With tensions high and emotions still roiling for many in the Southland\u2019s immigrant community, Archbishop Jos\u00c3\u00a9 H. Gomez celebrated a special \u201cMass for Peace\u201d Wednesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, calling for prayer and urging a \u201cspirit of cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gomez designated Wednesday as a \u201cDay of Prayer for Peace in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,\u201d highlighted by the Mass and followed by a Holy Hour led by Cathedral Pastor Fr. David Gallardo.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we join our prayers with those of our Catholic brothers and sisters all across our country,\u201d Gomez said as he began his homily. \u201cWe pray for peace. Peace in our streets and neighborhoods, and peace in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gomez also offered prayers for government leaders, law enforcement and demonstrators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask the Lord to take away the spirit of confrontation and give us a spirit of cooperation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe ask Jesus to open every hardened heart and awaken again the conscience of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the archdiocese, the day of prayer was offered \u201cespecially 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
Catholics across the country participated 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
\u201cWe are in a tense moment, a time of division and even violence. But our country has faced hard times before and overcome them,\u201d the archbishop said as he closed Wednesday\u2019s homily. \u201cWe can do that again, with prayer and moral seriousness, with the spirit of nonviolence, and with a commitment to America\u2019s founding principles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s events at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels followed 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
There were additional protests in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, and police declared an unlawful assembly near City Hall. More demonstrators were also reported near Temple and Alameda streets by the federal building, where a dispersal order was issued.<\/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":31138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78966,55906,51912,14,48,52,51,47,50,49,78968,7454,78703],"class_list":["post-164521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-archbishop","tag-celebrates","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\/164521","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=164521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}