Angelus News | March 10, 2023 | Vol. 8 No. 5

ANGELUS 

MOURNING A PEACEMAKER 

LA grieves the loss of Bishop David O’Connell 

March 10, 2023 Vol. 8 No. 5

March 10, 2023 

Vol. 8 • No. 5 

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ON THE COVER 

KEITH BIRMINGHAM/THE O.C. REGISTER VIA AP 

A woman touches a picture of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell 

at a makeshift memorial in front of his home in Hacienda 

Heights Feb. 21. O’Connell’s murder has left the nation’s largest 

Catholic community in shock and disbelief. On Page 10, we 

hear from mourners and those who knew O’Connell best as 

they turn to prayer for consolation and his own words for 

inspiration to carry forward his legacy. 

THIS PAGE 

MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES 

Cars lined up along the side of Highway 14 near 

Acton as people parked to walk and play in the snow 

on Feb. 26. A major storm carried a rare blizzard 

warning for parts of Southern California. The 

National Weather Service called the storm “one of 

the strongest ever” to impact the region as it also 

delivered widespread heavy rains and high winds.

CONTENTS 

Pope Watch............................................... 2 

Archbishop Gomez................................. 3 

World, Nation, and Local News...... 4-6 

In Other Words........................................ 7 

Father Rolheiser....................................... 8 

Scott Hahn.............................................. 32 

Events Calendar..................................... 33 

16 

20 

22 

24 

26 

30 

Bronx bishop helps grieving LA Congress crowd ‘embrace grace’ 

An MVP performance leads seminarians to repeat basketball title 

John Allen recalls John Paul II’s 10-year mark to understand Pope Francis’ 

Charlie Camosy looks for a middle way in Church’s inclusion debate 

Greg Erlandson on Lourdes and the miracles we don’t see 

Heather King on California’s unlikeliest sculptor 

March 10, 2023 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH 

Lent as a season of grace 

The following is adapted from Pope 

Francis’ Ash Wednesday Mass homily 

given at the Basilica of Saint Sabina 

in Rome Feb. 22. 

The rite of the imposition of 

ashes exhorts us to do two 

things: to return to the truth 

about ourselves and to return to God 

and to our brothers and sisters. 

First, the ashes remind us who we 

are and whence we come. They 

bring us back to the essential truth 

of our lives: the Lord alone is God 

and we are the work of his hands. 

That is the truth of who we are. We 

have life, whereas God is life. He is 

the Creator, while we are the fragile 

clay fashioned by his hands. With 

God, we will rise from our ashes, but 

without him, we are dust. 

As a tender and merciful Father, 

God too experiences Lent, since he is 

concerned for us; he waits for us; he 

awaits our return. And he constantly 

urges us not to despair, even when 

we lie fallen in the dust of our weakness 

and sin. 

Lent, then, is the time to proclaim 

that God alone is Lord, to drop the 

pretense of being self-sufficient and 

the need to put ourselves at the 

center of things, to be the top of 

the class, to think that by our own 

abilities we can succeed in life and 

transform the world around us. Now 

is the favorable time to be converted, 

to stop looking at ourselves and to 

start looking into ourselves. 

Yet there is a second step: the ashes 

invite us also to return to God and to 

our brothers and sisters. The ashes tell 

us that every presumption of self-sufficiency 

is false and that self-idolatry 

is destructive, imprisoning us in isolation 

and loneliness. 

Lent, then, is a season of grace 

when we can rebuild our relationship 

with God and with others, opening 

our hearts in the silence of prayer 

and emerging from the fortress of our 

self-sufficiency. 

To make this journey, to return 

to the truth about ourselves and 

to return to God and to others, we 

are urged to take three great paths: 

almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. It is 

not about mere external rites; these 

must be actions expressing the renewal 

of our hearts. 

All too often, our gestures and rites 

have no impact on our lives; they 

remain superficial. Perhaps we 

perform them only to gain the admiration 

or esteem of others. Let us 

remember this: In our personal life, 

as in the life of the Church, outward 

displays, human judgments, and the 

world’s approval count for nothing; 

the only thing that truly matters is 

the truth and love that God himself 

sees. 

If we stand humbly before his gaze 

… almsgiving will be a sign of our 

compassion toward those in need, 

and help us to return to others. 

Prayer will give voice to our profound 

desire to encounter the Father and 

will bring us back to him. Fasting 

will be the spiritual training ground 

where we joyfully renounce the superfluous 

things that weigh us down, 

grow in interior freedom and return 

to the truth about ourselves. 

Papal Prayer Intention for March: We pray for those who 

have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they 

find within the Church herself a concrete response to their 

pain and suffering. 

2 • ANGELUS • March 10, 2023

NEW WORLD OF FAITH 

ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

Your happiness has a name — Jesus! 

(On Feb. 23, Archbishop José H. Gomez 

celebrated Mass for an estimated 5,400 

young people at the annual Archdiocesan 

Religious Education Congress Youth 

Day, held in Anaheim. The following is 

adapted from his homily. For more of his 

writings and homilies, visit Archbishop- 

Gomez.org.) 

It has been a very sad time for the 

family of God here in Los Angeles. 

We have lost a good friend and a 

holy priest and bishop, Bishop David 

O’Connell. 

As we continue praying for the repose 

of his soul and the consolation of his 

family, we also want to celebrate his life, 

because Bishop Dave was a man who 

loved Jesus Christ and gave his whole 

life to follow Jesus and to be his friend. 

This is what we all want. We are all 

born with the desire for happiness, to 

find love and joy and the meaning of 

our lives. And only when we know Jesus 

and follow him do we find the happiness 

we are looking for. 

In our first reading, Moses tells us, 

“Choose life!” 

That is what God wants for each one 

of you — a beautiful life, a blessed life, 

a life filled with love, and family, and 

friendship. 

He wants you to share every step of 

your journey with him, and he wants 

you to make your own unique contribution 

to the kingdom he is building here 

on earth. 

This is why the Father sent Jesus into 

the world — to reveal the human face 

of God, the face of love, and to show us 

the right path for us to travel. 

In our Gospel today, Jesus shows us 

that path: “If anyone wishes to come 

after me, he must deny himself and take 

up his cross daily and follow me.” 

To “choose life” means loving the 

Lord and staying close to him. It means 

setting aside your own concerns and 

taking up your cross and walking in his 

footsteps. It means listening to his voice 

and keeping his commandments. 

Your happiness has only one name! 

The name of Jesus! Jesus is everything 

that you are looking for in life! 

No matter what the world tells you, 

following Jesus with all your heart will 

take nothing away from your life. 

When we reflect on the communion 

of saints, including all the young people 

the Church has recognized, you see 

that the saints were passionate, joyful, 

and creative people. They loved Jesus 

and they lived life to the fullest! 

Blessed Chiara Badano loved dancing 

and playing tennis. Blessed Pier Giorgio 

Frassati climbed mountains. 

We have saints who were athletes, artists, 

poets, painters, and sculptors; great 

inventors and scientists, even politicians 

and leaders in business. 

Never be afraid to trust Jesus. If you 

put your life in his hands, if you take up 

your cross every day and go with him, 

you’ll be amazed at the things you’ll 

do, the joy you will know. You will find 

yourself becoming the person that God 

created you to be. 

The goal of our life is to become more 

like Jesus, and that means we need to 

keep getting to know him more and 

more. 

So how do we do this? I always say two 

words: the Gospel and the Eucharist. 

The Gospels are like Jesus’ self-portrait. 

We have his own words, we have 

the stories of his life, told by those who 

first knew him and loved him. In the 

Gospels, Jesus is alive, healing and 

teaching, showing us how to live. 

We need to take up the Gospels every 

day, spending time reading and listening 

to his word, pondering his word in 

the quiet of our heart. 

In the Eucharist we also have that 

encounter with Jesus. He is right there, 

just as real, just as present as he was present 

with his apostles 2,000 years ago. 

The Eucharist is the great sign of his 

love, and his love is never-ending. Jesus 

comes to us in the Eucharist to share 

his life with us in a beautiful friendship, 

and to be the food we need to make our 

way on life’s journey. 

The Gospels are like Jesus’ self-portrait. We have 

his own words, we have the stories of his life, told 

by those who first knew him and loved him. 

So we need to try to meet him as often 

as we can. On Sundays always, but whenever 

we can make a visit to a church, 

to the Blessed Sacrament, understanding 

the beauty of knowing that Jesus is 

with us. 

One thing that helped me a lot when I 

was your age and growing up was when 

I decided to try to go to daily Mass and 

receive Jesus in the Eucharist. That 

totally changed my life. 

So, let’s keep growing in our faith, 

growing in our love, growing in our 

holiness, and in our likeness to Jesus. 

Let’s keep becoming the people that 

God wants us to be! 

May holy Mary, our Blessed Mother, 

lead us always and help us to keep 

striving, keep choosing life! 


WORLD 

Abrahamic Family House on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi includes a mosque (left), a Catholic church (center) and 

synagogue (right). | OSV NEWS/ADJAYE ASSOCIATES 

■ A priest, rabbi, and imam’s shared space in UAE 

In the predominantly Muslim United Arab Emirates (UAE), a church, a 

mosque, and a synagogue now share common ground. 

The “Abrahamic Family House” in Abu Dhabi features three houses of worship 

with the same external dimensions — one for each of the three Abrahamic 

faiths — and is being praised as fruit of the historic pledge signed by Pope 

Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb in 2019 calling for peace between 

religions. 

“Our mission is to bridge our common humanity through the exchange of 

knowledge, dialogue, and the practice of faith,” reads the Abrahamic Family 

House’s website. “Our values are peaceful coexistence, curiosity, and the centrality 

of human fraternity.” 

Prayer services at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Ahmed Al-Tayeb Mosque, and 

the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue began in mid-February. 

■ Do you believe? 

Guadalupe is officially 

‘twinning’ 

Pope Francis announced the formal 

“twinning,” or association, of two Guadalupe 

shrines in different parts of the 

world. 

The lesser-known shrine in the mountain 

town of Guadalupe in Spain marks 

the place where, in the late 1200s, the 

Virgin Mary appeared to a shepherd 

and instructed him to tell local church 

officials to dig at that site, where they 

discovered a 2-foot-tall statue of the 

Virgin Mary and built a shrine. 

The shrine in Spain was built a few 

years earlier than the first one in Mexico 

City, where the Virgin Mary appeared 

with the same name in 1531. 

In a message published Feb. 11, Pope 

Francis said the title “Guadalupe” 

means different things in Arabic, Latin, 

and Nahuatl, but affirmed that “what 

could be seen as a conflict can in fact 

be read as a sign from the Holy Spirit 

who makes his message of love heard in 

every language.” 

When St. Pope John Paul II visited 

the Spanish shrine in 1982, he said, “I 

should have come here before going to 

the Tepeyac Basilica to better understand 

Mexican devotion.” 

■ Turkey and Syria: Never-ending emergency? 

Destroyed communication lines, traumatized children, and threats 

from Islamist militants are among the challenges reported by Christian 

aid groups doing relief work in Turkey and Syria following a 

series of earthquakes on Feb. 6 that left at least 47,000 dead. 

