Angelus News | September 22, 2023, Vol. 8, Issue No. 19

LOCAL
IN OTHER WORDS...
■ ‘Gender affirmation’
must factor into child
custody fights, CA says
California courts will soon be required
to consider whether a parent affirms
a child’s “gender identity or gender
expression” in child custody decisions,
according to a bill expected to be signed
into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom next
month.
Affirmation of gender would become
one factor among others in granting
child custody as part of concerns for
a child’s health, safety, and welfare.
“Affirmation includes a range of actions
and will be unique for each child, but
in every case must promote the child’s
overall health and well-being,” the bill
states.
Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a
Democrat who introduced the bill, said
gender affirmation could mean letting a
child play with toys associated with his or
her gender identity, getting nails painted,
or wearing his or her hair at a desired
length. There are no specific requirements
regarding purported gender-affirming
surgeries, which minors can
undergo in California only with parental
consent.
The California Catholic Conference
opposed the bill, saying it “would elevate
a loving, protective parent’s non-consent
to a child’s social or medical transition
to the same level as abuse, violence, or
substance use in the eyes of the court for
custody disputes and parenting time.”
Desks, chairs, and school supplies lay overturned in the
break-in at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School
in Santa Clarita. | PHOTO COURTESY OF OLPH SCHOOL
■ Bishops-elect to be ordained
Sept. 26; special issue available
The episcopal Ordination Mass of LA’s four new auxiliary bishops will be a ticketed
invite-only event, but will be livestreamed for the public at LACatholics.org/
NewBishops.
The Ordination Mass for Bishops-elect Albert Bahhuth, Matthew Elshoff, OFM
Cap., Brian Nunes, and Slawomir Szkredka will begin at 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Angels. A celebration of Solemn Vespers and the blessing
of the new bishops’ pontifical insignia will take place the day before, on Sept. 25 at 6
p.m. The liturgy is open to the public.
Angelus will publish a special double issue in October with full coverage of the
ordinations, the new bishops’ backgrounds and stories, and congratulatory messages.
Extra copies of the special issue can be ordered at AngelusNews.com/NewBishopsIssue.
Orders received through Sunday, Oct. 8, will arrive the week of Oct. 13.
Veneration for Vibiana — Associate Pastor Father Michael Mesa accompanied visitors who prayed at St. Vibiana’s
Chapel and shrine at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Sept. 1 — St. Vibiana’s feast day. St. Vibiana is
the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
■ Santa Clarita parish school damaged by vandals
Vandals broke into Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School in Santa
Clarita on Sept. 2, causing damage that temporarily closed the school. Thanks
to staff, volunteers, and the school community, the damage was cleaned up and
restored for the classrooms to reopen on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
According to the school, four classrooms and the hall were vandalized, which
included more than a dozen broken windows, smashed flat-screen monitors, discharged
fire extinguishers, spilled school supplies, and overturned desks, chairs,
and trash cans.
After being flooded with support, food, and volunteers, the school was able
to clean, reorganize, and repair most of the damage to reopen the damaged
classrooms.
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles thanked law enforcement for
“their diligent response” and called for prayers for those responsible for the
break-in.
V
Letters to the Editor
When we sell our ‘high birthright’
Thank you for publishing Dr. Grazie Christie’s moving column in
the Sept. 8 issue “From guilt to grace,” which expressed the spiritual
roller coaster of a mother who has decided to abort her child.
It can be discouraging to see how, still today, many women are tricked into selling
their “high birthright.” But the column reminded me of St. Paul’s famous
words: “Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.”
I hope that in the future, we can find ways to give a voice to men who experience
the suffering and regret connected to also being involved in the decision to
abort.
— Harold Durango, 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.
Awarding everyday ‘Angels’
Bishop Jaime Soto, center, of the Diocese of Sacramento, stands with
Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez and Auxiliary Bishop Marc V.
Trudeau as Soto was honored during Catholic Association for Latino
Leadership (CALL)’s 11th Annual Angel Awards at the Cathedral of Our
Lady of the Angels on Sept. 9. Also honored during the event was actor
Jonathan Roumie, philanthropists Dan and Coco Peate, and the Catholic
Community Foundation of Los Angeles. | GUILLERMO A. LUNA
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.
“Did these people really
float in the air?”
~ Carlos Eire, professor of History and Religious
Studies at Yale, in a Sept. 6 Commonweal
commentary on making sense of levitating saints.
“Some of my best
customers are actually
atheists.”
~ Melissa Scaccio, manager of St. James Coffee in
Rochester, Minnesota, in a Sept. 7 Our Sunday Visitor
article on the coffee shop with an adoration chapel.
“Suddenly nuns started
coming around the corner,
and they kept coming and
coming.”
~ Carolyn Knapp, employee at Merrill Dairy Bar in
Michigan, in a Sept. 6 Catholic News Agency article
on 58 members of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of
Alma, Michigan, showing up for ice cream.
“You mistakenly believe a
learned Catholic professor
manufactures robots for a
living.”
~ Brianna Heldt, writer, in a Sept. 6 National
Catholic Register commentary on the lack of human
connection in the world.
“I held my tongue and
walked the yard just
stunned, like somebody
had just shot me.”
~ Moonlight Pulido, an inmate at Valley State Prison
for Women, in a Sept. 5 The 19th News article on
California promising reparations to survivors of
forced sterilization.
6 • ANGELUS • September 22, 2023 September 22, 2023 • ANGELUS • 7