an order of Italian nuns
have more in common than you think.
On the same day, Pope Francis declared “venerable”
both an ancestor of the English prince and three members
of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor, an
important step that recognizes “heroic virtue” in the life
of a person being considered for sainthood.
The new venerables include Passionist Father Ignatius
Spencer, who is the thrice-great uncle of William’s
mother, Princess Diana, and the great-uncle of Winston
Churchill (neither were Catholic). Spencer converted
to Catholicism shortly after Britain legalized the faith in
1829 and ministered to poor Irish migrants following his
ordination.
Also declared venerable the same day were Sisters
Floralba Rondi, Clarangela Ghiraldi, and Dinarosa
Belleri, all Italian-born, who died from the Ebola virus
while ministering to patients in the Congo during a 1995
outbreak of the disease.
■ Colombia: An
immigration policy
the pope likes
Colombia’s offer to legalize nearly
2 million refugees has earned the
country a rare shoutout from Pope
Francis.
Announced Feb. 8, President Iván
Duque Márquez’s plan provides
10 years of protection for some 1.7
million immigrants from neighboring
Venezuela, and the opening of a
pathway to permanent residency.
More than 5 million people have
fled Venezuela, which has suffered
from political strife and economic inflation
in recent years. Many refugees
have settled in countries like Peru,
Ecuador, and Chile, which have
recently imposed harsher border
restrictions.
But most of the refugees have gone
to Colombia, which Pope Francis
praised for its welcoming stance
despite its relative lack of wealth.
“With this problem they have had
the courage to look at those migrants
and to create this statute,”said the
pope during his Feb. 14 Angelus
address.
Enduring mercy — Pilgrims pray
in front of an image of Jesus of
Divine Mercy at the Divine Mercy
Shrine in Plock, Poland, on Feb.
22. A papal delegate celebrated
a Mass at the shrine that day to
mark the 90th anniversary of the
first apparition of Jesus to mystic
St. Faustina Kowalska. | CNS/
KATARZYNA ARTYMIAK
■ Catholic agencies relieved to be back in Tigray
Catholic relief agencies are being
allowed back into a part of Ethiopia
where hundreds of Christians are believed
to have been killed last fall.
The semi-autonomous region of
Tigray has been the center of conflict
between the Ethiopian army and the
regional rulers, the Tigray People’s
Liberation Front. The conflict has
reportedly displaced half of the population
of 6 million, and 800 people were
reportedly killed when worshipers and
soldiers defended an orthodox Christian
chapel from an attack.
Permission to travel or deliver humanitarian
aid to Tigray had been restricted
there since Nov. 4, but on Feb. 24
Ethiopia’s prime minister allowed 135
personnel, including from the Jesuit
Refugee Service and Catholic Relief
Services, to enter the region. Within
24 hours of the announcement, CRS
Ethiopia distributed more than 22,000
tons of food to more than 600,000 people,
according to an agency spokesman.
“This is all what the humanitarian
agencies have been seeking. They have
been asking for access to the region so
that they can provide the much-needed
services to the people,” Jesuit Refugee
Service regional director Andre Atsu
told Catholic News Service.
4 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

NATION
■ Religious sister,
torture survivor, and
justice advocate
Catholic human rights advocates are
mourning the passing of an Ursuline
sister who escaped kidnappers while a
missionary in Guatemala three decades
ago.
Sister Dianna Ortiz was teaching
indigenous children in Guatemala
in 1989 during the country’s civil war
when Guatemalan soldiers abducted
her, detaining her for 30 hours.
She reported being gang raped and
tortured repeatedly, but managed to
escape. Returning to the U.S., Sister
Ortiz started an organization for
torture survivors and became a visible
presence of nonviolence at vigils and
marches in Washington, D.C.
She died at the age of 62 on Feb. 19
after a return of cancer. Friends and
colleagues said Sister Ortiz, who for
the last year was deputy director of Pax
Christi USA, walked the walk when it
came to Catholic social teaching.
“She was a witness to justice and
human rights. So much of what she
did was pretty quiet,” Marie Dennis of
Pax Christi International told Catholic
News Service.
■ Tuition payment methods accepted:
credit or baseball card
Father John Ubel with the baseball cards he will sell for charity at an online auction
in March. | DAVE HRBACEK/THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
How much is this priest’s baseball
card collection worth? Enough to pay
tuition for Catholic students in need.
Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral
of St. Paul in Minnesota, has a
collection of more than 2,000 baseball
cards, which he began collecting in
1970. From March 12 to 14, the top
50 most valuable — including a 1948
Jackie Robinson rookie card worth
$15,000 and a
1954 Hank Aaron
rookie card worth
$6,000 — will be
auctioned to raise
scholarship funds
for the Aim Higher
Foundation.
The auction was
inspired by Catholic
schools’ commitment
to offer
safe, in-person
schooling during
the COVID-19
pandemic.
“I thought to
myself, [Catholic]
schools are
hitting it out of
the park. And, I thought, it’s time to
give something back,” Father Ubel told
The Catholic Spirit.
The cards, which could fund multiple
students’ scholarships, were almost
lost 15 years ago when Father Ubel
had thrown the Girl Scout cookie box
housing his collection in the trash
during a move, only to rescue it moments
later.
Sister Dianna Ortiz in 2012. | URSULINE SISTERS
■ The hidden dangers of the ‘Equality Act’
A federal bill that would expand
discrimination protections to include
sexual orientation and gender identity
is one step closer to becoming law.
On Feb. 25, the House of Representatives
passed the “Equality Act.”
Advocates, including the country’s
Catholic bishops, worry it would retool
civil rights protections to actually
discriminate against religious liberty
by imposing a partisan definition of
gender on organizations, regardless of
their beliefs.
“[The Equality Act] represents the
imposition by Congress of novel and
divisive viewpoints regarding “gender”
on individuals and organizations,” read
a Feb. 23 letter from the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops to lawmakers.
In a Feb. 25 essay for America magazine,
Catholic legal scholar Erika
Bachiochi argued that language in the
bill will also redefine federal protections
for pregnant women in a way that
could “be construed to require health
care providers to perform abortions and
states to fund them.”
The implications of that language,
Bachiochi believes, would “further
incentivize employers to prefer abortion
for their pregnant employees over
far more costly accommodations for
parenting.”
While supported by President Joe
Biden, the bill faces a more difficult
path in the U.S. Senate, where it needs
to pass a 60-vote threshold to go to the
president’s desk.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 5

LOCAL
The mission’s historic artwork can be better seen thanks to a new lighting system.
| MIKE LAAN, VENTURA VISITORS & CONVENTION BUREAU
■ Ventura’s new basilica
gets a makeover
Mission Basilica San Buenaventura now has some aesthetic
upgrades to show off in time for Lent.
The church, which was named the first minor basilica in
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles last summer, now features
LED energy-efficient theatrical enhancements that “create
a spiritually uplifting appreciation of the basilica’s sacred
paintings, statues, and tapestry, some of which predate the
completion of the 1809 church,” said Father Tom Elewaut,
the mission’s pastor.
Also new to the church are a new sound system and a
series of symbolic upgrades specific to papal basilicas,
including the display of papal insignia.
The mission opened for indoor Mass on Ash Wednesday,
soon after California lifted a ban on indoor worship due to
COVID-19. For more information on church hours, visit
www.sanbuenaventuramission.org.
Mario Ramirez
■ More than 10k attend
virtual RE Congress
More than 10,000 people from 21 countries tuned in to the
first all-virtual Religious Education Congress (REC) Feb. 18-
21, organizers said.
Due to COVID-19, the congress was unable to be held at
the Anaheim Convention Center as in years past. Instead,
presenters and speakers delivered talks from their home
offices, bedrooms, or living rooms, and the topics focused on
many critical issues in today’s world of COVID-19 recovery,
post-pandemic formation, best practices in using technology
for evangelization, and even social media conduct.
One advantage of the virtual format, organizers said, was that
it attracted many first-time participants who were unable to
travel to past congresses.
“I think everybody also would acknowledge that there’s
something about being in each other’s physical presence,” said
REC regular Father Greg Boyle, founder of LA’s Homeboy
Industries. “But given that we had to do it, I think it probably
worked.”
Sprinkled, not smeared
— Parishioners at Our Lady
Queen of the Angels Church
(“La Placita”) near downtown
LA received ashes on Ash
Wednesday, Feb. 17. Due to
COVID-19, the Vatican asked
that this year ashes be sprinkled
on worshipers’ heads
rather than using them to
make a cross on the forehead.
| DAVID AMADOR RIVERA
■ School community rallies around
St. Elizabeth of Hungary fifth-grader
A Catholic school fifth-grader in Altadena is expected to recover after being
caught in the crossfire of a shooting on Valentine’s Day — and he may have his
classmates’ prayers to thank for it.
Ten-year-old Mario Ramirez was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after
being hit by multiple bullets while stepping outside his house Feb. 14. Right away,
students, parents, and staff at St. Elizabeth of Hungary School in Altadena began
praying for his recovery. A GoFundMe page for medical expenses was started,
while students organized gift baskets for the Ramirez family and Lakers-themed art
to brighten the super fan’s hospital room.
“Without prayer, this could have turned out much different,” one St. Elizabeth’s
parent told Angelus. “The kids are holding on to their faith like you cannot believe
and it is making the difference.”
To read more, visit the LA Catholics section of AngelusNews.com.
Y
6 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