“It’s a very dramatic situation, especially for children,” said Andrea 

Avveduto, a psychologist and spokesman for Pro Terra Sancta, which 

supports the Franciscans in the Middle East. The group is sending 

psychologists to northwest Syria “because children are experiencing 

much trauma,” he told OSV News. 

Adding to the tension was a large 6.4 aftershock that hit Southern 

Turkey Feb. 20, killing several more. 

Meanwhile, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Vatican 

Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, said that countries with sanctions 

against Syria should consider “the concrete good of the people 

that live in the country.” 

“We have destroyed a reality, we have not built democracy,” he 

said. “When we work to change a political situation,” and it does 

not work, nations must ask “what is the alternative? Because the 

alternative is chaos.” 

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti meets a group of earthquake victims in 

Aleppo, Syria, Feb. 19. | CNS/FLAVIO PACE, DICASTERY FOR THE EASTERN 

CHURCHES 


NATION 

■ Georgia: Christ finds 

a home in world’s 

busiest airport 

Next time you have a layover in Atlanta, 

you can skip the food court and 

head to the chapel. 

Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer 

dedicated a new tabernacle in the 

interfaith chapel of the Hartsfield-Jackson 

Atlanta International Airport Feb. 

13. Because of airport rules, he had to 

dedicate it while he was on his way to 

catch a flight. 

The busiest airport in the world, Atlanta 

sees an average of nearly 300,000 

passengers each day. “There’s about 

64,000 employees at the airport at any 

given time,” Father Kevin Peek, airport 

chaplain, told Catholic News Agency. 

“That’s like a small town or city.” 

Peek helped with the addition of 

a tabernacle to the airport’s chapel, 

which is open to travelers at all hours. 

“I did it really for the airline personnel,” 

Peek said. “My dad was a commercial 

airline pilot and flew out of 

Atlanta for many, many years. He had 

a great devotion to Our Lord in the 

Eucharist.” 

A drone image 

shows the aftermath 

of the freight-train 

derailment in East 

Palestine, Ohio, 

involving 50 cars. 

| NTSBGOV 

■ Ohio: Spared lives in train derailment ‘miraculous’ 

The pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in East Palestine, Ohio — where a 

train derailment led to significant chemical spills — said “it will be a long time” 

before his parishioners feel secure again. 

A Norfolk Southern freight train with 20 cars carrying hazardous materials derailed 

and caught fire Feb. 3, causing a temporary evacuation as officials attempted 

a “controlled release of toxic fumes” to fight the damage. 

Despite no reported injuries and tests showing no lingering effects of the chemicals, 

several locals have expressed concern over the air and water quality near the 

crash site. 

“We had the air and the water tested, but I still won’t drink the water,” Father 

David Misbrener, pastor of two neighboring parishes, told OSV News. He now 

stocks the sacristies with bottled water for use in the liturgy. 

“Given the magnitude of this event, it is miraculous that there were no fatalities 

or injuries,” Youngstown Bishop David Bonnar said in a Feb. 5 statement. “I cannot 

help but think that the Blessed Mother was watching over this community.” 

An Okie martyr’s moment — Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City blesses the congregation during the 

Mass and dedication of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City Feb. 17. Blessed Stanley is the first 

U.S.-born martyr formally recognized by the Church. More than 2,000 faithful and guests filled the church and an 

outdoor space that broadcast the Mass on large screens. | OSV NEWS/STEVE SISNEY/ARCHDIOCESE OF OKC 

■ Study raises alarms 

about rise in depression 

rates in teen girls 

Depression and suicidal thoughts are 

on the rise among American teenage 

girls, according to new data . 

Nearly 3 in 5 teenage girls reported 

persistent sadness and 1 in 3 reported 

seriously considering suicide, according 

to the Feb. 13 report from the Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC). 

“I think there’s really no question what 

this data is telling us,” Dr. Kathleen 

Ethier, head of the CDC’s adolescent 

and school health program, told The 

New York Times. “Young people are 

telling us that they are in crisis.” 

The report also noted that, despite 

the rise in suicidal thoughts, rates for 

medical attention for suicide attempts 

has remained low and stable over the 

past decade. 


LOCAL 

Snow was visible from the parking lot of St. Bede the Venerable Church in La Cañada Flintridge as parishioners 

arrived for Sunday Mass Feb. 26. | ST. BEDE CHURCH 

■ La Cañada Flintridge parishioners 

visited by some rare LA snow 

Last month’s historically cold weather system brought snow to at least one local 

parish community. 

While snow didn’t fall on St. Bede the Venerable Church in La Cañada 

Flintridge due to its lower elevation in the foothill community, most local parishioners 

reported at least a few inches of snow at their homes, said Lori Shackel, 

director of advancement at St. Bede. 

“I’ve lived here for 30 years, and the few times it snowed it had melted right 

away,” said Shackel. “This time, it stuck around for more than a day.” 

The late February storm brought snow to areas within the LA city limits as low 

as 1,000 feet elevation, like the upper parts of Granada Hills and the Hollywood 

Sign, for the first time in decades. 

■ Super Bowl champ 

goes to Orange County 

for Lenten retreat 

After winning the Super Bowl, some 

NFL players celebrate by going to 

Disneyland. Others go on a tropical 

vacation with their family to unwind. 

Or, in the case of Kansas City 

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, a 

retreat at a Norbertine monastery in 

Orange County. 

“I want to be a saint,” Butker told 

EWTN News in Depth’s Colm 

Flynn in an interview at St. Michael’s 

Abbey in Silverado. “And that’s the 

most important thing, and that’s why 

I’m here on this earth.” 

Butker kicked a game-winning 42- 

yard field goal against the Philadelphia 

Eagles in the closing moments 

of Super Bowl LVII. A devout 

Catholic and father of two, Butker 

drew attention during the game for 

wearing a brown scapular, commonly 

associated with the Carmelite 

tradition. 

“Praying is something I always do 

on the sideline to remember that, 

yes, football is so important, but it’s 

not the most important thing,” said 

Butker. “I need to calm down.” 

The 27-year-old is known for attending 

Latin Mass. He told EWTN 

that he was taking a one-week silent 

retreat at St. Michael’s to begin the 

season of Lent. 

Y 

Varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders from St. Joseph High School after their 

victories at USA Spirit Nationals in Anaheim. | ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL 

■ Lakewood high school wins 

big at cheerleading tourney 

As thousands of Catholics from around the country filled 

one side of the Anaheim Convention Center the weekend of 

Feb. 24-26, a local high school brought home top honors at 

an event steps away. 

St. Joseph High School in Lakewood competed at USA 

Spirit Nationals, an annual cheerleading competition, the 

same weekend as the LA Religious Education Congress. The 

event was held at the same convention center. 

Its varsity “song” team won a national championship title 

in the “Small Song/Pom Advanced” division for the second 

straight year, while the junior varsity also won a national 

championship title in the “Small Song/Pom Intermediate” 

division. 


V 

IN OTHER WORDS... 

Letters to the Editor 

‘Never get over your grief’ 

I found Grazie Christie’s column, “A time to mourn” in the Feb. 10 

issue to be beautifully written. 

There is no set formula for grief to our soul! When you love deeply, you grieve 

deeply! You will eventually get through it at your own unique timing, but never 

get over your grief — that love is a part of you forever. 

God knows your pain, and wipes every tear as a Father who gave his only Son for 

us. He wants us to draw near to him in our time of mourning. 

— Cyndie Noteboom 

Making microschools work for all 

For many years Catholic schools have faced significant enrollment loss. My 

parish school, with a capacity of 300, enrolls 86 students in TK-8. The idea of 

microschools presented in the Feb. 24 issue is a wonderful idea, regardless of total 

school numbers. Giving children the opportunity to be exposed to real-life curricula 

will serve them well. 

However, this plan ignores the reality of offering a Catholic education to a broad 

spectrum of LA students, many of whom are immigrants or members of working-class 

families, who simply can’t afford the tuition. How about a plan to open 

these schools to all of our children and spend energy, creativity, and resources to 

make that affordable? A 300-seat school with 86 students is not the best use of the 

facility. Can we do better for our children? 

— Cheryl Ortega, Los Angeles 

Y 

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. 

Following the cross at LA Congress 

Deacon Paulino Juarez of the archdiocesan Office of Life, Justice and Peace carries a crucifix in the exhibit hall of the 

Anaheim Convention Center during the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Feb. 26. | VICTOR ALEMÁN 

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. 

“[They] have undergone 

what the early Church 

understood to be the 

supreme privilege of being 

a Catholic, and that is 

persecution for the faith.” 

~ Christopher Ljungquist, USCCB adviser on Latin 

America, at a Feb. 10 Mass in Washington, D.C., 

celebrated by eight Nicaraguan priests who were 

expelled from their homes by the Ortega regime. 

“If we want men to be good 

fathers, we as a culture 

have to give them a script 

and a role.” 

~ Serena Sigillito, editor of Public Discourse, in a 

Jan. 19 conversation with Richard Reeves: “Can 

Fatherhood Cure the Modern Male Malaise?” 

“I have no doubt that 

Rihanna and I disagree 

on much, but not about 

motherhood.” 

~ Kathryn Jean Lopez, in a Feb. 20 National Review 

column, “How about a mystic for president?” 

“We can’t end what we 

didn’t start.” 

~ Alexandra Petas, a student at Asbury University 

in Wilmore, Kentucky, speaking to the Cincinnati 

Enquirer about the viral, nonstop revival that began 

at the Christian college Feb. 8. 

“Women’s artistic 

expression got lost to the 

industrial revolution. There 

are women who knit and 

sew and embroider as a 

hobby, but it’s not part of 

their identity as women.” 

~ Vivian Dudro, editor at Ignatius Press, on the 

life and work of Sigrid Undset, author of “Kristin 

Lavransdatter” and other works. 


IN EXILE 

FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father 

Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual 

writer; ronrolheiser.com/. 

Lost innocence 

The biblical story of Saul is one 

of the great tragedies in all of 

literature. Saul’s story makes 

Hamlet look like a Disney character. 

Hamlet, at least, had good reasons for 

the bitterness that beset him. Saul, 

given what he started with, should 

have fared better, much better. 

His story begins with the announcement 

that, in all of Israel, none measured 

up to him in height, strength, 

goodness, or acclaim. A natural leader, 

a prince among peers, his extraordinary 

character was recognized and 

proclaimed by the people. They made 

him their king. The beginning of his 

story is the stuff of fairy tales, and it 

goes on in this way for a while. 

However, at a point, things begin 

to sour. That point was the arrival of 

David on the scene — a man younger, 

more handsome, more gifted, and 

more acclaimed than he was. Jealousy 

sets in and envy begins to poison Saul’s 

soul. Looking at David, he sees only 

a popularity that eclipses his own, not 

another man’s goodness, nor indeed 

what that goodness offers to others. 

Instead, he grows bitter, petty, hostile, 

tries to kill David, and eventually dies 

by his own hand, an angry man who 

has fallen far from the innocence and 

goodness of his youth. 

