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LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Hollywood will bid farewell to Oscar-winning screen legend Gregory Peck at a giant memorial service on Monday following a small private burial in Los Angeles, his publicist told AFP. Peck died at home in his sleep Thursday at the age of 87. The public mass in the city's huge new cathedral will be led by the head of the largest US Catholic diocese, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, and the eulogy was to be given by Peck's "To Kill A Mockingbird" co-star, Brock Peters. Peck was considered a consummate movie star, known for playing heroes on the screen...

Saved, but DegradedThe LA Conservancy Recounts the Rescue of St. Vibiana's By Maggie Garcia It seemed it would be no problem for Roger Cardinal Mahony to raze St. Vibiana's Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles in 1995 -- even though the building was such an integral part of Los Angeles's history and architecture. Given the unwavering support the cardinal received from Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan (who happened to be the archdiocese's attorney) few people thought that it would be possible to save the historic building. Soon, the historic preservation community in Los Angeles decided that they would not only have...

Jesus, the Church, Male and Female Discipleship & Service TCR Note: While there is no question after the Holy Father's Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, that the ministerial priesthood is reserved to males, it is not on account of any inequality between male and female, but simply the divine consititution of the Church in all her different charisms bestowed by God for the unity and upbuilding of all in union with Peter and the living magisterium: 1 Corinthians 12 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And in the...

New Forms of Incense in LA Cathedral Whatever one may think of Cardinal Mahony's new LA Cathedral---recall even Charles Ryder in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited was moaning the "deplorable" liturgical art work in Lady Marchmain's pre-Vatican II ornate chapel after his conversion ---one cannot help but notice that it is nuns here (above), recognizable nuns in modest habits, who are lifting huge newstyle censers which complement the transcendental sense of open space which surrounds the new altar which itself is surrounded by space for the People of God, all focused in on the altar of the Eucharist. I have...

<p>LOS ANGELES - Against a backdrop of criticism for its timing and its guest list, the Los Angeles Archdiocese on Monday will open its new, $200 million downtown landmark, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.</p> <p>The opening will be marked by an invitation-only Mass and three-hour blessing ritual, with about 3,000 guests. They include large financial donors, craftsmen, and construction workers who helped erect the cathedral, as well as 500 priests and 600 lay people. An elite group of dignitaries and Catholics will witness the ceremonies, which will feature Nigerian musicians, Scottish drummers, and Vietnamese singers.</p>

This isn't the way it was supposed to be. To be sure, the weeklong celebration marking Labor Day's official opening of the lavish Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral on Bunker Hill downtown will be spectacular. For a moment, at least, Los Angeles -- home to the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, with its 3.6 million adherents -- will claim center stage of the Christian world. It isn't often that cathedrals are built, least of all one as elaborate and expensive as this one, which bears an "official" $193 million price tag that is almost certainly well below its...