With tensions high and emotions still roiling for many in the Southland\u2019s immigrant community, Archbishop Jos\u00c3\u00a9 H. Gomez will celebrate a special Mass Wednesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels \u2014 inviting \u201call faithful and people of goodwill to unite in prayer \u2026 for reconciliation and peace in the wake of violence resulting from immigration enforcement actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gomez has designated Wednesday as a \u201cDay of Prayer for Peace in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,\u201d highlighted by the 12:10 p.m. \u201cMass for Peace,\u201d which will be followed by a Holy Hour led by Cathedral Pastor Fr. David Gallardo.<\/p>\n
According to the archdiocese, \u201cThis day of prayer is offered especially for immigrants and their loved ones \u2014 parents, children, and families who are carrying heavy burdens and living with anxiety about the future. In this moment of pain and disruption, the Church seeks to walk closely with those who suffer, offering the assurance that they are not alone and that they are held in prayer by the wider community of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Gomez himself said in a statement ahead of Wednesday\u2019s events, \u201cWe need prayer in this time of fear and uncertainty that is hurting so many of our immigrant families.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also a tense moment in our country, people are angry and deeply divided,\u201d Gomez added. \u201cSo we will come together as the family of God to pray for our people and to pray for our leaders, and to pray for one another, that we can all work for peace and seek the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catholics across the country are expected to participate in similar Masses after Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued an appeal \u201cto pause before the Lord in a Holy Hour for Peace \u2014 a time of renewal for our hearts and for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s events at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels follow the arrests of over four dozen anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles on Saturday, the second night of a nationwide movement to end funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n
Officer Norma Eisenman, an LAPD spokeswoman, said police made 51 arrests Saturday evening, with 47 adults and three juveniles cited and released for failure to disperse. One person was arrested on suspicion of felony evading, she added. Saturday\u2019s protests came after violence broke out Friday night, when multiple protesters were arrested for throwing objects at federal agents at downtown\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center.<\/p>\n
Gomez\u2019s comments were not his first regarding recent protests against immigration enforcement in the U.S., prominently in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 27, in his weekly column on the archdiocese\u2019s news platform Angelusnews.com, Gomez called for restoring \u201corder and peace to our streets\u201d along with limiting \u201cdeportations to violent criminals or those guilty of other serious offenses\u201d and holding hearings on a bill to change immigration laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am deeply troubled by the violence in Minneapolis and the ongoing climate of fear and uncertainty here in Los Angeles and in cities across the country, as federal immigration enforcement actions continue,\u201d Gomez wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a pastor, my heart aches for our people and for our country. We pray for those who have lost their lives or been injured. We pray for the safety of our law enforcement officers, and for wisdom for our leaders. We pray especially for our immigrant brothers and sisters, who are powerless and caught in the middle of this struggle, living in fear for their futures. The country cannot go on like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to say in the column, \u201cIt serves no national interest to deport undocumented men and women who are contributing to the good of our society, it only leaves children without their parents. Surely, we can find another way to hold these men and women accountable for breaking our laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gomez also called for hearings on H.R. 4393, a House proposal billed by its sponsors as the \u201cDignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill holds undocumented immigrants accountable for breaking federal law, requiring them to undergo a criminal background check, pay back taxes they owe, and it imposes a stiff penalty fee,\u201d the archbishop wrote. \u201cThe bill would also sharply limit enforcement actions at `sensitive locations\u2019 such as churches, hospitals, schools, and courthouses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gomez added that, \u201cthere is much to improve in this legislation, but it is a genuine, good-faith starting point. And we need to start somewhere. And we need to start now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With tensions high and emotions still roiling for many in the Southland\u2019s immigrant community, Archbishop Jos\u00c3\u00a9 H. Gomez…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78966,78967,51912,14,48,52,51,47,50,49,78968,7454,78703],"class_list":["post-163775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-archbishop","tag-celebrate","tag-gomez","tag-immigration","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mass","tag-peace","tag-strife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}