What happened here? How does 

someone who has so much going for 

him — goodness, talent, acclaim, 

power, blessing — grow into a bitter, 

petty man who ends up taking his own 

life? How does it happen? The late 

Margaret Laurence, in a brilliant, dark 

novel, “The Stone Angel” (University 

of Chicago Press, $17), offers a good 

description of how this happens and 

how it happens in ways that are hidden 

to the one undergoing the transition. 

Her main character, Hagar Shipley, 

is a “Saul” of sorts. Hagar’s story begins 

like his: She is young, innocent, and 

full of potential. What’s to become 

of such a beautiful, bright, talented, 

young woman? Sadly, not much at 

all. She drifts into everything: adulthood, 

an unhappy marriage, and into 

a deep unrecognized and unspoken 

disappointment that eventually leaves 

her slovenly, frigid, bitter, and without 

energy or ambition. 

What’s as remarkable as sad is that 

she doesn’t see any of this herself. In 

her mind, she remains the young, 

innocent, gracious, popular, attractive 

young girl she once was in high 

school. She doesn’t notice how small 

her world has become, how few real 

friends she has, how little she admires 

anything or anyone, or even how physically 

unkempt she has become. 

Her awakening is sudden and cruel. 

One winter day, shabbily dressed in 

an old parka, she rings the doorbell of 

a house where she is delivering some 

eggs. A bright young child answers the 

door and Hagar overhears the child 

tell her mother: That horrible, old 

egg-woman is at the door! The penny 

drops. 

Stunned, she leaves the house and 

finds her way to a public bathroom 

where she turns on all the lights and 

studies her face in a mirror. What looks 

back is a face she doesn’t recognize, 

someone pathetically at odds with 

whom she imagines herself to be. She 

sees in fact the horrible, old egg-woman 

that the child saw at the door rather 

than the young, gracious, attractive, 

big-hearted woman that she imagines 

herself still to be. “How can this have 

happened?” she asks herself. How can 

we, imperceptible to ourselves, grow 

into someone we don’t know or like? 

In some way, it happens to all of us. 

It’s not easy to age, to accept the fall 

from what we dreamed for ourselves, to 

watch the young take over and receive 

the popularity and acclaim that once 

were ours. Like Saul, we can fill with 

a jealousy that we don’t recognize, and 

like Hagar, we can grow bitter and ugly 

without knowing it. Others, of course, 

do notice. 

It’s not that we don’t gain something 

as this happens. Usually we grow 

smarter, wiser in the ways of the world, 

and remain goodhearted, generous 

people. However, we tend to be nastier 

than we once were, whine too much, 

feel too sorry for ourselves, and give 

ourselves over more to curse rather 

than bless those who have replaced us, 

the young, the popular, the acclaimed. 

And so, the penultimate spiritual and 

human task of the second half of life 

is to give up this jealousy and ugliness 

and come back again to the love, 

innocence, and goodness of our youth, 

to revirginize, move toward a second 

naiveté, and begin again to admire 

something. 

At the beginning of the Book of Revelations, 

John, purporting to speak for 

God, has some advice for us, at least 

for those of us beyond the bloom of 

youth: “I’ve seen how hard you work. 

I recognize your generosity and all 

the good work you do, but I have this 

against you — you have less love in 

you now than when you were young! 

Go back and look from where you 

have fallen!” 

We might want to hear this from 

Scripture before we overhear it from 

some young girl telling her mother that 

some dour, bitter, old person is at the 

door. 


Mourning a peacemaker 

In prayers and in 

messages from around 

the world, those who 

loved Bishop David 

O’Connell struggle 

to make sense of 

his murder. 

BY PABLO KAY 

Bishop-elect David O’Connell at a vespers 

service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of 

the Angels Sept. 7, 2015, on the eve of his 

episcopal ordination. | VICTOR ALEMÁN 

10 • ANGELUS • March 10, 2023

mourning process, in which those 

who knew O’Connell have had to 

lean on God — and one another — in 

ways they could have never expected. 

“I think I’m still in shock, I really 

am,” said Wayne Morales at the first 

night of the novena on Sunday, Feb. 

19. Morales knew the bishop through 

the Catholic Men’s Fellowship of 

California: O’Connell was the group’s 

spiritual adviser and was scheduled to 

“We believe that Bishop Dave has 

received his recompense for his life 

and his ministry,” Archbishop Gomez 

told the grieving crowd of more than 

150 people after leading them in a 

recitation of the rosary and the Divine 

Mercy chaplet. “We know that he is in 

heaven. Let us ask for his intercession, 

because he will continue to stay very 

close to us, just as he stayed close to so 

many people during his life.” 

When Bishop David O’Connell 

was found dead in his 

Hacienda Heights home 

near St. John Vianney Church the 

morning of Saturday, Feb. 18, his 

death was initially announced as 

“unexpected.” But as the makeshift 

memorial near his home on Janlu Avenue 

grew, so did the struggle to come 

to terms with his violent death. 

Early that Sunday, authorities announced 

his death was being investigated 

as a homicide. By Monday 

morning, Sheriff’s deputies had arrested 

61-year-old Carlos Medina, the 

husband of the bishop’s housekeeper, 

for shooting O’Connell to death in his 

home. 

By then, local members of the 

Knights of Columbus and parishioners 

of St. John Vianney had already 

sprung into action, organizing a 

nine-day novena to pray for the repose 

of O’Connell’s soul, healing for his 

family and loved ones, and the grace 

to forgive as he would have done. 

It was the beginning of a shared 

speak to them at an upcoming event. 

“I’ve been a bit emotional because 

I just don’t know how to handle this 

news,” he said, standing outside the 

home where O’Connell lived since 

beginning his ministry as episcopal 

vicar for the San Gabriel Pastoral 

Region. 

“The man, in my eyes, was the most 

peaceful and loving person. Why? I 

just don’t understand.” 

The next day, Archbishop José H. 

Gomez made an unannounced visit 

to St. John Vianney, where the second 

night of the novena was being held in 

the church parking lot. 

In his native 

Ireland, the news 

of O’Connell’s 

death had “sent 

shockwaves across 

his native Diocese 

of Cork and Ross,” 

according to a 

statement from 

Bishop Fintan 

Gavin of the same 

diocese. 

Archbishop José H. 

Gomez joined some 

150 people outside St. 

John Vianney Church in 

Hacienda Heights Feb. 

20 to pray for Bishop 

O’Connell hours after 

investigators announced 

an arrest in his murder. 

| VICTOR ALEMÁN 

“Bishop David worked tirelessly for 

peace and harmony in communities; 

may he now rest in the peace of the 

Lord,” said Bishop Gavin. 


‘He loved those people’ 

O’Connell began his ministry as an 

immigrant from Ireland whose calling 

to the priesthood had destined him 

for Los Angeles. By choice, he spent 

most of his years here, not in the 

suburbs of the growing metropolis, 

but rather in its poorest, most violent, 

and neglected areas. 

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who 

worked with then-Father O’Connell 

during all of his 25 years as 

archbishop of Los Angeles, said that 

O’Connell had “made it clear that he 

never wanted to be moved away from 

Central and South Central LA” when 

it came to his parish assignments. 

Bishop Joseph Brennan of Fresno, 

who became an auxiliary bishop of 

Los Angeles together with O’Connell 

and Bishop Robert Barron in 2015 

(earning them the nickname “Archbishop 

Gomez’s triplets” from Pope 

Francis), also confirmed that O’Connell 

would often express privately that 

“he didn’t want to be anywhere else. 

He loved that ministry, he loved those 

people.” 

In an interview last summer, O’Connell 

recalled a time in 1988, when 

he had just arrived as pastor at St. 

Frances X. Cabrini Church in South 

“Some of us live in the world and go 

to prayer. Dave, I think, lived in prayer 

and went to the world.” 

Central Los Angeles. The neighborhood 

was overwhelmed with an 

epidemic of violence and drug use. 

An African American priest from New 

York had arrived to do mission work 

at the church. 

“I had to ask him: What advice 

would you give this Irish guy here 

working in the 

middle of a Black 

community in 

LA,” O’Connell 

said. “He just told 

me: ‘Enjoy it. Enjoy 

working with 

the people.’ 

“I began to see 

the community 

Bishop O’Connell carries 

the V Encuentro 

cross in procession 

during a local celebration 

recognizing 

the contributions of 

immigrants in 2017. 


appreciated the chance to laugh at 

life, not take everything so seriously, 

show your humanity,” he said. “I 

loved it and began to feel blessed to 

be there.” 

Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson knew O’Connell 

since his arrival to Los Angeles 

more than 40 years ago. The longtime 

pastor of St. Monica’s Church 

in Santa Monica said that the kind 

of work O’Connell did with gangs, 

immigrants, and the poor “doesn’t 

just happen.” 

“It comes through some struggles 

and difficulties and things in life that 

I don’t really know. I just know he 

was a man of incredible integrity, who 

cared so much for all of us.” 


A friend 

to the end 

At a special 

Mass Feb. 23 for 

O’Connell at St. 

John Vianney, 

pastor Msgr. 

Timothy Nichols 

remembered 

O’Connell as a 

“bishop, martyr, 

and saint in 

every way.” 

Nichols, who 

Bishop O’Connell with 

fellow Los Angeles 

auxiliary bishops Robert 

Barron and Joseph Brennan 

at their episcopal 

ordination on Sept. 

8, 2015. Pope Francis 

would reportedly refer to 

the trio as “Archbishop 

Gomez’s triplets.” 


was close friends with the 69-year-old 

O’Connell for more than two decades, 

didn’t try to hide his own pain 

during the Mass. 

“I had the difficult moment of seeing 

Bishop in his house at his death,” he 

said in his homily. “It is a vision that 

sticks in my brain. I stand before you 

with a broken heart.” 

Nichols also revealed that the night 

before his death, O’Connell called 

Nichols to ask if he could be put 

on the schedule to celebrate the 10 

a.m. Mass at St. John Vianney that 

Sunday. 

“He was serving until the very end,” 

Nichols said. “He was totally committed 

to the Lord. His relationship with 

Christ was intimate and personal, and 

anybody who met him felt the power 

of Jesus in his heart.” 

That “power” is what drew Regina 

Graziano to O’Connell, whom she 

met five years ago when he celebrated 

Mass at her parish, Epiphany Church 

in South El Monte. 

“I was amazed by that experience,” 

she said. “I’ve been to Mass my whole 

life, but that day, I really felt the 

strong presence of the Holy Spirit.” 

Graziano recalled that after receiving 

Communion, O’Connell asked 

the congregation to sit down and 

close their eyes. “He asked us to repeat 

together, ‘Jesus, I trust you. Jesus, 

I love you.’ And a lot of us had tears in 

our eyes,” she said. “It healed me.” 

Few people knew O’Connell better 

than fellow Irishman and LA priest 

Msgr. Jarlath Cunnane. The two first 

met in 1971 when they began their 

studies for the priesthood together at 

All Hallows College in Dublin and 

became close friends over the years. 

“He was not just my good friend; 

friendship was something he was 

good at,” said Cunnane at a special 

prayer service for O’Connell held 

on the last day of the LA Religious 

Education Congress in Anaheim on 

Feb. 26. 

Msgr. Tim Nichols, “He was a good 

pastor of St. John Vianney 

Church in Hacienda I’m amazed this 

friend to many. 