IN OTHER WORDS...
V
Y
Letters to the Editor
In St. Joseph’s world
A big thanks to Mike Aquilina for a wonderful article on St. Joseph. I
liked it so much that I immediately ordered Aquilina’s new book, “St. Joseph and His
World” (Scepter Publishers, $12).
I couldn’t put the book down. It covered everything but without excess baggage. I’ve
always been devoted to St. Joseph, but now I can actually understand why. He has
become a more real person, and more important, thanks to Aquilina’s book.
Aquilina does a great job incorporating the Old Testament background and the
“Jewishness” of St. Joseph. It helps put into perspective the “lowliness” of Mary, who
was not the “boss” of the family, although we may sometimes think so.
I’ll be taking the book to a homebound friend so that she can also experience getting
to know St. Joseph better. It will be on top of my list of Lenten/Easter gifts and recommendations
for friends.
— Marilyn Boussaid, St. James Church, Redondo Beach
Are some Catholic schools waiting too long?
After reading your Feb. 26 cover story, it is clear that the fact that some schools are
opening are great. However, so many more remain closed.
As scientists learned more regarding the virus, we heard from pediatricians and other
medical professionals that students needed to return to school. Online learning was
damaging to mental and psychological health.
I understood why the public schools were still closed – they were beholden to large
unions that played politics and placed their own interests before that of families and
children.
But what was never clear to me is why the archdiocese did not step up to open its
schools sooner? Catholic schools, free to make their own decisions, were not under the
thumb of powerful unions, and yet still remained closed.
I pray for this generation of students that have lost so much, and hope the trend
continues as more Catholic schools open in the archdiocese.
— Yadranka Draskovic, Visitation Church, Westchester
Continue the conversation! To submit a letter to the editor, visit AngelusNews.com/Letters-To-The-Editor
and use our online form or send an email to editorial@angelusnews.com. Please limit to 300 words. Letters
may be edited for style, brevity, and clarity.
Order of Malta’s backpack drive
A member of the Order of Malta helps a man with his
new jacket Feb. 13. The order distributed over 130 hygiene
kits, backpacks, and coats at the St. Francis Center
in downtown LA. | COLTON MACHADO
View more photos from this gallery at
AngelusNews.com/photos-videos
Do you have photos or a story from your parish that you’d
like to share? Please send to editorial @angelusnews.com.
“The country is burning,
but he is still going.”
~ Iraqi priest Father Naim Shoshandy on Pope
Francis’ visit to Iraq, scheduled for March 5-8.
“We have around 7,000
families who form our
parish community and for
us every penny counts.”
~ Father Ruben Arceo, pastor of St. Francis of
Assisi Church in Vista, on why his parish took out a
PPP loan earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“God has never told me,
‘Bobbi Jo, you’re done,
have a seat.’ God motivates
my heart to see
where the need is.”
~ Catholic woman Bobbi Jo Reed, on why she
founded five “Healing Houses” for recovering addicts
in Kansas City in the new documentary “Bobbi
Jo: Under the Influence.”
“The Declaration of Independence
summarizes
… that God created each
of us and endowed all of
us with the right to life.
This is true for everyone,
including those with an
extra chromosome.”
~ South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in her Jan. 12
state of the state address, as legislators consider
a ban on abortions due to a prenatal diagnosis of
Down syndrome.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 7

08022021_
IN EXILE
FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI
Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father
Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual
writer; ronaldrolheiser.com.
The imperialism of the human soul
In his autobiography, Greek author
Nikos Kazantzakis shares how
in his youth he was driven by a
restlessness that had him searching
for something he could never quite
define. However, he made peace
with his lack of peace because he
accepted that, given the nature of
the soul, he was supposed to feel that
restlessness and that a healthy soul is
a driven soul.
Commenting on this, he writes:
“No force anywhere on earth is as
imperialistic as the human soul. It
occupies and is occupied in turn,
but it always considers its empire too
narrow. Suffocating, it desires to conquer
the world in order to breathe
freely.”
We need to be given permission, I
believe, to accept as God-given that
imperialism inside our soul, even as
we need always to be careful never
to trivialize its power and meaning.
However, that is a formula for tension.
How does one make peace with
the imperialism of one’s soul without
denigrating the divine energy that
is stoking that imperialism? For me,
this has been a struggle.
I grew up in the heart of the Canadian
prairies, with 500 miles of open
space in every direction. Geographically,
that space let one’s soul stretch
out, but otherwise my world seemed
too small for my soul to breathe.
I grew up inside a tightknit community
in an isolated rural area where
the world was small enough so that
everyone knew everyone else. That
was wonderful because it made for
a warm cocoon; but that cocoon
(seemingly) separated me from the
big world where, it seemed to my
young mind, souls could breathe
in spaces bigger than where I was
breathing. Moreover, growing up
with an acute religious and moral
sensitivity, I felt guilty about my
restlessness, as if it were something
abnormal that I needed to hide.
In that state, as an 18-year-old, I
entered religious life. Novitiates
in those days were quite strict and
secluded. We were 18 of us, novices,
sequestered in an old seminary
building across a lake from a town
and a highway. We could hear the
sounds of traffic and see life on the
other side of the lake, but we were
not part of it.
As well, most everything inside
our sequestered life focused on the
spiritual so that even our most earthy
desires had to be associated with our
hunger for God and for the bread
of life. Not an easy task for anyone,
especially a teenager.
Well, one day we were visited by a
priest who gave my soul permission
to breathe. He gathered us, the 18
novices, into a classroom and began
his conference with this question:
“Are you feeling a little restless?”
We nodded, rather surprised by the
question.
He went on: “Well, you should be
feeling restless! You must be jumping
out of your skin! All that life in you
and all those fiery hormones stirring
in your blood, and you’re stuck here
watching life happen across the lake!
You must be going crazy sometimes!
But … that’s good, that’s what you
should be feeling, it shows you’re
healthy. Stay with it. You can do this.
It’s good to feel that restlessness.”
That day the wide-open prairie
spaces I had lived my whole life in
and the wide-open spaces in my soul
befriended each other a little. And
that friendship continued to grow as I
did my studies and read authors who
had befriended their souls.
Among others, these spoke to me:
St. Augustine (“You have made us
for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are
restless until they rest in you.”); St.
Thomas Aquinas (“The adequate object
of the human intellect and will
is all Being.”); Iris Murdoch (“The
deepest of all human pains is the
pain of the inadequacy of self-expression.”);
Karl Rahner (“In the torment
of the insufficiency of everything
attainable, we ultimately learn that
here, in this life, there is no finished
symphony); Sidney Callahan (“We
are made to ultimately sleep with the
whole world, is it any wonder that we
long for this along the way?”); and
James Hillman (“Neither religion nor
psychology really honors the human
soul. Religion is forever trying to save
the soul and psychology is always
trying to fix the soul. The soul needs
neither to be saved nor fixed; it is
already eternal — it just needs to be
listened to.”).
Perhaps today the real struggle is not
so much to accept sacred permission
to befriend the wild insatiability of
the soul. The greater struggle today,
I suspect, is not to trivialize the soul,
not to make its infinite longings
something less than what they are.
During World War II, Jesuit theologians
resisting the Nazi occupation
in France published an underground
newspaper.
The first issue opened with this
now-famous line: “France, take care
not to lose your soul.” Fair warning.
The soul is imperialistic because it
carries divine fire and so it struggles
to breathe freely in the world. To feel
and to honor that struggle is to be
healthy.
8 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

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o llama al 213-637-7810
08022021_CCM_March_FP_bleed.indd 1
2/25/21 10:10 PM

Protected by providence
After a roadside
ambush in Nigeria
nearly ended Father
Al Ezeonyeka’s life,
it took an unlikely
cast of strangers and
friends to bring him
back safely to Ventura
BY ANN RODGERS
10 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

Father Aloysius Ezeonyeka | JOHN MCCOY
The bandits stepped from the
roadside bushes and opened
fire just as Father Aloysius
Ezeonyeka finished praying the rosary.
The pastor of Sacred Heart Church
in Ventura was driving on a deserted
highway as New Year’s Eve afternoon
dimmed into evening, on the way
from the airport in Lagos to visit his
family in southeastern Nigeria.
He floored the gas, not slowing as
bullets tore into the car, believing he
was more likely to die if he stopped.
One round stuck him in the stomach
as another sliced into a tire.
“But I had to hold the wound and
keep driving,” he said.
Father Ezeonyeka is now back at
his parish in the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles, describing himself as “about
90%” healed. His survival — which
owes much to a little boy and his
father who stepped up as good Samaritans
— was far from assured.
As he fled his attackers, Father Ezeonyeka
knew he would have to pull
over before he passed out. At last he
spotted a makeshift truck stop.
“As soon as I said, ‘This is where I
need to stop,’ the engine died,” he
recalled.
He staggered from the car and
collapsed.
But there was no help. The trucks he
had seen were broken down. Sympathetic
people gathered as he lay on
the ground, bleeding, for almost an
hour.
“They didn’t know what to do. They
had no vehicle. There was no help
coming,” he said. “I was praying.”
The spiritual journey that
appeared about to reach its
earthly end had begun in a
Nigerian shantytown 55 years earlier.
As a youth, church bored Ezeonyeka.
He was glad to feel he had left God
behind when he moved away to Lagos
and became a disc jockey.
Then, in 1988 he experienced a
profound conversion through the
Catholic charismatic renewal. He
became a youth leader in his parish,
where young people responded to his
exhortations. He began to wonder
if God was calling him to the priesthood.
One year, on the feast of his patron,
St. Aloysius, he requested a Mass to
help him discern his vocation.
“The dominoes began to fall,” he said.
He entered a Benedictine monastery,
where he was ordained in 2002. But,
while leading retreats and teaching,
he began to sense he was called to
active ministry outside the monastery.
In 2004 his community sent him for a
“pastoral year” in Los Angeles, to discern
whether that was indeed his call.
It was. Father Ezeonyeka began
graduate studies in counseling, while
assisting in parishes. He loved the
work. Eventually, the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles asked him to consider
incardination — leaving the Benedictines
to become a diocesan priest.
After a year of discernment, he began
the multiyear process that led to incardination
in 2016.
When he flew out of Los Angeles on
Dec. 29, he had not been back to visit
his family for three years.
He knew the dangers of COVID-19,
but otherwise felt safe. The horrific violence
in northern Nigeria from ISIS
sympathizers who kidnapped, raped,
tortured, and killed Christians was
far to the north of his hometown. He
did not know that, since his last visit,
southern Nigeria was experiencing
a rash of violence between nomadic
herdsmen and local farmers, as well
as banditry and kidnapping from
criminal bands.
Although he did not know it, a few
days before he left Los Angeles, an
old friend had also faced a harrowing
ordeal in his native country. Father
Moses Chikwe, once a fellow Nigerian
student priest from Father Ezeonyeka’s
early days in LA and now an
auxiliary bishop in the Nigerian Diocese
of Owerri, had been kidnapped.
The day after Father Ezeonyeka was
shot, Bishop Chikwe was freed, reportedly
without ransom. Father Ezeonyeka
would also learn that a Nigerian
expatriate from Southern California
had also gone home to Nigeria for
the holidays, was kidnapped and then
murdered, even though his family had
paid a ransom.
Nothing like that crossed his mind
as he picked up a car from friends at a
Dominican community in Lagos and
headed home.
“I had lived in Nigeria all my life
[before coming to the U.S.]. I had
traveled at night and had no prob-
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 11

