Angelus News | February 9, 2024 | Vol. 9 No
On the cover: Catholic worshippers recite lines during the Stations of the Cross prayers at the Holy Cross Cathedral in Lagos, Nigeria, on Feb. 24, 2023. On Page 10, John Allen takes a closer look at the unfolding pattern of violence targeting Catholics there, and what it means for the universal Church.
On the cover: Catholic worshippers recite lines during the Stations of the Cross prayers at the Holy Cross Cathedral in Lagos, Nigeria, on Feb. 24, 2023. On Page 10, John Allen takes a closer look at the unfolding pattern of violence targeting Catholics there, and what it means for the universal Church.
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PRAYERS FOR THE PREBORN<br />
This year’s Requiem Mass asked Catholics to<br />
embrace a different ‘vision’ as California moves<br />
to expand abortion access.<br />
Mass participants carry 120 white candles<br />
to the altar to represent the lives that were<br />
lost to abortion in the greater Los Angeles<br />
area. | VICTOR ALEMÁN<br />
BY THERESA CISNEROS<br />
Maria Consuelo Carrera has dedicated her public<br />
— and private — life to defending the rights of<br />
the unborn and praying for an end to abortion.<br />
The 49-year-old mother of four has routinely participated<br />
in pro-life events since she was a teen, and remained open<br />
to life even after having two children with autism and<br />
doctors warning her that any subsequent babies could have<br />
special needs as well.<br />
On Saturday, Carrera lovingly tended to her adult son in<br />
his wheelchair during the Requiem for the Unborn Mass at<br />
the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, celebrated after<br />
the 10th annual OneLife LA Walk for Life Jan. 20.<br />
“I came here today to use my voice to speak up for the<br />
children who have no voice,” said Carrera, one of the 2,200<br />
faithful from around Southern California who attended the<br />
Requiem Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez.<br />
“If I stay quiet, if we all stay home, then who is going to<br />
speak up?”<br />
Michael Donaldson, senior director for the archdiocese’s<br />
Office of Life, Justice and Peace, opened the Mass by congratulating<br />
OneLife LA participants who braved the rain<br />
and pushed through fatigue that day.<br />
“We thank you for your willingness to accept God’s mission,<br />
advocating for the unborn, the most vulnerable in our<br />
society, the poor, the sick, the prisoner, the migrant, and<br />
the refugee,” he said.<br />
Among those at the Mass were LA’s five active auxiliary<br />
bishops, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Bishop Joseph Brennan<br />
of Fresno, leaders from various faith traditions, and deacons<br />
and Knights of Columbus from across Southern California.<br />
In his homily, Auxiliary Bishop Matthew Elshoff compared<br />
California’s 2022 decision to enshrine a right to<br />
abortion up to the point of delivery into the state Constitution<br />
to the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford decision, in which<br />
the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution did<br />
not guarantee the rights of American citizenship to people<br />
of African American descent, even if they were no longer<br />
slaves.<br />
“When you think about it, government is not supposed<br />
to define who is created in God’s image and likeness,” he<br />
said. “Government is not supposed to define who is created<br />
equal or not. And they are not to define who has certain in-<br />
<strong>February</strong> 9, <strong>2024</strong> • ANGELUS • 17
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