Heights, celebrated a past week at how 

special Mass for the late many people 

Bishop O’Connell Feb. have called me 

23. O’Connell lived at from around 

the parish since becoming 

episcopal vicar for but around the 

Los Angeles, 

the San Gabriel Pastoral world too, who 

Region in 2015. were friends — 

| with whom he 

JOHN RUEDA 

had maintained 

that friendship,” 

said Cunnane. 

Cunnane said that while many of 

the tributes to O’Connell in the past 

week had characterized him as “the 

community organizer, as an activist, 

as a champion for justice,” the es- 


sence of the man was his relationship 

with Jesus Christ. 

“He was a man of deep prayer,” said 

Cunnane. “Some of us, you know, 

we live in the world and go to prayer. 

Dave, I think, lived in prayer and 

went to the world.” 

A future without ‘Bishop Dave’ 

The fact that the motive behind his 

murder remained unclear only added 

to the pain felt by those gathered at 

the prayer vigils, Masses, and tributes 

to O’Connell. Many asked the same 

question: Why would someone do this 

to Bishop Dave? 

Larry Dietz, vice president of the 

Knights of Columbus’ San Gabriel 

Valley chapter, told Angelus he believes 

that O’Connell wouldn’t want 

those mourning his death to hate the 

killer. 

“He said you have to pray, you have 

to forgive,” said Dietz the day after his 

death. “As a Catholic family, we’ve 

got to get stronger … we’re going to 

persevere.” 

Funeral services for O’Connell were 

scheduled to be held March 1-3, 

concluding with a funeral Mass at the 

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 

March 3. 

As LA Catholics prepared for a final 

farewell here on earth, his longtime 

friend and fellow “triplet” Bishop 

Brennan offered some thoughts on 

how to move forward without the physical 

presence of Bishop Dave. 

“We need to channel our inner Dave 

A 

fast-moving investigation and 

a pair of citizen tips led to the 

arrest of 61-year-old Carlos 

Medina in connection to the murder 

of Bishop David O’Connell, less than 

48 hours after the bishop was found 

apparently shot to death in his Hacienda 

Heights home. 

Medina is the husband of a housekeeper 

who had done work at Bishop 

O’Connell’s home. 

At a Feb. 20 press conference 

announcing his arrest, Los Angeles 

County Sheriff Robert Luna said that 

detectives received a tip the day before 

from someone who had seen Medina 

that weekend, reporting that he was 

Suspect 

in murder 

arrested 

LA County Sheriff Robert Luna comforts Archbishop José H. Gómez at a Feb. 20 press conference 

announcing an arrest in the murder of Bishop O’Connell. | VICTOR ALEMÁN 

“acting strange [and] irrational, and 

made comments about the bishop 

owing him money.” 

The tipster also said Medina had 

left his residence in Torrance and 

was headed for the Central California 

area. 

An arrest warrant was obtained and 

a search of his home began. Another 

tip at 2 a.m. Monday indicated that 

Medina returned to his home, and 

when LA Sheriff’s Carson Station 

deputies arrived, Medina refused to 

come out of his home when asked to 

surrender, Luna said. 

With the help of SWAT and LA 

County Sheriff’s deputies, Medina 

was eventually taken into custody later 

that morning. Luna said two firearms 

were recovered and were being tested 

to see if they were used in the murder. 

Later that week, authorities said that 

when Medina was interviewed, he gave 

various reasons for the killing but none 

of them made sense to the investigators. 

They no longer believe the motive 

of money owed is valid. 

Medina faces one felony count of 

murder and a special allegation that 

he used a firearm. His arraignment is 

scheduled for March 22. 

At the Feb. 20 press conference, Luna 

said “my heart grieves” for the death 

of O’Connell based on all the calls 

of support he said he received in the 

investigation over the last 48 hours. 

“This man, this bishop, made a huge 

difference in our community,” said 

Luna. “He was loved. It is very sad 

we are gathered here today about this 

murder in this way.” 

Overcome with emotion, Archbishop 

José H. Gomez stopped several times 

during his remarks at the press conference 

to collect himself. At one point, 

Luna put his arm around his shoulder 

to comfort him. 

“On behalf of the entire Catholic 

community, we want to express our 

gratitude for the sheriff’s office, for 

their professionalism and sensitivity in 

what is a sad and painful moment for 

all of us,” said Archbishop Gomez of 

the investigation. “Let us keep praying 

for Bishop Dave and his family. And 

let’s keep praying for our law enforcement 

officials as they continue their 

investigation.” 

– Angelus Staff 


O’Connell, 

defender of life 

everywhere,” 

Brennan said. 

“We need to 

be tenacious 

when it comes 

to reaching out 

to folks, as Pope 

Images of Bishop O’Connell 

were projected 

during a special prayer 

service for the late bishop 

at the LA Religious Education 

Congress Feb. 26. 

| CARSON VANVOOREN 

Francis keeps telling us. Dave actually 

did it: going out to the people who 

are unwelcome, marginalized, on the 

peripheries.” 

Angelus writers Tom Hoffarth, Christa 

Chavez, and Natalie Romano contributed 

to this story. 

Editor’s note: The following edition of 

Angelus (March 24 issue) will be a special 

issue commemorating Bishop David 

O’Connell’s life and legacy. To learn 

more or to pre-order extra copies, visit 

AngelusNews.com/FarewellBishopDave 


Getting in 

the spirit 

A high-octane keynote 

talk and reflections 

from presenters at 

the LA Religious 

Education Congress 

brought a people in 

mourning to their feet. 

BY TOM HOFFARTH 

/ PHOTOGRAPHY BY 

VICTOR ALEMÁN 

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Espaillat of 

New York delivers his keynote address 

titled “Life in the Holy Spirit #GOALS” 

at the LA Congress Feb. 25, 2023. 

The dark clouds of a weather 

system of historic proportions 

added to the heaviness already 

felt by the thousands at the 2023 LA 

Religious Education Congress Feb. 

23-26 in Anaheim, a week after the 

death of beloved Los Angeles Auxiliary 

Bishop David O’Connell. 

But as the sun came out Sunday 

morning, organizers had pulled 

together a bilingual prayer service in 

O’Connell’s honor, presided by Archbishop 

José H. Gomez. His life was 

celebrated in many ways with Irish 

prayers and music, images of O’Connell 

from throughout the years, and 

testimonies from some of those who 

knew him best. 

Father Jarlath “Jay” Cunnane of St. 

Cornelius Church in Long Beach was 

O’Connell’s best friend, a relationship 

forged during their seminary days in 

Ireland 50 years ago. 

Cunnane, from County Sligo, 

recalled how O’Connell, a County 

Cork native, used to say, “A Cork man 

will always leave without saying goodbye, 

but a Sligo man will say goodbye 

but he would never leave.” 


“Dave, you went and left without 

saying goodbye,” said Cunnane. 

Archbishop Gomez assured the 

crowd that O’Connell is ready to intercede 

for them from his new home. 

“Now he has more power because 

he’s in heaven, and I’m sure you’re 

going to feel his presence more,” said 

the archbishop. 

O’Connell’s figure was prominent 

all weekend at Congress. Workshop 

speakers referenced him frequently, 

while a book of remembrance was set 

up for him in the Congress’ Sacred 

Space, to be presented to his family 

at his March 3 funeral Mass at the 

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. 

He had been scheduled to participate 

in the “Front Row with Archbishop” 

Congress event on Saturday as a 

featured guest on the conversation of 

Catholic social teaching. The event 

was later canceled. 

Even freeway-adjacent digital billboards 

flashed memorial messages 

with his photo that attendees noticed 

on their way into Anaheim. Angelus 

has since learned that the signage, 

which appeared on 30 billboards 

throughout Southern California, was 

a gift from State Sen. Bob Archuleta, 

who considered O’Connell a friend. 

This year marked the first fully 

in-person Congress since 2020 due to 

the pandemic. Attendees found plenty 

of moments to reflect on the late 

bishop’s life and legacy while clutching 

on to this year’s theme, “Embrace 

Grace.” 

Saturday morning saw a thunderclap 

moment that wasn’t weather-related 

when Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Espaillat 

of New York took the arena stage 

as keynote speaker to deliver on his 

opening promise: “My intention is to 

light a fire — a fire in us.” 

In a pre-event interview, the country’s 

youngest Catholic bishop and the 

first Dominican American prelate, 

told Angelus that “lives are going to 

get rocked” at Congress. The 46-yearold 

may have underpromised and 

overdelivered. 

“When I say ‘Jesus,’ you say ‘lives’!” 

Espaillat woke up the thousands in 

the arena at about 8:30 a.m., seizing 

the stage following a quieter and more 

contemplative half-hour prelude of 

musical and cultural reflection. 

An image of Bishop David 

O’Connell is seen before 

the start of a special prayer 

service for the late bishop at 

the LA Religious Education 

Congress Feb. 26. 

“There ain’t no party like a Holy 

Spirit party ’cause a Holy Spirit party 

don’t stop!” he proclaimed with a hiphop 

cadence. 

His talk drew from a slideshow presentation 

of Scripture, quotes from several 

religious figures, statistical charts 

and pop-culture references. It also 

extracted data that warned about the 

dangers of some social media becoming 

too much of a negative influence. 

Espaillat incorporated it all, switching 

between English and Spanish, imploring 

how the love of God, the mercy of 

Jesus, and the catapulting effect of the 

Holy Spirit can help us “stop maintaining 

the status quo.” 

At one point, a group of high school 

cheerleaders attending the USA Spirit 

Nationals event at the other end of 

the Convention Center exhibit halls, 

gathered outside the arena doors to 

hear what was going on. 

The 55-minute high-octane revival 

led to one of the longest and loudest 

ovations inside the arena in recent 

memory. Espaillat then asked the 

attendees to stand, close their eyes, 

open their hands and pray for healing. 

Afterward, Archbishop Christophe 

Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., 

said Espaillat’s keynote talk “was not 

just a show, it was something much 

deeper.” 

“His style appeals to a lot of people, 

younger people,” said Pierre as he 

greeted people leaving the convention 

center area. “But what I liked was the 

message, with very sound theology 

and in line with what Pope Francis 

wants for us, to communicate the Gospel 

to the people using their language 

and their capacity to understand.” 

Loreena Garcia, a 37-year-old 

catechist leading the confirmation 

program at St. Joseph Church in La 

Puente, said that as a social media 

evangelizer and content creator she 


Congress attendees pray during Bishop 

Espaillat’s keynote presentation Feb. 25. 

appreciated how Espaillat found 

common ground in a world where 

Catholic messaging too often defaults 

into one extreme or another. 

“I think sometimes as a youth you 

feel stifled by different things in the 

Church, and there isn’t enough about 

how ‘I’m just trying to live my Catholic 

life,’ ” said Garcia, also involved 

in The Salesian Family of LASGV 

Search young adult encounter movement. 

“I try to live that. It was empowering 

when he said, ‘The power of Jesus is 

you and you need to go out and be.’ I 

loved his youthful exuberance and his 

fire. He was amazing. He showed you 

could experience Jesus with all your 

senses.” 