lem,” he said.
He has no idea who attacked him.
“They were just shooting indiscriminately.
I didn’t know if they were
robbers or herdsmen or kidnappers,”
he said. “I felt that they didn’t want
me alive. I decided I wasn’t going to
stop. If they killed me, that’s fine and
if they didn’t — that’s fine too.”
“I was ready. I told [God] I was
sorry for everything I had done
wrong. I handed over my spirit.”
He lay for an hour on the
ground at the truck stop,
bleeding out.
At around 6 p.m., a little boy, not
quite 11 years old, approached. Then
the child ran for his father — who
owned a cargo van — shouting that a
man was dying and needed help.
“The dad came and brought his
van,” Father Ezeonyeka said.
The father was a former policeman,
known as Sonny Mopo, or “Sonny
the Cop.” The little boy’s name — in
English, with no translation needed
— was “God-is-Great.”
“You couldn’t make that up,” Father
Ezeonyeka said. “That young man
literally saved my life.”
Sonny the Cop fetched his gun because
they would have to pass the site
of the ambush to reach the nearest
clinic. He told his little son to drive,
then literally rode
shotgun.
With God-is-Great at
the wheel, the bandits
again emerged from
the bush, but Sonny
was ready.
“He started shooting
his gun in the air. The bandits
thought it was the cops and they ran,”
Father Ezeonyeka said.
He was in the back, accompanied by
a Catholic man who encouraged and
prayed for him nonstop for the next
seven hours.
But when they arrived at the small
clinic, there was little more help than
at the truck stop. It had no surgeon,
no supplies, or equipment to treat a
serious wound. Sonny the Cop and
the Catholic man who was looking
after Father Ezeonyeka pleaded for an
ambulance to take him to the teaching
hospital in Benin City.
The staff doubted whether triage
protocols justified putting gas in the
ambulance for the two-hour round
trip. The priest was vomiting blood.
“I could hear them telling the doctor
to attend to other
patients, that
Father Ezeonyeka there was no way
celebrates Mass Feb. 21 this man could
at Sacred Heart Church in make it,” Father
Ventura. | JOHN MCCOY Ezeonyeka said.
He made his
peace with God.
“I was ready. I had peace with it and
told him that I am really grateful to
him for the amazing life he has given
to me. I told him I was sorry for everything
I had done wrong. I handed
over my spirit,” Father Ezeonyeka
said.
“I was actually a bit curious to see
the final act of a human dying, I was
waiting for it, curious to see how it
would happen.
“It didn’t.”
After two hours at the clinic, he
was loaded into an ambulance
for the trip to the University of
Benin City Teaching Hospital.
He arrived around 10 p.m. Most of
the doctors, including all surgeons,
12 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

had gone home to spend New Year’s
Eve with their families. The staff on
hand doubted anyone could save him.
That’s when a network of Nigerian
priests went into overdrive. When Father
Ezeonyeka’s friends were notified
of his plight, they started calling everyone
they thought might help, including
the archbishop of Benin City and
professors at the university to which
the hospital was connected.
A surgeon returned, and determined
that a whole team of surgeons would
be needed to try to save him.
“A few of the doctors felt it was
too late, but one or two said they
didn’t care, that they were going to
go through with the surgery,” Father
Ezeonyeka said.
“From then on, it was just an unbelievable
array of goodness.”
He had lost
Sonny Mopo and his
son God-is-Great with
Father Ezoenyeka at the
hospital in Nigeria.
so much blood
that they had to
obtain more before
proceeding.
The five-hour
operation began
around midnight.
He emerged from unconsciousness
surrounded by surgeons, some of
his priest friends, and his sister and
brother.
“When I responded, there was a
huge cheer, and a lot of ‘Welcome to
2021!’ ” he said.
Nine time zones away in Santa
Barbara, Auxiliary Bishop Robert
Barron, Father Ezeonyeka’s
regional bishop, picked up his phone
the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 2, and
heard a story that had changed with
multiple retellings and not entirely
factual. Bishop Barron was told that
Father Ezeonyeka was the sole survivor
of an attack that had also killed
members of his family.
“We heard that he had been shot
many times and was left on the side of
the road,” Bishop Barron said. “When
I first got the news, it was that he was
dying. We had very little hope.”
The next morning, Bishop Barron
spent the day at Father Ezeonyeka’s
parish, Sacred
Father Ezoenyeka during
a mission trip to Nigeria
in 2019. | KEVIN WHITE
Heart, to address
parishioners personally
at every
Mass. Though
he didn’t say
it in so many
words, Bishop Barron believed he was
preparing the parishioners for their
pastor’s death.
Soon after, however, Bishop Barron
received word that Father Ezeonyeka
was “in a decent hospital, being well
cared for.”
But new danger arose as the news
media caught wind of the story.
Experts on Nigeria warned the archdiocese
that, if Nigerian criminals
realized that a priest with American
connections was helpless nearby, they
might kidnap him for ransom. The
communications staff of the archdi-
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 13

ocese prevailed on journalists not to
pursue the story until Father Ezeonyeka
was safe.
When Bishop Barron reached Father
Ezeonyeka by phone, “he was very
weak. I could barely understand him.
But he was conscious, and he knew
who I was.”
The bishop was inspired — but not
surprised — by his attitude.
“He is a deeply spiritual man, who
would read anything that happened
to him from the standpoint of God’s
providence,” Bishop Barron said.
“Not once has he expressed any anger
or desire for vengeance against the
person who shot him.”
Nor has he felt it.
“I did pray for these criminals,
that God would touch
their hearts and change them,” Father
Ezeonyeka said.
His response to the entire incident has
been one of overwhelming gratitude.
He was thankful for the doctors, and
to the nurses, who placed his bed in
a spot where they could constantly
“I have no doubt that what happened to
me was guided by God, including the bullet.
Many things could have happened that didn’t.”
monitor him. He was grateful to
the stranger who prayed at his side
during the frantic search for medical
help, urging him to hang on. He
was moved by the love of his brother
priests who called powerful people
late on a holiday night to get him the
Father Ezeonyeka returned to Sacred Heart Church
six weeks after his brush with death in Nigeria. |
JOHN MCCOY
medical care necessary to save his life.
He feels inexpressible gratitude for
Sonny the Cop and God-is-Great
— non-Catholic Christians — who
returned to the truck stop to secure his
belongings and place them in the care
of his family and priest friends. He
remains in touch with them, hoping
he can help God-is-Great get the education
he needs to fulfill his dream of
becoming a doctor.
Most of all, he is grateful to God.
“God could not have been more
wonderful to me. Not just because I
survived. If I had died, I would have
said the same thing,” he said.
“It was one of the most powerful
spiritual experiences I ever had in my
life. I have no doubt that the whole
thing that happened to me was guided
by God, including the bullet. Many
14 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

things could have happened that
didn’t. It could have struck my head,
my chest, my liver. But it went just
slightly below the lung and shattered
the intestine. And
that was at the
time that I had
just finished praying
the rosary.”
He cherishes
the love and
concern of his
Father Ezeonyeka with
his kora, an instrument
common in West
Africa. | JOHN MCCOY
American friends, parishioners, and superiors,
who were ready to do whatever
it took to bring him back to the United
States for treatment. But it was important
to him to recover in Nigeria in the
care of those who had saved his life.
“I felt that the care I received from
the doctors and nurses at [the teaching
hospital] was really world standard,”
he said.
After testing negative for COVID-19,
he left Nigeria on Feb. 8, arriving in
Los Angeles the next day and quickly
returning to parish duties. He is now
noticeably thinner, having dropped 25
pounds over the course of the ordeal.
His near-death experience “changed
my perspective on life, it changed me
as a priest,” he said. “It taught me how
fleeting, how short life is, that sometimes
we focus too much on things
that don’t matter.”
He is no stranger to the medical
needs in the global South — his
parish runs a medical mission that
has helped people in many countries,
including a Nigerian refugee village.
But he had never realized how illequipped
regular medical clinics were
until he was the one in need of help.
On past trips home he has carried
toys for children. Now he wants
to bring medical supplies. And he
intends to pay more pastoral attention
to parishioners with medical emergencies
and the health care workers who
care for them.
“While I was in that ward with so
many people suffering, people who
died there, I saw the real work of trying
to save human life,” he said.
He feels humbled and affirmed that
many of those who helped him were
Catholics who
Father Ezeonkeya in
Nigeria on a medical
mission trip with West
Africa Community
Missions. | KEVIN WHITE
went the extra
mile because
he is a Catholic
priest.
“Embracing
your priesthood
is such a joy,” he
said. “They love you. The least you
can do is love the people of God back,
be there for them and pray for them
and help them to love Jesus. To enjoy
the priesthood is a wonderful gift. I
don’t see this as a terrible thing that
has happened to me.
“This has really changed me.”
Ann Rodgers is a longtime religion
reporter and freelance writer whose
awards include the William A. Reed
Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Religion News Association.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 15

