Posted on 12/24/2006 6:23:30 AM PST by NYer
Like the three services celebrated earlier in the morning and the four that will follow into the afternoon, the 10:45 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in the Pico-Union district of downtown Los Angeles is crammed to the rafters, even though the church holds nearly 1,000 parishioners. When I spoke on a recent Sunday to Msgr. Jarlath Cunnane, or Father Jay, as he is known by his congregation, he said: “If we had the space, I think another thousand people might well come to each Sunday Mass. We’re full, bursting at the seams, and so are most churches in the archdiocese.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
LIBERAL LION - Hispanic Catholics call him Ragella
This is a very lengthy article. Unfortunately, the NYT must be excerpted. Hope someone from CA will read it through and post some meaningful commentary. It just doesn't pass the sniff test.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
In other words ICE should be camped out every Sunday with 3 dozen buses?
If they were all LEGAL, working (not on public assistance), paying taxes, speaking english, this would be a heart-warming story.
NewCents, that is exactly my read. Good thing, they are in church. Bad thing, the Archdiocese is SO liberal; they are probably speaking pro-Aztlan, pro-illegal-immigration blather to everyone who attends.
I'd say the CC is thriving in So Cal and people are holding the orthodox faith in spite of the diocese, from what I see.
Roger Mahony is famous for annually sponsoring Catechetical Congresses (Diocese-wide religious ed conventions) with workshops speakers sampling the whole spectrum of alternative agendas: Marxist, feminist, Jungian, New Age, and all that crap. I absolutely don't understand how he gets away with it year after year.
And what does THAT have to do with these supposedly morally conservative, pro-life, traditionally devotional Mexicans?
L.A. Catholics, want to chime in here and 'splain it all to us?
What does Ragella mean?
This may be the situation in LA now and may explain the current boom. The Mexicans may not actually understand what Fr. Bruce ith thaying and are probably sitting there blissfully saying their Rosaries while the lunacy unfolds in front of them.
I live in California and guess what? I have a sis-in-law that is a Parish Coordinator for a local Catholic church and a cousin that does maintenace for them.
Mass runs round the clock and is mostly done in Spanish. They have fit as many masses as possible into ach day. They are always full and overflowing.
On the other side. They have installed bars on every door and window of the parish. The office is locked all the time and you can only get in via buzzer. The people that run the youth groups etc. have unbreakable rules. The children are not allowed out of their sight and are "escorted" to the bathroom even.
The cousin that does maintenace has been there about 10 yrs. He says this is the nastiest he has ever seen it. Dirty diapers underneath the pews after service, etc. They have a crew that cleans between each service because of all the trash.
The head priest is proud as can be of their huge congregation and boasts about the number of christenings each year. Last year they did 1300 if I recall correctly. I asked sis-in-law how many were to illegal aliens and she said probably around 75% at least.
Welcome to the third world.
I forgot to mention the plugged toilets daily and the graffiti weekly cleaning. They tag everything.
If the pews are overflowing, the collection plates should be in the same condition. That would allow for new churches to be built to address the capacity issue. And if the stereotype is true, the donated landscaping should be fabulous.
"If the pews are overflowing, the collection plates should be in the same condition."
In the churches, as in everywhere else, they take more than they are able to give. Remember we are importing poverty.
No hablo espanol. I'm totally clueless but I had a mini Arabic lesson today - 'raab' means Lord. ;-)
Been there ... you have my total sympathy! Keep looking! Ask our Lord to guide you. He won't fail.
I'm speechless! Do they take up a collection at these Masses? Probably not! Those that have nothing to contribute might remove what is in the basket.
They're there and they're Christian. I'm Irish American (several generations - from the group that built the Boston-Maine line) and WASPS hated us and said the Irish could never be Americans. For one thing, they were too "dirty."
You have probably forgotten that the first Mass in the US was said in Latin by Spanish priests at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 - long before any Prots or English speakers arrived.
Hispanics will make fine citizens if (a) Anglos stop attacking them and (b) FReepers help to peel the Demonrat party off their backs.
1. I am NOT Catholic (so really don't care whether they are christians or not)
2. I have no beef with Latin Americans if they come here LEGALLY! The rest can all go back where they came from and quit making my city unlivable.
Nuff said
I hope I'm not the first to tell you, but Catholics are the original Christians.
As for "illegal," the whole problem is that our laws do not legally accomodate enough of the Latin American workers who want to come here. Or maybe you'd prefer the Muslims whose quota has recently been increased...
Quit hating Catholics and your life might take a turn for the better.
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