In today’s troublesome and turbulent 

world, several workshops focused on 

themes that dealt with practical ways 

one can faithfully navigate. Allusions 

to O’Connell were often invoked as 

examples. 

Father Greg Boyle, founder of 

Homeboy Industries, said in his arena 

talk about apostolic wholeness and 

the kinship of God that he was once 

asked, “How do you talk about faith?” 

He responded, “I don’t.” 

“Faith can get stuck in your head as 

creedal statements and doctrine,” he 

said. “But Bishop Dave allowed his 

faith to find its way to his feet. … He 

stood with those feet with the poor, 

the powerless, and the voiceless. He 

stood with those whose dignity had 

been denied. And those whose burdens 

are more than they could carry. 

“So do you talk about faith? Eh, not 

so much. Dave embodied this.” 

Julianne Stanz, in a Saturday workshop 

titled “Ministering in the Midst 

of Disruption,” talked about how her 

Irish-Celtic upbringing was the initial 

basis for her friendship with O’Connell. 

Spanish-speaking Congressgoers 

attend a workshop on youth leadership 

in the Church by Juan Carlos 

Montenegro on Sunday, Feb. 26. 


Stanz, who led the worship program 

at the Sunday prayer service for the 

bishop, said his spiritual guidance and 

relatable experiences helped her write 

the book, “Braving the Thin Places: 

Celtic Wisdom to Create a Space for 

Grace.” 

Stanz explained the nuances of the 

Celtic cross with its circle embedded 

in the cross as a representation of the 

sun, and O’Connell’s works “made 

our lives better by the light that he 

had.” 

Organizers said more than 10,000 

registered to attend the Friday-Saturday-Sunday 

events in person, and 

more than 5,000 young people and 

chaperones also came to Thursday’s 

Youth Day. Its theme of Strive4Live 

included a Mass presided by Archbishop 

Gomez and concelebrated by 

more than 40 priests. 

Archbishop Gomez also celebrated 

the weekend’s closing Sunday Mass 

on Feb. 26. There, he invited participants 

to be open to the guidance 

of the Holy Spirit and “let the Spirit 

open our eyes to see the signs of the 

times.” 

The Spirit, he assured them, is 

at work today “in our parishes and 

schools and in our communities. 

“We see young families not afraid 

Archbishop Gomez with local teens after the Feb. 23 

Youth Day Mass at the 2023 LA Religious Education Congress in Anaheim. 

to go against the grain of the culture, 

living their faith with zeal and joy, 

striving to be everyday saints, raising 

their kids to know Jesus and to live for 

him.” 

“It’s happening,” he added. “There’s 

a new awakening, a new religious 

revival beginning.” 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning 

journalist based in Los Angeles. 


Team Seminarians cheer with the 

championship trophy after winning 

the Archdiocese of LA’s annual 

Vocations basketball game Feb. 17. 

A FRATERNAL DUEL 

LA’s Team Seminarians held off an energized Team Priests 

at the annual Vocations basketball matchup. 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / PHOTOS BY JOHN MCCOY 

Naturally, Tommy Green wants all the discernment 

time necessary to complete his seminary formation 

and stay on track to become a priest by the summer 

of 2024. 

But after his performance last weekend in the annual 

basketball fundraising game that supports the Archdiocese 

of LA’s Office of Vocations, a certain group of LA priests 

might be petitioning for him to speed up the process. 

For the second year in a row, Green was named the 

event’s Most Valuable Player, powering his way to a gamehigh 

27 points as his team held off a final push from the 

Team Priests, 49-43, on Friday, Feb. 17, before hundreds 

of supporters at the Chaminade Middle School gym in 

Chatsworth. 

Green, who has only played on the last two Seminarians 

teams, exceeded his own MVP performance from last year 

when he scored 16 points before fouling out. The Team 

Seminarians outlasted the Team Priests by six points during 

that game, which was played at Santa Clara High School 

in Oxnard. 

“This is a different way to bring the community together 

and evangelize and create more awareness for vocations,” 

said Green, who is in his third year of theological studies 

at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo and expected to be 

ordained a deacon this May. 

“Priests and seminarians can have fun, play basketball 


together, and I think it’s authentic masculinity as well as 

something that shows how some normal ordinary guys can 

have an extraordinary call from the Lord. It brings awareness 

to that.” 

At 6-foot-2, Green admits only that “I’m a pretty big guy” 

to be running up and down a basketball court. Not too long 

ago, he was all-league offensive lineman on the football 

teams at Glendora High School (Class of 2013) and Citrus 

College, where he weighed in at 285 pounds. 

The 27-year-old Green was too much for the Team 

Priests’ defense to handle on a variety of layups, rebound 

put-backs, short shots in the paint, and accurate free-throw 

shooting. 

By the end of the game, Green was basking in the attention 

from his supporters, including doing an interview with 

a broadcast crew who livestreamed the event for a watch 

party at his home parish of St. Dorothy Church in Glendora. 

Not only did Green’s mother and St. Dorothy’s retired 

Msgr. Norm Priebe attend in person — and have him pose 

with a handmade poster that said “Tommy MVP” — but 

supporters from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Rowland 

Heights, where Green did his internship last year were 

also in attendance. 

Libby Reichert, a professor of moral theology at St. John’s 

Seminary who coaches and teaches the Team Seminarians, 

said Green is “the heart of this team. He is an extrovert to 

the extreme. He just brings joy to everyone around him. 

Father Matt Wheeler, administrator of Visitation Church in Westchester, played the 

National Anthem on his electric guitar before suiting up for the game. 

I’m excited to see that man as a priest in the parish.” 

Since the inaugural game in 2019, Team Seminarians has 

now won three times against the Team Priests. But on this 

year’s roster of 10 priests, more than half have played for 

the Team Seminarians in recent years. 

Father Mike Perucho, associate director of vocations for 

the archdiocese, said the event has drawn positive feedback 

from parishioners throughout the archdiocese who now 

look forward to it. He pointed to a large group who attended 

from St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Santa Clarita to 

cheer on Father Jihoon Kim, as well as intern seminarian 

Michael Croghan. 

Father Michael Masteller, ordained in 2021 and serving 

as a pastor at St. Helen Church in South Gate, was on 

the Team Seminarians’ roster that won in 2019 and lost in 

2020. He recalled the modest beginnings of the Seminarians 

vs. Priests game idea, when they would play in front of 

a few spectators at St. Finbar Church in Burbank. 

“It was a very small pickup game, a lot of great fraternity, 

and it’s fun to see it get a little more intense,” said Father 

Masteller, whose 14 points were second on the Team 

Priests behind 16 from Father Andrew Chung of St. Pancratius 

Church of Lakewood. 

“My reflection tonight is this isn’t really about us [playing], 

it’s getting the families, the children together. I think 

it was just a very Catholic night for everyone. Since we lost, 

that’s my consolation. And, we’re going to win next year.” 

Father Michael Masteller goes up against Team Seminarian Tommy Green, who won 

the game’s MVP award for the second straight year. 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning journalist based in Los 

Angeles. 


Big plans, small victories 

As the example of St. John Paul II suggests, the 10 years of Francis’ 

pontificate can’t be measured by wins and losses. 

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. 

ROME — From the moment 

of his election in October 

1978, St. Pope John Paul II 

made clear what the opening act of 

his papacy would be about. On just 

his second foreign trip seven months 

later, he returned to his native Poland 

and thundered “Do not be afraid!,” 

effectively launching a cultural and 

spiritual challenge to the entire Soviet 

system. 

Ten years later, as John Paul marked 

his first decade in office, that battle 

was all but over. “Perestroika” (“restructuring”) 

and “glasnost” (“openness”) 

were at their peak, and within 

a year the Berlin Wall would fall 

and the Soviet empire would follow 

shortly. 

Mikhail Gorbachev himself once 

said, “The collapse of the Iron 

Curtain would have been impossible 

without John Paul II.” 

Flash forward to March 2013 and 

the election of another maverick 

outsider to the throne of Peter. Just 

as a Polish pope was a natural to 

challenge Communism, history’s first 

pontiff from Latin America arguably 

was predestined to take on neoliberal, 

neocolonial capitalism, the toxic consequences 

of which he believes his 

native continent knows all too well. 

Like John Paul before, Francis made 

it clear from the 

beginning what 

his own crusade 

would be. The 

new pope devoted 

his very first trip to 

the Mediterranean 

island of Lampedusa, 

a major point of arrival for 

Pope Francis greets 

immigrants as he 

arrives at the port in 

Lampedusa, Italy, July 

8, 2013. | CNS/TUL- 

LIO PUGLIA, POOL 

desperate migrants and refugees from 

Africa and the Middle East seeking a 

better life. 

While there, Francis attacked the 

“globalization of indifference,” employing 

for the first time what would 

become a signature rhetorical trope, 

and he also laid a wreath in the sea to 


commemorate the thousands of often 

forgotten people who’ve died attempting 

to make it across the Mediterranean, 

fleeing poverty, war, and other 

forms of injustice. 

In effect, the Lampedusa trip was 

Francis’ entire social and political 

agenda in miniature. 

While John Paul had taken aim at a 

formal political structure, Francis’ target 

was far more amorphous, as much 

a mindset and a cluster of values as a 

system. 

Given that, it’s probably no surprise 

that as Francis approaches his own 10- 

year mark, it’s not at all clear he’s on 

the brink of a John Paul-style historical 

victory over his chosen foe. 

On the contrary, with a war raging 

in Ukraine, a stunning global total 

of 117 million forcible displaced or 

stateless persons in 2023, the largest 

global food crisis in history underway, 

and more than 700 million people 

living in extreme poverty, one could 

argue that Francis’ vision is every bit 

as far from realization as it was when 

he started. 

Yet the comparison between John 

Paul and Francis at the one-decade 

mark may still be apt, if not in results 

so much as in ambition. 

After the Berlin Wall came down 

and Soviet-style Communism disintegrated, 

John Paul took on new 

priorities — doing battle against what 

he famously described as a “culture 

of death” in the developed world, for 

instance, and pressing for reunion 

between Eastern and Western Christianity, 

so that the Church might once 

again “breathe with both lungs.” 

In those two cases, John Paul didn’t 

really have any better luck than Francis. 

When his papacy ended in 2005, 

the developed world was further down 

the path toward acceptance of not 

only contraception and abortion but 

also euthanasia, while the structural 

divisions within Christianity remained 

very much intact. 

It’s a reminder that judging popes by 

wins and losses may not be the best 

yardstick, and not simply because, as 

St. Mother Teresa put it, the Gospel 

standard isn’t success but fidelity. In 

truth, the more audacious a pope is 

in his reach, the more daring and 

dramatic his leadership, the lower his 

batting average is likely to be. 

No, Francis hasn’t ended poverty 

or war, nor has he solved the refugee 

crisis or ended climate change. Neither, 

of course, has anyone else. Yet 

his leadership on those fronts nevertheless 

has demonstrated anew the 

relevance of the papacy, and arguably 

provided a spiritual alternative to what 

might otherwise be an even greater 

degree of resignation and despair. 