A BRIDGE OF HOPE
How this winter’s COVID-19 surge is testing the faith of the ‘last
responders’ at LA’s Catholic cemeteries
BY PILAR MARRERO
Once their obligatory wellness
and temperature checks are
done, employees at All Souls
Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum
in Long Beach begin their morning
meeting with a special prayer.
“Into your hands, oh Lord, we humbly
entrust our brothers and sisters,” they
begin.
It is a morning ritual that in the wake
of Southern California’s COVID-19
winter surge, prepares the staff —
among them counselors, embalmers,
and maintenance staff — to face
human grief and tragedy on a scale that
no job training could have prepared
them for.
“Our cemeteries and funeral homes
are experiencing double or more in the
number of at-need services,” explained
Brian McMahon, director of community
outreach for the Catholic Cemeteries
and Mortuaries of the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles. “The impact has been
seen through all 11 cemeteries and six
mortuaries in Los Angeles, Ventura, and
Santa Barbara Counties.”
They stand on what you might call
“the other side” of the pandemic: the
funeral arrangers, the cemetery workers,
the people at the ready to help grieving
families at LA’s Catholic cemeteries.
Since the start of the pandemic in early
2020, but especially in the recent winter
months, they have been dealing with
an unprecedented situation that has
strained their physical, mental, and
spiritual resources.
A burial at All Souls Catholic Cemetery and
Mausoleum in Long Beach. | PILAR MARRERO
MaryAnn McAdams, who oversees
operations at All Souls, recalled overhearing
one of her employees talking
on the phone with a friend on a recent
morning.
“I feel overwhelmed just walking in
here,” the person said as they arrived at
work for their wellness check at the gate.
McAdams understands the feeling.
“Sometimes it is hard to get up in the
morning and come to work, but we are
here willingly,” she said.
“We know what we are getting into
every day. My staff are the real heroes
and it’s not just for the paycheck, it can’t
16 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

e just that,” McAdams said. “It really is
all for the glory of God.”
Then there is the “new normal” of
last goodbyes during the COVID-19
pandemic.
“The whole world has a broken spirit,”
said Ramon Núñez, manager of Holy
Cross Catholic Mortuary in Culver
City.
It worries and saddens Núñez that
COVID-19 restrictions have also made
it more difficult for families, going
through unimaginable pain, to say a
proper goodbye to their loved ones. It
has made it harder for the cemeteries to
make those families feel welcome, and
be surrounded by people dedicated to
serving them with empathy, sensitivity,
and efficiency in the process available
in more normal times.
“Just imagine not to be able to celebrate
a person’s life in the way that they
were accustomed to,” said Núñez.
Suddenly gone are the large funerals
with 150 or 200 family members, the
mariachi band offering favorite songs
at the graveside. Technically, only 30
family members are allowed at the
service and, for much of the winter
surge, funeral Masses were held outside
under a tent with limited and socially
distanced seating.
Gone are the typical rituals of death
and final farewells that allow families to
start the grieving process surrounded by
others.
“There’s generally no vigil, or “velorio,”
of the deceased or it’s just limited
to 30 minutes for a quick viewing of the
body, and then we celebrate the Mass
and go to the burial site,” recounted
Núñez. “That’s where people gather
and tell stories about the person; it’s like
a celebration of that life. But that is no
longer possible.”
On a recent February morning at
All Souls, mourners gathered
to witness one of several burials
that day. All are masked and spread
out, as best as their emotions will allow.
The actual burial is happening farther
away, workers lowering the casket on the
ground. There’s no gathering around
or throwing handfuls of soil, or that last
rose on top of the wooden coffin before
it disappears inside the ground.
Some of the
deceased are
Funeral Director
Griselda Caldera and
Mortuary Manager
Ramon Núñez at
Holy Cross Catholic
Cemetery in Culver City.
| JOHN MCCOY
showing up with
no family members.
They are
alone and make
the arrangements
beforehand.
“We make time
and go to the
gravesite services
to be there for
that person,” explained McAdams about
such cases. “Those funerals impact us
greatly.”
At the beginning of the pandemic,
cemetery grounds were closed, and
visits not allowed — only burials with
immediate family present were possible
— something that was very hard on
the families, many of whom were not
able to be with their loved ones in the
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 17

hospital as they lay dying.
Eventually, the rules changed and
cemetery gates opened again for visits.
“One of the happiest days was when
we were able to open our gates for about
three hours a day,” said McAdams. “The
families then could come and visit,
spend time with their loved ones; it is
comforting to them, that’s why we are
here.”
But while the cemetery restrictions
have relented, the flow of cases has
not, especially during the recent winter
surge. Recently, All Souls hosted 17
burials in a single day. Burials are up
by at least 50% compared to pre-
COVID-19 times. In mid-February,
there were some 200 families waiting to
finalize burial plans at the cemetery. To
make things even harder, the required
government paperwork for burials is
taking longer to arrive than before the
pandemic.
At Holy Cross in Culver City, about
80 families were waiting for their loved
one’s burial. Any past January, the cemetery
averaged 90 burials. This year it was
150.
The tragic personal stories, however,
are the most heart-wrenching McAdams
and Núñez have experienced in their
decades of ministry. They both agree
they have never seen anything like this.
“Today we have two different families
that are burying mother and daughter,”
said McAdams. “We have seen brothers
buried at the same time because they
were together at a function where they
got infected. These families are completely
broken, you can’t blame them
… we live these stories daily.”
A woman showed up at one of the
cemeteries and told her story to the
counselor. She had just lost her husband
and was left with five kids, the
youngest of which was 6 years old. He
went into the hospital and 16 days later
he was dead. The woman sat across the
table, an acrylic screen separating her
from the counselor, everyone masked
and distanced, telling of her complete
shock.
“I don’t get it, I don’t get it,” she said to
the counselor. “I dropped him off at the
hospital and now he is dead, I never saw
him again.”
A burial at All Souls Catholic Cemetery and
Mausoleum in Long Beach. | PILAR MARRERO
Most families are appreciative of
any efforts to ease their pain.
“For the majority of families,
their faith is the crux of their arrangement;
to provide Catholic burials to
families is so important, they call us
back and thank us for making things a
little bit easier,” said McAdams.
At both cemeteries, there are still many
families to serve and staff is usually
short. Jobs are harder to fill, said Núñez,
due to disinformation about the risk of
the job, which he says is more mental
and spiritual than physical, given the
precautions taken.
The cemetery staff live their own
tragedies as well. Many have endured
illness and family deaths of their own
during the pandemic. And every day
they go home after dealing with the
tragedies of others to face their own
challenges. “My mother and father were
both in the ministry [cemeteries], and
this is something I don’t ever remember
18 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

experiencing,” said McAdams. “I know
my staff sometimes just needs a day to
breathe fresh air, because we never want
to be callous, but be clothed in mercy
and compassion.”
The restrictions
around the
services frustrate
the cemetery
workers for whom
this work is part of
their ministry.
“As the manager,
I attest to
that this is not
who we are. We
Holy Cross funeral
directors Griselda Caldera
(left) and Elli Alcula (right)
have had to make adjustments
to funeral planning
due to COVID-19.
| JOHN MCCOY
want to give the maximum comfort and
empathy and provide a bridge of hope,”
said Núñez, who is a deacon. “But that
bridge is very short at the moment.”
Managers have small gestures toward
employees: they leave a bottle of water
on their desks and make sure they have
something to eat. They push caskets or
sell flowers if someone calls in sick and
they meet with families and listen to
their stories as counselors would.
“I try to be here, be available, show
the support, the understanding, the
appreciation,”
said Núñez.
A woman sits at a grave at
Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery
on Feb. 15 in Culver
City. | JOHN MCCOY
“Everybody here
is giving their
lives, postponing
our lives because
of the pandemic.
My job is to be
the cheerleader
for my staff, to look for the light at the
end of the tunnel.”
But both Núñez and McAdams point
to their employees as the real heroes
who sacrifice the most to meet the
needs of the families. They are the “last
responders,” doing their part at the other
end of the battle against the pandemic.
“We pray for the families and also for
ourselves, to be able to get through the
day,” said McAdams. “I see every single
one of my employees as a hero, because
they are tirelessly coming in every day,
not knowing what to expect.”
Pilar Marrero is a journalist who for 25
years has extensively covered the areas of
city government, immigration, and state
and national politics.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 19

