{"id":485750,"date":"2026-10-05T13:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/485750\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T13:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:30:10","slug":"at-la-archdiocese-immigrants-mass-catholics-keep-hoping-for-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/485750\/","title":{"rendered":"At LA Archdiocese Immigrants Mass, Catholics keep hoping for hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a year since ICE raids overwhelmed immigrant communities last summer<\/a>, hundreds gathered inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Sept. 20 for the annual Mass in Recognition of All Immigrants to pray for the undocumented families still feeling pain and uncertainty across Southern California and beyond.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez welcomed immigrants and supporters from across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as well as those from the Dioceses of Orange, San Diego, and San Bernardino, to \u201ccelebrate the truth that we are a Church of immigrants, a family of families who have come here from almost every nation on earth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pray that once again, America will see herself as a light of freedom for peoples of all nations, a home for all peoples, races, and languages,\u201d Archbishop Gomez said in his homily<\/a>. \u201cAnd we pray for ourselves, that we commit ourselves to continue to be good neighbors, good parishioners, to continue working with gratitude for the common good of this country we have come to call our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez presided over the annual Mass for immigrants, imploring the faithful to \u201csee the humanity of our brothers and sisters who are suffering.\u201d (Poncho Romero)<\/p>\n

While immigration enforcement and deportations continue both locally and nationwide, Archbishop Gomez stressed that there were \u201cwords of hope\u201d in Jesus\u2019 address in the Gospel that \u201cthe last will be first, and the first will be last.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus knows that sometimes when we look around us in the world, things don\u2019t always look good, seem fair,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask him to stay near to us in this time of fear and uncertainty. We ask him to change the hearts of our leaders, to give them compassion, new eyes to see the humanity of our brothers and sisters who are suffering under our broken immigration system<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the Mass, relics of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and other immigration-related saints were displayed on the altar. Also displayed was a \u201cRibbons of Prayer\u201d exhibit<\/a> where visitors could write the name of a person affected by recent immigration enforcement on a ribbon and tie it to a stand. Prayers were offered during the Mass for each person on a ribbon.<\/p>\n

\"\"The \u201cRibbons of Prayer\u201d exhibit featured names of people affected by immigration written on each ribbon. (Poncho Romero)<\/p>\n

As she approached the relics, Rosa Miriam S\u00e1nchez from St. Agatha Church in Mid-City had intentions to ask for. But the Mass itself, she said, was already something to be grateful for, leaving her with a sense of hope and reassurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing involved in something like this with the Church, and knowing that we have even stronger support from the cathedral \u2026 makes us realize how strongly we need to fight,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said.<\/p>\n

Guadalupe Alem\u00e1n, who migrated to the United States from Mexico about 40 years ago, said her experiences shaped her commitment to support other immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to understand that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and when one of us hurts, we all hurt,\u201d Alem\u00e1n said.<\/p>\n

\"\"The choir sings in different languages during the Mass to reflect the global impact of immigration. (Poncho Romero)<\/p>\n

Mayra Velarde, a parent leader at a school in the San Fernando Valley, said families remain afraid, but that there is hope in faith communities gathering and supporting one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes staying isolated, alone in a house, without talking about what you\u2019re feeling, makes things feel even harder,\u201d Velarde said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the problem doesn\u2019t go away, you feel like it\u2019s more manageable because you know you\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"author<\/p>\n

\t\t\tKimmy Chac\u00f3n is a freelance journalist and graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Los Angeles and works in education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a year since ICE raids overwhelmed immigrant communities last summer, hundreds gathered inside the Cathedral of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-485750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485750","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=485750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}