To put the point differently, suppose 

John Paul had not succeeded in galvanizing 

the Solidarity movement in Poland, 

and that the Soviet empire had 

never fallen. Would dissenters and 

victims of Communism thus style his 

papacy a failure — or, as seems more 

likely, would they nevertheless tout 

John Paul as a hero, having laid out a 

bold and courageous vision awaiting 

its historical denouement? 

That, perhaps, is the real common 

thread uniting John Paul and Francis 

at the 10-year mark. 

Both are what Americans might 

call “Daniel Burnham popes,” the 

reference being to the powerful 

turn-of-the-century architect and 

urban planner who famously said the 

following: 

“Make no little plans. They have no 

magic to stir men’s blood, and probably 

will not themselves be realized. 

Make big plans, aim high in hope and 

work, remembering that a noble, logical 

diagram once recorded will never 

die, but long after we are gone will be 

a living thing, asserting itself with ever 

growing insistency. Remember that 

our sons and grandsons are going to 

do things that would stagger us.” 

That’s the common term between 

two papacies which otherwise may 

seem highly dissimilar in ideological 

orientation, priorities, and personnel. 

Neither John Paul nor Francis were 

inclined toward little plans — and 

while Francis hasn’t yet won his fight, 

as John Paul had by this point, neither 

has he shown any inclination to throw 

in the towel. 

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


Participants in a 

synod listening 

session at La 

Salle University in 

Philadelphia write 

messages about 

the experience 

April 4, 2022, and 

attach them to 

the windows of a 

conference room 

for passersby 

to read. | CNS/ 

SARAH WEBB/ 

CATHOLIC PHILLY 

Deciding 

who’s in BY CHARLIE CAMOSY 

A cardinal’s call for ‘radical inclusion’ of those 

at odds with the Church’s teachings has stoked 

serious debate. Is a middle way possible? 

A 

cold war over how to think about 

an authentic, Gospel-centered 

sense of inclusion has been underway 

in the Church since not long 

after Pope Francis took office. But it is 

now clear that with the stakes so high 

amid talk of changes that could result 

from the Synod on Synodality, it has 

now broken out into the open. 

The debate reached new heights 

recently when Cardinal Robert McElroy 

of San Diego made the case that 

the synod should “touch and transform 

every element of our ecclesial 

life,” and that the Church must work 

toward “radical inclusion” of people 

who identify as part of the “LGBTQ” 

community. 

McElroy’s essay has provoked a few 

public responses — most of them 

critical — from some of his brother 

bishops. 

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas 

City, Kansas, wrote that, “Cardinal 

McElroy appears to believe that the 

Church for 2,000 years has exaggerated 

the importance of her sexual moral 

teaching, and that radical inclusion 

supersedes doctrinal fidelity. … In 

my opinion, this is a most serious and 

dangerous error.” 

Cardinal Blase Cupich responded in 

his archdiocesan newspaper, Chicago 

Catholic, by affirming McElroy’s 

position. “A pastoral approach that 

preemptively excludes someone from 

the life of the Church and her ministry 

is a serious matter and must be challenged,” 

he wrote. To make his point, 

he even cited the late Pope Benedict 

XVI, who wrote that “God’s passionate 

love for his people … a forgiving love 

… is so great that it turns God against 

himself, his love against his justice.” 

But can we reconcile this position 

with Pope Francis’ own words that prochoice 

Catholic politicians, for example, 

have put themselves “outside the 

community”? He even used the word 

“excommunicated”: “It’s a harsh word,” 

Francis said in 2021, “but they don’t 

belong in the community, because 

they were not baptized, or because they 

are estranged from it.” 

This looks like a difficult problem, 

but if the issue at stake is truly about inclusion, 

there is a “via media” (“middle 

way”) available to us that could cool 

Pope Francis answers questions from journalists aboard 

his flight from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Rome Sept. 15, 

2021. The pope said during the flight that pro-choice 

Catholic politicians have put themselves “outside the 

community.” | CNS/PAUL HARING 


down this war. It comes from the example 

of Christ himself. 

In a sense, both sides of this debate 

can point to things Christ said and did 

— but it is when they are seen together 

that the “via media” becomes clear. 

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus showed 

no hesitation in reaching out to the 

“peripheries,” in seeking out the lost, or 

welcoming the marginalized into our 

community. 

But Christ, we must also acknowledge, 

always insisted on a radical 

reform of one’s heart and actions, in 

a total change in mentality. In other 

words, conversion. Yes, he protected 

the woman caught in adultery from 

being killed, but he clearly named her 

actions as sinful and commanded her 

to stop. Yes, he welcomed even tax 

collectors and insisted on eating with 

them, but Jesus never excused their sin 

and it is clear in Zacchaeus’ narrative, 

for instance, that confronting one’s 

own sinfulness and making restitution 

is a necessary part of the story. 

Our Lord was able to radically include 

people in one sense, pastorally, 

while also insisting that for full inclusion 

there needs to be an acknowledgement 

of sin and desire to change. 

Someone who insists that adultery is 

fine, or that dishonestly fleecing the 

vulnerable to line one’s pockets is no 

big deal, could not be full members of 

a community that stands for fidelity in 

marriage and a preferential option for 

the poor. 

Indeed, the radical pastoral inclusion 

of even unrepentant sinners is a major 

way those who have strayed can be 

brought back to the faith. Any discussion 

of these matters that imagines a 

polarized debate between, say, “total 

marginalization” vs. “full-inclusion-despite-anything-someone-says-or-does” 

is 

totally inadequate. We must follow the 

example of Our Lord by developing 

a culture that welcomes and includes 

those who are estranged from the community. 

But this should always include 

a clear, strong, pastorally sensitive invitation 

to name sin for what it is, with a 

firm intention to avoid it in the future. 

Some will not be happy with this “via 

media” approach. For them, the issue 

is not about finding a way to pastorally 

include those they think are engaging 

in sinful behavior that the Church 

community should reject. Instead, 

they are arguing for the full inclusion 

of those who are engaging in behavior 

they think the Church community 

should accept. 

That point of view — if it involves 

matters like adultery, exploiting the 

poor, or refusing to honor the connection 

between sex and openness to procreation 

— would require a fundamental 

change in the Church’s teaching, 

and would obviously require a very 

different kind of discussion. But if the 

issue is really about how the Church 

should balance radical inclusion with 

fidelity to truth, then let us make use of 

the “via media” Our Lord provides us 

to help cool down the inclusion wars. 

Charlie Camosy is professor of 

Medical Humanities at the Creighton 

University School of Medicine. In addition, 

he holds the Monsignor Curran 

Fellowship in Moral Theology at St. 

Joseph Seminary in New York.

INTERSECTIONS 

GREG ERLANDSON 

St. Bernadette’s gift 

A man watches from across the 

river as pilgrims attend a Mass 

at the Shrine of Our Lady of 

Lourdes in France in this 2014 

file photo. | CNS/PAUL HARING 

I 

received a miraculous gift of sorts 

this winter: an unexpected invitation 

to visit Lourdes, France. 

Lourdes is a bit like Italy’s Assisi: It 

can be crowded with pilgrims and 

tourists. It can be stacked floor to 

ceiling with Catholic kitsch. Despite 

that, it retains a spiritual power. 

Nestled near the Pyrenees not far from 

the Spanish border, the town has an 

undeniable beauty even in the chill of 

the French winter. 

The Gave de Pau River slices rapidly 

through the pilgrimage site, carrying 

the snowmelt from the mountains 

towering nearby. Two basilicas, one on 

top of the other, loom over the grotto 

and the spring that attract all the attention. 

Yet the churches’ grandeur is 

almost diminished by the contrast with 

what is nestled below. 

The stony grotto was basically the 

town dump. Yet it was here that a 

14-year-old girl named Bernadette 

Soubirous encountered “the beautiful 

lady” in 1858. Following the lady’s instructions, 

Bernadette dug at the earth, 

uncovering the spring that runs to this 

day. The waters of that spring have led 

to claims of many healings, though 

scientific analysis shows nothing unusual 

about the water itself. 

The story of Bernadette’s 18 well-documented 

encounters with “the lady” 

has been the subject of books, films, 

and perhaps soon a musical. “The 

lady” eventually told her that her 

name was the Immaculate Conception, 

a phrase that the poorly educated 

Bernadette did not understand even 

as she dutifully recounted it to her 

pastor. 

What is remarkable about the Bernadette 

story are the details: A young, 

uneducated, asthmatic girl who never 

changed her account despite numerous 

interrogations. Her faith was 

simple and unshakable. The Blessed 

Virgin did not promise her happiness 

in this life, she said, and Bernadette 

hid from her subsequent celebrity in a 

distant convent. She died of tuberculosis 

at age 35. 

Yet the healings associated with the 

spring have continued ever since. 

After intensive investigation and 

documentation, 70 of these healings 

have been judged as having no known 

natural explanation. The 70th was 

recently discussed on the CBS news 

program “60 Minutes.” It concerned 

Sister Bernadette Moriau, who doctors 

testify was suddenly and without warning 

healed of a series of skeletal and 

neurological handicaps. 

The fame of Bernadette’s visions 

and those healing waters have led to 

Lourdes today having the second largest 

concentration of hotels in France 

after Paris. A town of 17,000, it hosts 

3 million pilgrims and tourists each 

year. The legacy of St. Bernadette 

remains evident in the parade of both 

believers and nonbelievers coming to 

the town, washing in and drinking the 

water as the Madonna instructed. 

In Catholicism, contrary to some 


Greg Erlandson is the former president and 

editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service. 

Lourdes, I thought about all the 

miraculous healings we read of in 

the New Testament. They are closely 

connected with faith. Where faith 

was lacking, as in Nazareth (Matthew 

13:58), miracles were few. On the other 

hand, where faith was strong — the 

hemorrhagic woman (Matthew 9:22), 

the Canaanite woman (Matthew 

15:28), the two blind men (Matthew 

9:29) — faith was rewarded. 

Miracles can challenge even us 

believers, who share the prayer of 

the distraught father in the Gospel of 

Mark (9:24): “I do believe, help my 

unbelief!” 

Miracles do not guarantee faith will 

last. One thinks of the 10 lepers cured 

but only one returns to give thanks 

(Luke 17:17–19). Yet faith makes mirstereotypes, 

Church leaders are often 

skeptical about claims of miracles and 

apparitions. There is rarely any sort of 

rush to bless such claims. Church officials 

at first disbelieved Bernadette’s 

story even as a growing number of laity 

did not. The Church wisely notes that 

such claims can be sincere but imagined, 

and that many frauds can be 

perpetrated on the pious. Nothing is 

quicker to bring discredit on religious 

faith or joy to the breast of the cynic. 

For those who disbelieve miracles are 

possible, there may never be convincing 

evidence. Disbelief as well as 

belief both ultimately turn on faith, 

but in the case of the Lourdes miracles, 

science has helped rule out other 

explanations. 

Walking the granite plazas of 

acles possible. These are the moments 

when the curtain is lifted, and we are 

allowed a glimpse of what lies beyond 

our mortal sight. 

That such miracles should happen 

in a rubbish pit of sorts is no more or 

less improbable than the savior of the 

world born in a feedbox in a stable. 

Miracles, God seems to be telling us, 

can happen anywhere. 