Doses of
confidence
For LA priests, getting vaccinated
against COVID-19 is part of their
front-line work in the pandemic
BY TOM HOFFARTH
The clergy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (ADLA)
are far from immune to the challenges of securing
coronavirus vaccines these days.
Msgr. John Moretta of Resurrection Church in Boyle
Heights can tell his story now with some sense of humor.
The 79-year-old laughs when he tells people that he was
“hoping that when I went in, someone would ask for my ID
to see if I could prove I was over 65 … but no one did.”
Seventy-nine-year-old Msgr. John Moretta is pastor of Resurrection
Church in Boyle Heights, one of the LA neighborhoods hit hardest by
COVID-19. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
But getting there wasn’t all that amusing to him. He tried
registering online, only to see his information wiped from
the form time and again as he tried to get an appointment
for his first shot.
He finally set up his first shot in January. Then, on the day
after Ash Wednesday, when Msgr. Moretta arrived at Dodger
Stadium for his second shot, he spent three hours sitting in
his car as organizers scrambled to assess if they had enough
doses to give out. He eventually got it.
Still, the experience hasn’t deterred him from stressing to
his parishioners in one of the LA neighborhoods hardest hit
by COVID-19 to follow his lead: be persistent, ask for help,
and don’t be afraid.
“I put it all out there on social media, in the bulletin, on
our website — we’re asking people to go and I give them my
own example,” said Msgr. Moretta, who last month celebrated
his 29 years as pastor at Resurrection. “Some of them lack
the confidence in taking the shot. I know maneuvering the
sign-ups isn’t really user-friendly.
“But now I feel I’m on all cylinders. I’m good to go and
have been very happy from my first shot. It brought me a lot
20 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

of relief.”
As of Feb. 22, LA County had administered some 1.7 million
doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with about 500,000 of
those as second doses. California remains the state with the
most COVID-related deaths.
In his own neighborhood, Msgr. Moretta has directed people
to vaccinations at places that range from the local CVS
pharmacy to the iconic old Sears Tower building, as well as
the campus at Cal State Los Angeles and the Keck Medical
Center of USC.
Father Chris Ponnet is the chaplain at Keck and at LA
County USC Medical Center. He believes he was the first
ADLA priest to be vaccinated in late December with the
Pfizer dose.
In addition to protecting his own health and those of his
fellow chaplains as they minister sacraments to the sick and
infirm, Father Ponnet has also preached the importance of
getting the shots.
“I felt it was very important to post my photos, invite others
who sadly may be fearful and be saying negative things,” he
said, who lost his 52-year-old niece to the virus. “This isn’t
only professional, but very personal. It’s important to be a
witness and say this is an act of a pro-life ministry.”
Almost a year ago, Msgr. John Barry, pastor of American
Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach, survived his own unnerving
bout with COVID-19. Nonetheless, the 83-year-old
was one of several South Bay clergy members from different
denominations to take up an offer by Torrance Memorial
Hospital to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
The hospital said it received a waiver for local clergy who
volunteer at the hospital to help its employed chaplain, thus
meeting the definition of health care workers.
Even though Msgr. Barry’s doctors told him he had built up
enough antibodies to fight the virus going forward, getting
the vaccine was a matter of trusting their advice.
“Pope Francis encourages everyone to be vaccinated,” said
Msgr. Barry, at American Martyrs since 1983. “However, I
respect the decision of those who think differently. I have
no problem with people who question the vaccine. I want
people to know that I support the vaccine. I trust science.”
Msgr. Jim Bevacqua, pastor at Holy Name Church in Glendale
since 2008, said he felt no “Catholic guilt” for getting
vaccinated at the age of 62, although he did feel chills for a
day after the second shot.
The priest ended up getting his vaccine from a local convalescent
home with excess supply that would have otherwise
been discarded.
“The reality is that from what I read, there are a lot of unused
vaccines and there are disparities unfortunately in poor
and underprivileged communities, which is totally wrong,”
he said. “I certainly didn’t feel entitled to get one.”
Much of the work of priests, Father Lawrence Santos
pointed out, is done on the “front lines” of sick calls, hearing
confessions, and celebrating Masses.
“We are in close contact with far more people than anyone
who can work remotely and stay with their family. I am
unabashed about having been vaccinated. I feel we’re doing
this as an act of charity as well to protect other people.”
Father Santos, who became pastor at St. Genevieve
Church in Panorama City during the pandemic lockdown
last September, said he is fortunate to live walking distance
from a Kaiser Permanente medical center. The 57-year-old
and his associates have been vaccinated because of their
sacramental work there.
“When we got it, I posted on Facebook and highlighted
it at Mass and in our bulletin,” said Father Santos. “People
are asking me about it. We are still following protocols with
masks and everything, but we have less fear of the virus
now.”
Archbishop José H. Gomez and Auxiliary Bishop Alex
Aclan both received their two doses of the Pfizer vaccine at
Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica,
which has taken a proactive role in getting archdiocesan
priests vaccinated.
Sister Margarita Rico from the Servants of Mary said she
was able to book appointments for 82 priests, many of whom
are retired at the Nazareth House assisted-living facility in
LA, where she works.
“We are very thankful to Saint John’s personnel for this
blessing and gift, and I was proud of the priests who went,”
she said. Sister Rico had her
Archbishop José H. Gomez receives
the second dose of the Pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine at Providence
Saint John’s Medical Center in Santa
Monica Feb. 11. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
own bout with COVID-19
late last year and received
a vaccination in mid-February.
“I consider them to be essential
workers, interacting
with people on home visits
for sacraments. It’s essential
they all get the vaccine. Some have a lot of underlying
health conditions. Maybe the health department put them
in a different category for those who only live a spiritual life,
but that’s very essential to human beings.”
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning journalist based in Los
Angeles.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 21

A Franciscan touch in
St. Peter’s
So far, changing the
inner culture of the
Vatican has proven
difficult for Pope
Francis. His latest
surprise pick may
make it a little easier
BY ELISE ANN ALLEN
ROME — On Saturday, Feb. 20,
the Holy See announced two
major personnel moves by Pope
Francis.
The one that has made the most
waves in the Catholic world since then
was the pope’s acceptance of the resignation
of Guinean Cardinal Robert
Sarah as head of the Vatican’s liturgy
department for age reasons.
The 75-year-old cardinal and Pope
Francis have often been styled as ideological
opponents, due to their seemingly
divergent outlooks on matters
ranging from immigration to liturgical
preferences.
Since Cardinal Sarah’s successor has
not yet been named, there is speculation
about whether Pope Francis will
use the vacancy as an opportunity to
shift the department in a more progressive
direction, as Cardinal Sarah, 75, is
a prominent conservative and enthusiastic
proponent of the Traditional Latin
Mass.
But while the day’s other announcement
made much less of a stir, it promises
to have significant implications not
only for the Vatican, but the direction
of Pope Francis’ papacy: In tandem
with the news of Cardinal Sarah’s
retirement, the Vatican announced the
departure of Italian Cardinal Angelo
Comastri, 77, from his position as
archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and
president of the Fabric of St. Peter, a
post he had held since 2005.
Known colloquially as the “Fabbrica,”
the Fabric of St. Peter’s is the office
responsible for the upkeep of the basilica.
Maintenance of the Vatican City
State itself falls under the care of the
Vatican Governorate.
Taking Cardinal Comastri’s place will
be neo-Cardinal Mauro Gambetti,
a Conventual Franciscan who just
got his red hat from Pope Francis in
November.
Until now, Cardinal Gambetti, 55,
had since 2013 been in charge of running
the Sacred Convent of St. Francis
of Assisi, where St. Francis is buried. In
addition to being the youngest of the
newest crop of cardinals to be elevated,
Cardinal Gambetti also has a degree in
engineering, theology, and theological
anthropology.
Cardinal Gambetti’s appointment
is important on several levels. While
running the basilica itself is not one
of the Vatican’s most high-profile gigs,
the Vatican does take its spiritual and
cultural patrimony very seriously, and
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, former archpriest of
St. Peter’s Basilica, leads a Marian prayer service in
St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican March 11, 2020.
| CNS/VATICAN MEDIA
preserving that is a priority, especially
given the prized role that the Church
believes beauty plays in evangelization.
Yet apart from the patrimonial aspect
of overseeing the Vatican’s most iconic
landmark, Cardinal Gambetti also
represents a step toward changing the
inner culture of the Vatican, which is
at the heart of Pope Francis’ reform
efforts.
Pope Francis has often said that
quite apart from structural reform, no
meaningful change is possible unless
the Vatican’s internal culture itself
changes, and Cardinal Gambetti’s
entrance onto the Vatican scene is part
of this cultural reform.
On one hand, Cardinal Comastri’s
resignation is not a huge surprise given
that he is 77, two years beyond the
normal age of retirement, so stepping
down seems natural.
However, the context of this transition
is important. It happened at the same
22 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