The shame of it is that we don’t 

recognize miracles happening all 

about us. Yet when my wife and I went 

to the grotto and washed and drank of 

the water that frigid January day, we 

shared a holy bond with all the millions 

of pilgrims who came before us 

and will follow us in faith and expectation 

that this is more than just water, 

more than just a spring.

A priest for 

the downand-outers 

The remarkable life 

of the Jesuit who 

quietly counseled 

Alcoholic Anonymous’ 

Protestant founder is 

the subject of a new 

book. 

BY MSGR. RICHARD ANTALL 

Reading Dawn Eden Goldstein’s 

well-researched new biography 

of Father Edward Dowling, SJ, 

whom Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) 

founder Bill Wilson described as his 

“spiritual sponsor,” I felt as if the priest 

had spent a week at my rectory. One 

detail in the book took me by surprise, 

nevertheless. 

When Dowling died, his funeral was 

planned for St. Francis Xavier College 

Church at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis 

University, where he had studied and 

lived for a number of years. 

However, as Goldstein reveals, the 

pastor of the church did not want 

Dowling’s burial Mass held there. 

He suggested the small chapel of the 

Jesuit’s Sodality of Our Lady, where 

Dowling had been editor of its periodical, 

“The Queen’s Work.” Eventually, 

the Jesuit provincial intervened and 

the huge funeral was held at St. Francis 

Xavier. 

In “Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.’s 

Spiritual Sponsor” (Orbis, $26), Goldstein 

speculates that the reason for the 

pastor’s reluctance was because “in 

the hierarchy of Jesuit elites, Father 

Ed was the lowest of the low. He was 

not on the staff of America magazine, 

neither was he a university professor or 

a pastor. All he did was counsel people 

with problems — including drunks, 

drug addicts, and the mentally ill.” 

This note about exclusion within 

the ranks of his own company helped 

me get a better handle on the life and 

career of “Father Ed,” as he was called 

by most. 

He was involved in a ministry that 

Father Edward Dowling, SJ. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

could be called conservative, the sodality, 

and was close to Father Daniel 

Lord, SJ, who helped develop the 

morality code for Hollywood in the 

1930s. 

Yet Dowling had an irresistible attraction 

to the down-and-outers. 

Goldstein thinks that the novitiate 

experience was hard for Dowling and 

that “touching bottom” there was the 

source of his compassion for those who 

are generally left out of the scheme of 

things or looked down on. 

A Jesuit confrere once joked that the 


people who would come to Dowling 

for marriage preparation were all convicts, 

prostitutes, and drunks. But like 

Jesus, Dowling saw his ministry not to 

the righteous but to the sinners. 

Dowling’s relationship with Bill 

Wilson has made this new biography 

of interest to those “in the program,” as 

people in Alcoholics Anonymous refer 

to membership in their organization. 

Goldstein tells us that Father Ed 

learned about AA through his friendship 

with Ed Lahey, a journalist 

friend, and then searched out Wilson 

because he saw resemblances between 

AA’s “Twelve Steps” and the spirituality 

of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuit’s 

founder. 

The priest had a knack for showing 

up when people needed a good 

listener. In one article, he is quoted as 

saying, “I really haven’t done anything. 

It’s really simple. I just happened to be 

around.” 

Bill W., as he is known in AA lore, 

made his own “Fifth Step” with Dowling, 

describing this step as admitting to 

“God, oneself, and to another human 

being the nature of our wrongs.” 

Goldstein shows what a complicated 

person Wilson was, describing his 

marital infidelities and his struggles 

with depression. He was in therapy for 

years with a Jungian psychologist and, 

although he toyed with the idea of 

converting to Catholicism (going so far 

as to take instruction with Ven. Bishop 

Fulton Sheen), he also had a fascination 

with seances, and experimented 

with LSD in an effort to expand his 

consciousness. 

Presumably, Dowling helped steer 

him through some of those dangerous 

straits. Wilson called Dowling the 

most spiritual person he knew, adding, 

“I don’t know anyone who has contributed 

more of himself to his fellow 

mortals.” 

But Dowling was not just a priest for 

alcoholics. He was involved in what 

we would now call “social justice” 

ministry. Passionate about politics, he 

advocated for something called “proportional 

representation” in voting, 

and was a firebrand on the lecture 

circuit. 

He once said, “The two greatest 

obstacles to democracy in the United 

States are, first, the widespread 

delusion among the poor that we have 

a democracy, and second, the chronic 

terror among the rich, lest we get it.” 

He knew Dorothy Day and Peter 

Maurin and was friendly with the 

Catholic Worker movement. Maybe it 

was his political radicalism, or perhaps 

his restlessness, but he was sympathetic 

to the radical economic program of 

Father Charles Coughlin, the famous 

radio priest who was accused of anti-Semitic 

and fascist tendencies. He 

also gave a hearing to the isolationist 

“America’s First” arguments of Charles 

Lindbergh, a strange attraction given 

Dowling’s leadership against racism 

and prejudice. 

By temperament it seems, Dowling 

cast his lot with the outsiders and 

outriders of Church and society. 

He expressed his doubts about 

“Churchianity,” which he contrasted 

with authentic Christianity. He could 

see the downsides of the Church as an 

institution, but joked that if you want 

running water, you have to be in favor 

of plumbing. 

He was drawn to the creativity of 

movements of the laity. Dowling 

seemed to have never met a Church 

movement he couldn’t like, promoting 

“Cana Conferences” for married 

couples in addition to Twelve-Step 

programs for mental health and other 

problems. 

He believed in what he called “isopathic 

groups,” associations of individuals 

with the same problem who 

helped one another in solidarity. This 

was exemplified by Alcoholics Anonymous, 

of course, but he extended this 

principle. He helped found Divorcees 

Anonymous for women who had been 

divorced, and another group he called 

“Seven Up,” for mothers with that 

many children or more. 

Goldstein’s book is a portrait of a 

creative priest who also intersected 

with an important chunk of American 

Catholic history. Dowling comes 

across as a very modern priest for his 

time, although his way of life was traditional 

and his asceticism was classic 

in style. 

Dowling said that he was grateful for 

his physical sufferings (caused in part 

by spondylitis deformans, a debilitating 

type of arthritis) because they 

helped him spiritually. His friends 

knew him to be a man of prayer who 

spent a lot of time before the Blessed 

Sacrament. 

A Jesuit confrere once joked that the people 

who would come to Dowling for marriage 

preparation were all convicts, prostitutes, and 

drunks. But like Jesus, the priest saw his ministry 

not to the righteous but to the sinners. 

I am grateful for this biography, 

although at times Goldstein’s sympathy 

with her subject leads her to 

overreach, offering speculations about 

Dowling’s feelings and states of mind 

that can’t possibly be corroborated. 

For instance, she speculates that 

when his brother died in the influenza 

pandemic, Dowling must have worried 

about whether he had carried the 

virus asymptomatically and caused his 

brother’s death. 

Her imagination is her strength, but 

it can also be her weakness. Another 

example: She describes a woman waiting 

for Dowling at his office wearing a 

veil, because that was stylish in those 

days. 

These are quibbles in comparison to 

what Goldstein has achieved in her 

research and writing. 

Goldstein has brought Father Ed 

back from the dead to inspire us and 

make us think. Mavericks on the margins 

like him are a “creative minority” 

and a source of charismatic leadership 

in an institutionally oriented Church. 

A very worthwhile book. 

Msgr. Richard Antall is pastor of Holy 

Name Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and 

the author of several books. His latest 

novel is “The X-mas Files” (Atmosphere 

Press, $17.99). 


DESIRE LINES 

HEATHER KING 

A silent vocation: The art of Judith Scott 

Judith Scott at the Creative Growth Art Studio in 1999. | STAN PETERSON VIA FACEBOOK @CREATIVEGROWTHARTCENTER 

Judith Scott (1943–2005), American 

fiber sculptor, was born in 

Columbus, Ohio, with Down 

syndrome. Her twin sister, Joyce, 

tells their joint story in the memoir 

“Entwined: Sisters and Secrets in the 

Silent World of Artist Judith Scott” 

(Beacon Press, $21.04). 

For their first several years, the two 

were inseparable, playing in their 

backyard sandbox, collecting pebbles 

and leaves. But in those days, children 

with developmental disabilities — and 

their families — were stigmatized and 

often shunned. 

One day Joyce woke, and Judith was 

gone, spirited away by her parents to a 

“home.” Unknown to her family, Judith 

was also deaf, a fact they did not learn 

until she had been institutionalized for 

many years. 

Meanwhile Joyce had a child out of 

wedlock, gave her baby daughter up 

for adoption, moved to the Bay Area, 

and with John, the partner she would 

eventually marry, had two more daughters. 

Still, her beloved twin was never 

far from her mind and heart. She sent 

packages, visited from time to time, 

and wrote letters. 

But she was shocked to hear, for example, 

that at one point all of Judith’s 

teeth had been pulled: easier not to 

have to deal with cavities, reasoned the 

institution. 

In the mid-1980s, Joyce attended a 

silent retreat in the mountains near 

Santa Cruz. The event was transformative. 

She returned home with the 

unshakable conviction that Judith must 

come to live with her. 

She consulted a lawyer, acquired 

guardianship, and arranged for Judith 

to be flown from Illinois to California. 

Judith quickly and happily settled in. 

Before retiring each night, she placed 

her purse and a stack of her treasured 

magazines — she liked the colors, 

shapes, and glossy paper — beneath 

her pillow. 

In 1987, Judith was enrolled at 

the Creative Growth Art Center in 

Oakland, which supports people with 

developmental disabilities. For two 

years, Judith sat silently, apart from the 

others, surrounded by art supplies for 

which she seemed to have little use. 

But one day a visiting fiber artist 

came to the center and taught a class. 

Judith watched. In the ensuing days 

she began collecting a few seemingly 

random objects and began wrapping 

and tying them off with foraged yarn, 

thread, and string. The first piece she 

produced is clearly a pair of twinned 

figures, tenderly embracing. 

Judith Scott had found her voice, her 

passion, and her vocation. 

For the next 18 years, she went to the 

center each day and worked steadily 

from 9 to 3, breaking only for lunch. 

Undistracted by noise — a side benefit 

of her deafness — she descended into 

a world of her own. 

Though unable to talk — “Ho ho 

bah” was a favorite ejaculation — Judith 

had an uncanny sense of presence 

and purpose. She knew exactly how 

to make her desires known. Woe to 

anyone who tried to trespass upon her 

precious magazines. She became the 

undisputed Queen Bee of the Creative 

Art Center, unswerving in her focus. 

Stooped, shrunken, with dark circles 

around her eyes, Judith came to love 


Heather King is an award-winning 

author, speaker, and workshop leader. 

headgear: a fringed scarf tied around 

her forehead, turbans. She took to 

festooning herself with costume jewelry: 

multiple strands of beads, chunky 

bracelets. 

She came to favor strips of fabric for 

wrapping. Her deeply-controlled structures 

had the air of totems or mummies, 

often with strange protuberances. 

Always, something was buried within 

the piece. It might be a Styrofoam 

cube, a piece of wood, or an industrial 

spool. It might be a shopping cart or 

once, someone’s paycheck. 

The art world started to take notice 

— but Judith was unimpressed by the 

star-studded gallery openings. She 

might walk around, throw kisses toward 

one or two of her pieces, then sit down 

in a corner and demand to be taken 

home. 

Her work is now in museum collections 

around the world: New York, San 

Francisco, Dublin, Lausanne, Tokyo. 

When her time came, Judith lay 

down beside Joyce, looked deep into 

her sister’s eyes, and abruptly stopped 

breathing. 

Who was she, really? Joyce mused 

afterward. What could she have been 

trying to say? Did those straitjacketed, 

swaddled structures represent the 

trauma of 35 years of institutionalization? 

Were they meant to telegraph 

that no matter how deeply the world 

tries to bury the human spirit, it will 

rise triumphant and exuberant? Were 

they notes of a kind of music heard by 

Judith alone, in her lifelong silence 

and exile? 

We’ll never know, but one thing is 

certain. They were the product of a 

profound intelligence; of a being ordered 

in some mysterious, single-minded 

way to the rules of an unseen realm. 

“I had wondered … if she were not a 

kind of healer,” said Joyce. “A teacher, 

taking a vow of silence, willing to take 

on enormous suffering in order to be 

with us in a place of love and wisdom.” 

The Judith Scott story illustrates the 

power of art. It highlights the explosive 

potential and infinite worth of every 

human being. And in large part, it 

demonstrates the incredible strength 

of a sister’s love. Could Judith possibly 

have flowered as she did without 

Joyce’s unstinting efforts, patience, 

and support? 

“Outsider,” a 26-minute documentary 

about Judith Scott’s life and art, is 

available for rental on Vimeo and for 

DVD purchase at Icarus Films. 

AMAZON 


LETTER AND SPIRIT 

SCOTT HAHN 

Scott Hahn is founder of the 

St. Paul Center for Biblical 

Theology; stpaulcenter.com. 

The truth about Lent 

Some people 

treat Lent as 

if it’s a lunar 

landscape suddenly 

dropped to earth, 

only to ascend and 

vanish again at 

Easter. They speak as 

if the disciplines of 

Lent are so distinct 

as to be alien to the 

rest of the year. 

But that’s not the 

truth about Lent. 

Lent is the season 

when we live more 

intensely the habits 

we practice all year 

long. We lean into 

our fasts during Lent, 

but we eat and drink 

with moderation all 

year long. We pray 

more during Lent, 

but that doesn’t 

mean we go days 

without concentrated 

prayer during the summer. We give alms during Lent; but 

we tend to the needs of the poor in every season of the year. 

Lent is special. We need to build the difference into our 

disciplines throughout these 40 days. We need to feel the 

difference every day. 

What will you and I do differently in our prayer, fasting, 

and almsgiving? 

It’s no small matter, and it should occupy our thoughts 

as Lent moves forward. The readings for Mass, like the 

feasts and fasts on the calendar, are never accidental; so the 

lectionary draws our attention to the biblical models for 

the season. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us 

that “the Church, especially during … Lent … rereads and 

relives the great events of salvation history” (n. 1095). 

Lent, we find out, is an imitation of Jesus Christ, who 

spent 40 days fasting in the desert as he prepared for the 

world’s first evangelization. Jesus didn’t need to do that. 

“The Temptation 

of Christ on the 

Mountain,” by Duccio 

di Buoninsegna, 1255- 

1319, Italian. | WIKI- 

MEDIA COMMONS 

He lacked nothing. 

He didn’t need to 

prepare himself for 

the proclamation of 

the kingdom. He’s 

God. He’s all-powerful 

and all-knowing. 

Unlike you and me, 

he didn’t need to 

purify himself of 

sins, because he is 

sinless. 

So why did he do 

it? He did it so we 

would know how to 

do it! The Church’s 

calendar ensures that 

we’ll never forget the 

lesson — as long as 

we’re listening carefully 

and prayerfully. 

And it’s more than a 

lesson. The Catechism 

goes on to 

note that the liturgy 

empowers us as it 

instructs us. It gives 

us the grace to do what God is leading 

us to do: “the Church’s liturgy reveals 

it and enables us to live it” (n. 1095; 

see also 540 and 1438). 

The Church’s calendar is a catechism, 

as I pointed out in my book 

“Signs of Life.” The calendar is a 

yearlong teaching moment, but the 

moment is intensified during Lent. 

Don’t let your Lent be wasted. Don’t let it be less than it 

can be — or less than God wants it to be. It’s there in our 

year so that we’ll seize the grace God is offering us. 

Let’s dedicate the coming days to planning the coming 

weeks. You do it, and I’ll do it, too. Let’s make a plan for 

our Lenten prayer, Lenten sacrifice, Lenten giving. 

Then, throughout the 40 days, let’s support one another 

by our mutual intercession. 


■ FRIDAY, MARCH 3 

St. Clare’s Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way, Canyon Country, 

4:30-8 p.m. Two or three pieces of beer-battered 

cod, coleslaw, and choice of two sides (fries, rice, or 

beans). Fish tacos available with rice and beans. Dine 

in or take out. Cost: $15/two-piece dinner or tacos, 

$16/three-piece. Family pack available for $55. For 

more information, call 661-252-3353 or visit st-clare. 

org. 

Torrance Fish Fry. Nativity Annex, 1415 Engracia 

Ave., Torrance, 5-7 p.m. Hosted by Knights of Columbus 

Council #4919. Baked or fried fish, baked potato 

or fries, coleslaw, roll, and cake. Dine in or take out. 

Cost: $12/adults, $10/seniors, $7/children under 12. 

Beginning Experience Weekend for Widowed, 

Separated, and Divorced Adults. Holy Spirit Retreat 

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino. Retreat runs March 

3-5. Trained peer ministers will guide participants on 

their grief journey following a spousal loss. For more 

information visit beginningexperience.org or family 

life.lacatholics.org/beginning-experience. $75 deposit 

required in advance, financial aid available. To register, 

call Maria at 909-592-0009 or email beginningexp. 

losangeles@gmail.com. 

Stations of the Cross, Mass, and Fish Fry. St. Barnabas 

Church, 3955 Orange Ave., Long Beach, 5:30 

p.m. stations, 6 p.m. Mass, 6:15-8 p.m. fish fry. Visit 

stbarnabaslb.org or call 562-424-8595. 

■ SATURDAY, MARCH 4 

Lenten Silent Saturday, Centering Prayer, and 

Silence. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Road, 

Encino, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. With Marilyn Nobori and the 

contemplative outreach team. Visit hsrcenter.com or 

call 818-784-4515. 

■ SUNDAY, MARCH 5 

Stations of the Cross. Calvary Cemetery, 4201 

Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles, 2 p.m. Stations will be 

held each Sunday of Lent. For more information, visit 

CatholicCM.org/stations or call 323-261-3106. 

■ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 

St. Padre Pio Mass. St. Anne Church, 340 10th St., 

Seal Beach, 1 p.m. Chaplain: Father Al Baca. For more 

information, call 562-537-4526. 

“What Catholics Believe” weekly series. St. Dorothy 

Church, 241 S. Valley Center Ave., Glendora, 7-8:30 

p.m. Series runs Wednesdays through April 26, 

2023. Deepen your understanding of the Catholic 

faith through dynamic DVD presentations by Bishop 

Robert Barron, Dr. Edward Sri, Dr. Brant Pitre, and Dr. 

Michael Barber. Free event, no reservations required. 

Call 626-335-2811 or visit the Adult Faith Development 

ministry page at www.stdorothy.org for more 

information. 

■ TUESDAY, MARCH 14 

Memorial Mass. San Fernando Mission, 15151 San 

Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, 11 a.m. Mass 

is virtual and not open to the public. Livestream available 

at catholiccm.org or facebook.com/lacatholics. 

■ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 

Mass and Healing Service. St. John Eudes Church, 

9901 Mason Ave., Chatsworth, 6 p.m. praise and 

worship, 6:30 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father Mike Barry, 

hosted by the Forever Grateful Catholic Charismatic Prayer 

Group. 

■ THURSDAY, MARCH 16 

Children’s Bureau: Foster Care Zoom Orientation. 4-5 

p.m. Children’s Bureau is now offering two virtual ways for 

individuals and couples to learn how to help children in 

foster care while reunifying with birth families or how to 

provide legal permanency by adoption. A live Zoom orientation 

will be hosted by a Children’s Bureau team member 

and a foster parent. For those who want to learn at their 

own pace about becoming a foster and/or fost-adopt parent, 

an online orientation presentation is available. To RSVP 

for the live orientation or to request the online orientation, 

email rfrecruitment@all4kids.org. 


Lenten Retreat. St. Barnabas Church, 3955 Orange Ave., 

Long Beach, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., vigil Mass, 5 p.m. Led by 

Father Joseph Miller, SVD, retreat is free and open to all, 

includes confessions and adoration. Visit stbarnabaslb.org 

or call 562-424-8595. 

Catholic Education Foundation LA Marathon Fundraiser. 

Dodger Stadium, 1000 Vin Scully Ave., Los Angeles. 

Faculty and staff from local Catholic schools and other 

CEF Racing Team supporters will be raising money to make 

Catholic education possible for more children by running 

the Big 5K, the Charity Half Marathon, and the Los Angeles 

Marathon March 18 at 8 a.m. and March 19 at 7 a.m. Visit 

cefracingteam.funraise.org. 

■ FRIDAY, MARCH 24 

Visio Divina Prayer. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai 

Rd., Encino, 7 p.m. Led by Sister Chris Machado, SSS, Sister 

Marie Lindemann, SSS, and team. Visit hsrcenter.com or 

call 818-784-4515. 

Alleluia Dance Theatre, Trust in the Lord! Holy Spirit 

Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino. Friday, 5 p.m.-Sun., 

1 p.m. or Saturday only, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. With Stella Matsuda, 

Marti Ryan, and Emmalyn Moreno. Visit hsrcenter.com 

or call 818-784-4515. 


Archdiocese of Los Angeles Eucharistic Procession. 

Mission San Gabriel, 428 S. Mission Dr., San Gabriel, 8:30 

a.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez, 9:30 

a.m. procession to St. Luke the Evangelist Church, Temple 

City, and return to the mission. 12:30 p.m. benediction at 

Mission San Gabriel. For more information or to register, 

visit lacatholics.org/eucharist. 

Disability Awareness Day. Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, 

3800 Fairview St., Santa Ana, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Includes 

lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and an inspirational message 

from Joni Eareckson Tada, founder of Joni and Friends. For 

more information, visit joniandfriends.org. 

■ SUNDAY, MARCH 26 

Virtual Diaconate Information Day. 2-4 p.m. To register, 

email Deacon Melecio Zamora at dmz2011@la-archdiocese.org. 

A Celtic Christian Journey of the Heart: Crossing the 

Threshold Towards Holy Week. Holy Spirit Retreat 

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino. With Deidre Ni Chinneide 

and Dennis Doyle. Visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784- 

4515. 

Items for the calendar of events are due four weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be emailed to calendar@angelusnews.com. 

All calendar items must include the name, date, time, address of the event, and a phone number for additional information.

Angelus News | March 10, 2023 | Vol. 8 No. 5

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