time that a trial
is underway in
the Vatican’s
criminal
tribunal for
two priests
who attended a
minor seminary
associated with
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti,
the new archpriest of St.
Peter’s Basilica, after being
made a cardinal by Pope
Francis at the Vatican Nov.
28, 2020. | CNS/FABIO
FRUSTACI, REUTERS
St. Peter’s Basilica, one of whom is
accused of sexually abusing a younger
boy while a seminarian, and the other
with covering it up.
On Feb. 24, several witnesses in the
trial took the stand, some of whom
accused Cardinal Comastri of knowing
about rumors of misconduct and doing
nothing, and of blocking attempts
to oust the rector of the St. Pius X
pre-seminary, who is accused of covering
up the abuse and of hindering the
Vatican’s investigation.
Whether Cardinal Comastri is guilty
of any negligence in the case is yet to
be seen, however, it stands to reason
that with a trial underway, Pope
Francis was likely aware of allegations
against him, and this could have been
a factor in why his resignation was
accepted now.
If Cardinal Comastri did do the
wrongs he is accused of, it would be
consistent with the longtime “old
school” mentality in the Church
that has been the source of so much
scandal in the abuse crisis: not outright
coverup, but a disregard of accusations
of abuse or misconduct and giving the
benefit of the doubt to clergy and those
in positions of ecclesial power.
A lot has changed since Cardinal
Comastri was last promoted 15 years
ago in terms of the Church’s approach
to the abuse crisis; culturally there is
more awareness of the underlying causes,
there is a clearer definition of what
constitutes abuse, and the Vatican City
State itself has new laws cracking down
on bishops for both abuse and coverup.
To that end, having someone new that
isn’t prey to old habits is important for
whatever problems or scandals might
come up in the future.
But even more importantly, the Cardinal
Gambetti pick says a few things
about Pope Francis’ intentions.
Cardinal Gambetti is a Franciscan,
someone who for years lived in the
place where the pope’s namesake, St.
Francis of Assisi, lived and carried out
his ministry, a site that normally draws
thousands of pilgrims every year.
His presence inside the Vatican
now is a visible sign of the tone of the
reform Pope Francis wants, one fashioned
after St. Francis of Assisi, a man
of poverty long celebrated as a courageous
agent of change in the Church,
causing it to become humbler.
Since the beginning of his papacy, the
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pope has embraced and celebrated St.
Francis as a model for justice, solidarity,
brotherhood, and peace.
In an audience with journalists just
days after his election in 2013, Pope
Francis said he first thought of naming
himself after the great 13th-century
saint when, after it was obvious that he
had won the necessary two-thirds majority
vote, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio
Hummes hugged him and told him,
“Don’t forget the poor.”
“How I would love a Church that is
poor and for the poor,” Pope Francis
said in the audience.
It’s a message Pope Francis has tried
to drive home ever since, in exhortations,
encyclicals, and in some of the
major speeches of his papacy. But by
placing someone already immersed in
this vision into a top position within
the system, he may have just taken the
most important step toward implementing
that culture change.
Elise Ann Allen is a senior correspondent
for Crux in Rome, covering the
Vatican and the global Church.
Look for our insert in this publication.
Then share a gift beyond measure this Lent.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 23
11022021_CNEWA_Angelus_1-3pH.indd 1
2/26/21 1:51 PM

Questions
that keep
us alive
Finding God in
suffering has never
been easy. A Jesuit
brother’s new book
has some suggestions
on where to look
BY NICK RIPATRAZONE
Each Lent, I reread “The
Power and the Glory,” Graham
Greene’s moving novel about a
Mexican priest’s struggle to celebrate
Mass — and stay alive — after the
government has outlawed Catholicism
in the region. All of the other
priests have left their positions. Some
have gotten married. Others, refusing
to cower, were executed.
It is not an easy read. Yet the book
always leaves me feeling hopeful,
and I am not the only one. Others
who love this book, melancholy as it
might be, leave it feeling full of faith.
The book powers me through Lent;
it is a worthy literary pilgrimage.
After this year, I’ll add another book
to my Lenten reading list: “O Death,
Where Is Thy Sting?: A Meditation
on Suffering” (Orbis Books, $17.99),
a book by Brother Joe Hoover, SJ. A
playwright and the poetry editor of
America magazine, Brother Hoover
takes on an ambitious, and dark,
subject: the suffering of this world. A
perennial question, but one especially
pertinent now, and undoubtedly
a source of reflection for Catholics as
we somehow enter our second Lent
during a pandemic.
Brother Hoover’s book is arranged
into sections, often thematically centered,
or focused on an event or incident.
I read it straight through in the
days before Ash Wednesday, and let its
energy carry me forward, although I
think some readers might find it most
spiritually apt to experience the book
in parts.
Brother Hoover’s book is saturated
with questions, and perhaps the most
common one is simply, why?
It is a question that most of us have
asked with perhaps even more regularity
than usual this past year. How
could God allow this to happen to
us? It is a selfish
Brother Joe Hoover, SJ
| IMAGE VIA FACEBOOK
question, but a
human one.
“The incarnation
does not seal
your viciousness
behind a wall forever so it can never
come out,” he writes. “Nor does the
incarnation wrap you up in its woolen
cowl and keep you from being wounded
by other people’s sins.” The world
often hurts.
“Is there a God? A ridiculous question,”
Brother Hoover writes early in
his book. “We all know the answer
to that. Just look around.” He doesn’t
question the existence of God; in a
way, that would be too simplistic —
the presence of suffering as merely
the absence of God. Brother Hoover
is more interested in the how and why
of God. It is an endlessly complex
and deep theological question, but
in Brother Hoover’s hands, it feels
palpable. Necessary.
He quotes St. Irenaeus, who observed
that “the glory of God is the
human being fully alive.” Yet he
acknowledges a paradox: “Any human
fully alive can get shattered by life
again and again.” He follows with a
reasonable question: “When will God
get enough glory that we can quit
being so completely alive and just sit
around for a few minutes?”
I laughed, and then I nodded my
24 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

head. Brother Hoover has a way of
doing that — getting his readers to
chuckle, and then to ponder. While
reading this book, I often felt as if he
was my spiritual guide from afar. He
sometimes tells us that it will all be
OK. Other times, he tells us to do
better, to be better. As a guide, and as
a writer, he has a knack for pacing and
pressure.
He also has the skill of breadth. In
“O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?”
Hoover mines a dizzying array of
sources and inspirations: St. Thomas
Aquinas, Gerhard Von Rad, “On the
Waterfront,” Annie Dillard, Jacques
Derrida, Father Daniel Berrigan, SJ,
St. Teresa of Ávila, Jean-Luc Marion,
St. Augustine, Ruth Burrows, “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream,” St. John
of the Cross, among others. We feel
in good presence here: Brilliant and
creative minds have wondered, along
with us, about God’s plan.
Brother Hoover is especially interested
in God through the person
of Christ. He ponders “the painful
blasting humanity of Christ.” He
wonders what it means that Christ is
with us always: “Does Christ carry the
you of two thousand years away, you
and all your petty madness, the girl
you left behind, the bad movies, the
failed exams, the love child, the weird
quiet relief of cutting the lawn; the
crushed cathedral, the mushroom and
the cloud and the way a snake turns
everything around it into sacred fear?”
We should be thankful and in awe
of this gift of Christ’s presence, but
Brother Hoover is a shrewd enough
spiritual companion to know that, in
matters of faith, “should” rarely means
“always.”
He quotes the poet Katie Ford:
“Where’s it gone? God of my childhood,
/ with your attendant monstrosities,
/ have a little warmth on me,
bent and frozen.” It is a sentiment that
reverberates throughout this book.
Brother Hoover states it lyrically: “O
Lord, how long until we see thy face?
What is thy face that we might see it?
When will the world be made comprehensible
for us? When will you lift
ORBIS BOOKS
us out of our human poverty? Or is
that the point of human poverty?”
Brother Hoover seems to choose
questions because that is the heart of
faith. Not the questioning of whether
God exists, but the questioning of the
shape and sound and sense and spirit
of God. I think here of Father Henri
Nouwen, who implored us to “learn
the discipline of being surprised not
by suffering, but by joy.” Suffering
is inevitable. Suffering is present.
Instead, let us be surprised by joy, “by
the little flower that shows its beauty
in the midst of a barren desert.”
Brother Hoover shares an anecdote
about the folly of being too clever
in our analyses of Scripture; that
sometimes we might “just listen and
be in awe.” A God that we can fully
understand with reasoning and logic,
perhaps, is no God at all. We will
suffer, Brother Hoover assures. But we
will also be surprised by joy.
Nick Ripatrazone has written for Rolling
Stone, GQ, The Atlantic, and Esquire.
His latest book is “Wild Belief:
Poets and Prophets in the Wilderness”
(Broadleaf Books, $25.99).
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March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 25

AD REM
ROBERT BRENNAN
Going solo in our silos
The latest Netflix documentary
garnering lots of attention is
a macabre story of a young
woman’s tragic death in a seedy hotel
in downtown Los Angeles.
Like the hotel in Stephen King’s “The
Shining,” the Cecil Hotel in the documentary
“Crime Scene: The Vanishing
at the Cecil Hotel,” feels like another
character in the story that unfolds, and
it’s a character with dark and schizophrenic
overtones.
The Cecil was a flophouse for people
living on the edge of society — and of
Skid Row, one of the most dangerous
and tragic examples of the homelessness
crisis found anywhere in the United
States. For young, usually foreign
tourists, it was a hostel-like economy
hotel.
And it was the sometime residence of
notorious serial killers.
The young college student from Canada
— the “vanishing” subject of the
documentary — was certainly looking
for an “LA experience.” Sadly, she got
one.
At the outset, the series looked like it
was living up to the first part of its title.
The strange and inexplicable disappearance
of this young college student
on her own in LA certainly looked like
a crime had taken place. But by the
end of the four-part series something
entirely different takes shape. It is just
about as tragic, but sometimes things
are not what they first appear to be.
As compelling and sad as the story of
this poor young person is, the subtext
of the documentary and what it says
about our culture is almost as troubling
— namely our propensity for living in
silos.
When an office setting becomes
dysfunctional, it is usually attributed to
something people who make a living
telling businesses how to be more successful
call “silos.” An office where indi-
Promotional image for the documentary
“Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.”
| SCREENSHOT VIA NETFLIX
vidual members are siloed away in their
own offices with their own agendas is
not conducive to that “team” mentality
advocated in modern works settings.
What became very evident from this
Netflix documentary is how siloed we
as a culture have become. Everyone
interviewed in the series, from cops
to hotel workers to the many self-appointed
social media investigators,
all seemed to be in silos of their own
making, not to mention the co-star of
the series — a 600-room hotel filled
with people living in dingy hotel room
silos of their own.
In particular, it was the social media
“experts” in the film who really gave
off this feeling of disconnection. They
were private citizens who, for one
26 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

Robert Brennan is director of
communications at The Salvation
Army California South Division.
reason or another, became obsessed
with the case. They used the means at
their disposal, primarily the internet,
to foster a subculture of “experts” who
formulated all manner of conspiracy
theories and evidence analysis to reach
conclusions that all proved, in the end,
to be wrong.
One person was identified by the
series as a “web sleuth.” I didn’t know
that was an occupation. What was most
unsettling about this person was how
emotionally connected he believed
he was with the victim — whom he
had never met — as he sat alone in his
siloed domicile.
I hope I’m not so callous that I can
watch a series about a young woman
who meets a terribly tragic end and not
feel some empathy. But to watch the
“web sleuth” — who had dedicated
years on this “case” even though no
one asked him to — break down on
camera when he speaks of the victim,
was unsettling.
There were other “experts” who had
taken it upon themselves to review every
shred of public evidence and make
bold claims as to what happened to the
victim. Like so much of what we see
in news media and on social networks
these days, people just don’t know what
they don’t know, but that doesn’t stop
them from standing by all manner of
wild claims.
Throw in a worldwide pandemic and
it seems everyone, no matter where
they go, are in silos now. In the age of
social distancing, we even find silos
in church, with pews sectioned off
and the rules of engagement (or lack
thereof) strictly enforced. Finding that
sense of the sacred while praying as a
community in such circumstances is
no small challenge.
We’re becoming so acclimated to this
kind of insulation we should take this
Netflix documentary as a cautionary
tale. As it turns out, those office experts
may be onto something about the importance
of breaking out of our silos.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 27
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NOW PLAYING MINARI
THE INGREDIENTS OF
THE AMERICAN DREAM
Awards season sensation ‘Minari’ is a profound reflection
on the meaning of family, failure, and unwelcome surprises
“Minari” tells the story of a
Korean family that moves
from California to Arkansas
during the Reagan years.
| A24/ROTTEN TOMATOES
BY STEFANO REBEGGIANI
“If you took me to live in a place like that, I would leave
you.”
Those were my wife’s words to me while watching
the initial sequence of “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung’s immigrant
drama, which won multiple awards at last year’s Sundance
Film Festival, now available for viewing on demand.
A family van moves through the lush scenery of the Ozarks
only to stop in the middle of nowhere, in front of a mobile
house surrounded by green fields. When wife and mother
Monica (played by Yeri Han) gets out of the car, the look on
her face is one of terror.
“What is this place?” she asks.
“Minari” tells the story of a young Korean couple who move
with their two kids from California during the 1980s to rural
Arkansas in search of a better and more independent life, a
choice that generates tensions between husband and wife,
which ultimately threaten to tear the family apart.
Monica is an overprotective mother, and not without good
reason: Their youngest son, David (played brilliantly by
Alan Kim), suffers from a heart murmur. Jacob, her husband
(played by Steven Yeun), has turned his business of planting
Korean vegetables on American soil into a personal battle
to show his children, and the world, that he can succeed at
something.
His mentality is all in the brief exchanges with his son. He
works in a hatchery separating female chicks from the males.
When his child points at the smoke rising from a chimney in
the hatchery, he explains that that is where the useless male
chickens are discarded.
“So you and I should try to be useful, OK?” he adds.
As the father of an immigrant family in the U.S., some of
the moments in “Minari” felt familiar. The movie touches on
many of the challenges, dilemmas, and sufferings that shape
this most American of experiences.
Yet “Minari” also left me with an unexpected sense of hope.
While not explicitly religious, the film is a masterful depic-
28 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

tion of the invisible works of God, a reminder of a famous
quote from St. John Henry Newman: “... it is the rule of
Providence that we should succeed by failure.”
“Minari” is largely autobiographical. Struggling moviemaker
Lee Isaac Chung (writer and director) found his inspiration
in the works of early 20th-century writer Willa Cather,
whose career turned around when she “ceased to admire and
began to remember.”
Following her lead, Chung revisited his childhood memories
of farm life in Arkansas, and the movie’s gorgeous cinematography
is almost a perfect match for Cather’s inimitable
descriptive prose.
Jacob’s only helper on the farm is an eccentric Pentecostal
by the name of Paul, played by Will Patton. One day they
meet him on their way to church, and the man is carrying a
heavy wooden cross up the dirt road.
“This is my church,” he explains.
It is a profound insight: the world is where we worship, our
actions show who our god is. Jacob cares little for spirituality:
His religion is succeeding at what he does, up to the point of
becoming a curse.
The property’s
previous owner,
we learn, killed
himself after
Alan S. Kim and Yuh-
Jung Youn. | MELISSA
LUKENBAUGH/COUR-
TESY A24
going bankrupt.
As he tills the
soil, Paul utters
prayers to cast out
demons. Is Jacob
possessed by his
dream of success?
Monica, on the other hand, forces her child to pray every
night, telling him about children in Korea who saw heaven
before bedtime and recovered from their sicknesses.
The unexpected turn in the story comes with the arrival
from Korea of Soonja (Yuh-Jung Youn), Monica’s mother.
She embodies the typical hardened, working-class Korean
woman shaped by a war that split her country in two, the
opposite of the grandmotherly ideal.
“You do not look like a grandmother!” David keeps telling
her.
Rather than bake cookies, she drinks Mountain Dew, plays
cards, and teaches her grandchildren Korean swear words.
After a series of initial skirmishes and comic misunderstandings,
she forms a bond with little David. She is not one
for coddling children and lets him run free and explore the
countryside around the house, much to his mother’s worry.
Her presence increases the
couple’s awareness of what they
have given up.
“Whenever someone made
your mom and dad sing, they’d
get all lovey-dovey as they sang
Writer and director Lee Isaac
Chung (right) with Will Patton and
Steven Yeun on set. | MELISSA
LUKENBAUGH/COURTESY A24
this song,” she tells the children at one point. Now they do
not sing anymore, and their life is a constant, silent battle.
More importantly, through her careless and naive attitude,
she sets in motion a series of events that offer the family healing
when everything seems irreparable.
The movie takes its name from a hardy Korean herb that
grows without effort and thrives by itself if planted in the right
place.
Jakob is trying to grow Korean vegetables on American land,
very much like he is trying to transplant his family on American
soil, an enterprise that requires planning, intelligence,
effort, and hard work — the ingredients of the American
dream. And yet his proverbial crop fails: the Korean vegetables
are dying, and his family is coming apart.
On the contrary, Grandma Soonja seems to possess the
wisdom of the minari herb. The children begin to thrive, and
heal, under her careless guidance. Her down-to-earth nature
provides a corrective to both the secular worship of Jacob and
the magical, mystical religiosity of his wife.
Narratives of the American dream are often characterized
by the idea that effort, self-imposed moral discipline, and
resilience eventually win the day. This is hardly a liberating
narrative, especially for those who fail, and one that does not
leave much space for the free work of grace.
“Minari” has a deeper wisdom to share, where salvation
comes through the least expected people, through painful
events that disrupt our plans, and through failure.
In her lack of planning and the chaos she leaves in her
wake, Grandma Soonja represents the hand of God, that
unforeseen live event that ends up being the means of salvation.
“Minari” is a story of failure and rebirth, where rebirth
is caused by someone other than us, someone who guides us
not through moral precepts, but through real events and real
people.
It is a rare moment of illumination when art can help us
think about the invisible designs at work in the patterns of
everyday life.
Stefano Rebeggiani is an associate professor of classics at the
University of Southern California.
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 29

DESIRE LINES
HEATHER KING
The temptations of Los Angeles
After months of COVID-19 lockdown,
spring fever this year is at
a high pitch.
Last week’s destination was the Baldwin
Hills Scenic Overlook (BHSO), off
Jefferson Boulevard on the west side of
Culver City.
The 20-mile trip took 1 1/2 hours as,
true to form, traffic intervened. Specifically,
the 10 ramp off the 110-South
was closed. That’s right. The ramp
from the 110-South to the 10-West
freeway. Closed.
This gave me a chance to meander,
and I do mean meander, around the
surface streets of West Adams, Crenshaw,
and Mid-City before finding my
way to Venice Boulevard and points
west.
The BHSO hours are 8 a.m. to sunset.
No smoking, bikes, dogs, or booze.
A Gluten Free Organic Vegan Fresh
Juicery truck, its speakers blasting music,
was parked next to the trailhead.
Technically a state park, the overlook’s
“views near and far offer fascinating
insights into the interconnected
natural and cultural worlds of the
Los Angeles Basin.” A crisis between
people and the land is noted. The
environment is coastal sage scrub.
There are two ways to get to the top
of the hill. One is a fearsome set of
straight-up stairs that call to mind those
National Geographic photographs of
Machu Picchu.
The other, for which I opted, is a
trail that moves upward in a capacious
spiral, intersecting every so often with
the stairs so that you can see people
huffing, puffing, and staggering to the
next landing.
Making my way the mile or so
upward, I noted lizards, wildflowers,
native plants, quail, hawks, and a
cloud-studded sky.
But what I really noted were the scads
of people, of all ages, body types, hair-
View of Los Angeles from the Baldwin Hills
Scenic Overlook. | SHUTTERSTOCK
styles, and clothing sensibilities; people
hungry for fresh air, the outdoors, other
people, a little exertion, the sun.
Toddlers and teenagers. A gloriously
fit young woman, stretching at the
bottom, psyching herself for a push to
the top. A shirtless guy in a Lakers cap
crabbing with huge strides sideways
back down the stairs. Young mothers
with strollers. More “mature” folks
such as me.
Reaching the top felt good. Now that
Lent is upon us, all the way up I’d
been reflecting on the parable of the
temptation of the desert (Matthew 4:1-
11). Satan first invites Jesus, ravenous
from 40 days of fasting, to command
the stones to turn into bread. No, says
Christ: I don’t perform parlor tricks.
Satan then leads Jesus to the top of
a parapet and invites him to throw
30 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

Heather King is an award-winning
author, speaker, and workshop leader.
himself down. No, says Christ. I don’t
tempt the Father by foolishly putting
myself in harm’s way.
Finally, “the devil took him up to a
very high mountain and he showed
him all the kingdoms of the world in
their magnificence and he said to him,
‘All these I shall give to you if you will
prostrate yourself and worship me.’ ”
Looking out over the vast expanse
of our smog-shrouded metropolis, I
imagined Satan tempting Christ with
the keys of greater LA.
I imagined Christ looking out over
everything, too: the freeways, the
mansions, the museums, the palm
trees, starlets and swimming pools,
Rodeo Drive, the Rose Bowl, Dodger
Stadium, the Staples Center, Universal
Studios, Disneyworld, Magic Mountain.
Christ was never remotely interested
in worldly power for power’s sake.
He was interested in individual people,
not principalities.
But I, for one, sometimes forget that
in the desert he was tempted. He was
weakened. He was hungry and thirsty.
He was alone. Perhaps he had felt
the Father to be absent during those
40 days in the wilderness: a foretaste
of the abandonment he would later
experience nailed to the cross at Mt.
Calvary.
If he was fully divine, he was also fully
human. And what human, at his or her
weakest, hasn’t longed, however fleetingly,
to have others at his beck and
call; to have the red carpet rolled out,
just once; to lie back and let others do
the heavy lifting? Don’t we all, at our
lowest ebb, long for a smidge of glitz
and glamour to brighten our weary,
toil-smeared lives?
But Jesus must have seen to the
marrow of his bones, out there in the
desert, that his domain was never to
be a worldly kingdom, but rather the
human heart.
Thus, not the skyscrapers of downtown
but the knots of dear teenage
Fresco depicting Jesus tempted with bread
by the devil in the desert. | SHUTTERSTOCK
girls, twittering like a flock of excited
sparrows, who were scattered across
the top of the overlook. Not a mansion
in Bel-Air, but the guy doing push-ups
over to the side. Not a pricey meal at
Bestia, but the little girl in braids who
made room for me on the stone ledge.
Not a parade and a state holiday, but
the father who triumphantly carried his
3-year-old son on his shoulders as he
labored up the last flight of stairs.
Did anyone need healing? A demon
driven out? A listening ear? A touch?
Thus, “Jesus said to him, ‘Get away
Satan! It is written: The Lord, your
God, shall you worship and him alone
shall you serve.’ ”
The drive home was a breeze.
Or as the parable has it: “Then the
devil left him, and behold, angels
came and ministered to him.”
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Joy in Lent?
LETTER AND SPIRIT
SCOTT HAHN
Scott Hahn is founder of the
St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.
We’re well into Lent by now,
and so it’s time to renew our
struggle, to examine ourselves
on how well we’ve lived up to our resolutions
from Ash Wednesday.
If we look hard, we’ll probably find
that we’ve come up short. If you’re
anything like me, you might find it
necessary to adjust your attitude and
begin again — to
launch a new
Lent, so to speak.
The Church
recognizes this
need, and marks
Lent’s halfway
point with a special
day: Laetare
Sunday, which
falls on March 14 this year.
That Latin word speaks volumes:
Stained-glass window of
St. Benedict of Nursia in
St. Benedict’s Church,
Chesapeake, Virginia. |
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
“Laetare!” It means “Be glad!” Isn’t that
an amazing thing to say in the middle
of a season of penance?
But a truer word could not be spoken.
We rejoice because we are given the
capacity for true repentance, and the
grace to change our lives. We rejoice
because God extends forgiveness to
us, and even comes down to meet us
— like the father in the parable of the
prodigal son — like the word made
flesh in the Incarnation.
My friend Father Kurt Belsole wrote
a book some years back titled “Joy in
Lent.” Father Belsole is a Benedictine
monk and director of liturgical formation
at the Pontifical North American
College in Rome.
“Joy in Lent” is a wonderful scholarly
study of a distinctive teaching of St.
Benedict of Nursia, the founder of
western monasticism.
St. Benedict urged his monks to go
the extra mile during the home stretch
of Lent, to take on some additional
sacrifice, but do it with a smile. “In that
way each one, of his own free will with
the joy of the Holy Spirit, can offer God
something beyond what is imposed on
him ... and let him await Holy Easter
with the joy of spiritual desire.”
Father Belsole rightly traces St. Benedict’s
teaching back to the apostle Paul,
who said, “Rejoice in the Lord always”
(Philippians 4:4).
Father Belsole goes on to explain how
St. Benedict “encourages those who
might have done some backsliding
to offer something extra with joy like
the joy they had at the beginning. To
rejoice in Lent really means to struggle
constantly against the flesh, to be
removed from personal autonomy, and
to be attached totally to Christ.”
And that’s what we want. That’s why
we revisit our promises to God and renew
our efforts for the remaining days.
I want for myself that reality that Father
Kurt describes so well: to be attached
totally to Christ.
It’s significant that St. Benedict, the
great master of western monastic life,
mentions “joy” only in the context of
Lent.
Yes, we feel the pinch of a little bit
of suffering during this season. But
suffering is perfectly compatible with
joy. Jesus rejoiced that he could suffer
for our sake. It’s the proof of love.
As we reexamine ourselves on the
three marks of Lent — prayer, fasting,
and almsgiving — let’s consider how
we might do more in the weeks that
follow, and do it with joy.
32 • ANGELUS • March 12, 2021

The mission of Angelus
Patience.
It’s a word we might have said to ourselves more
than once lately, and it’s a virtue that’s been in high
demand during the pandemic. For many of us, our patience
has been tried like never before over the last year, as we’ve
asked questions like: When will this all be over? When will
we reach herd immunity? When will my parish reopen?
When will I be able to celebrate a birthday again with my
parents — or grandparents?
Reading through this issue of Angelus, you’ve probably noticed
a few changes. The pages have a new look. World-renowned
Bible scholar Scott Hahn’s column is now called
“Letter and Spirit,” and he will be writing exclusively for us
to guide Angelus readers through the liturgical year.
The events calendar (which will return from a yearlong
COVID-19 vacation in the next issue) will also have a
fresh look and a different spot in the magazine. And we’re
happy to provide a new space on Page 7 for viewpoints and
perspectives from you, our readers.
As it turns out, this redesign of the magazine has also demanded
some patience of Angelus’ editorial team: It is the
fruit of two years of phone discussions, Google Meet calls,
long deliberations, and interrupted schedules. A global
pandemic didn’t help.
Still, when we put this much thought and effort into
something, it is because we believe, as Archbishop Gomez
does, that the mission of Angelus is as important as ever
right now.
As we slowly emerge from this pandemic, much will
depend on how informed Catholics are about what is
happening in our Church, our country, our world, and our
archdiocese. Angelus tries to do that through the eyes of
faith in every issue of our magazine, as well as on our website,
AngelusNews.com, and our daily e-newsletter, “Always
Forward.”
To that end: If you do not have an Angelus mail subscription,
you can sign up for one right now for the low special
price of $9.95 for a whole year by visiting AngelusNews.
com/subscribe.
As you know, in addition to our local and national reporting,
in each biweekly issue we have contributions from
some of the smartest writers in the Catholic world today
— not only Scott Hahn writing on Scripture, but also John
Allen, our venerable Vatican correspondent, Mike Aquilina,
who Archbishop Gomez calls “one of our finest early
Church historians,” and award-winning columnist Heather
King.
We also keep you informed every day through our Always
Forward newsletter. If you don’t get it already, you can give
a try — it’s free — at Newsletter.AngelusNews.com.
Finally, it is no secret that a lot of people need help nowadays,
starting with our neighbors, our parishes, and those
left behind in our cities and neighborhoods.
But with advertising revenue down, churches and schools
still waiting to resume their magazine shipments, and budgets
tightening, Angelus does, too.
And so, I take this opportunity to ask you for your support,
if possible. By visiting AngelusNews.com/donate, your gift,
large or small, whatever you can offer, can help Angelus
remain the best local Catholic publication in the country.
Your support, I should add, also comes in the form of
engaging with us through our social media channels or by
sending a letter to the editor. But most valuable, of course,
are your prayers for our ministry.
“Patience,” St. Teresa of Ávila famously said, “obtains all
things.” While coffee and donuts after Sunday Mass may
have to wait a little longer, we hope you enjoy the new
Angelus in the meantime.
– Pablo Kay, editor-in-chief
March 12, 2021 • ANGELUS • 33

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