Pope Benedict XVI named archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio coadjutor archbishop of Los Angeles.

He will succeed Cardinal Roger Mahony when he retires early next year.

Archbisop Jose Gomez



Deo Gratias!

Shalom,
Memo

Christ is Risen!

Congratulations! I am sure you will be happy now.

In Christ God,


Robert

Prayers for the coadjutor-bishop-elect. It would not be a very desirable thing to be thrown headlong into heading the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with all its horrors.

Alexis

Hopefully His Grace Jose + Gomez will be more orthodox than His Eminence, Archbishop Cardinal + Mahoney.

May god grant his Bishop Jose many orthodox years!

Actually, I am VERY happy!

In many, many ways, Archbishop Jose seems to be the answer to our prayers.

I just hope that God may grant me the grace to be part of the answer to his.

BTW, my personal opinion is that Cardinal Mahony is not all that hetherodox himself personally, but he has surrounded himself with people who are.

If his record as Archbishop of San Antonio is any indication, I fully excpet His Grace Jose to show these folks their way to their next career opportunity shortly after his installment.

We wish them the best of lucks!

Shalom,
Memo

Article in the U.K. Daily Telegraph: Pope's 'revenge' as LA gets Opus Dei bishop.

The article does not paint the new Archbishop well, but the following is something unlikely be found in the American press:

"One of Archbishop Gomez's primary tasks will be to deal with the fallout from the abuse crisis.

None of the 2,000 priests of Opus Dei, which has the status of a "personal prelature" of the Pope, has ever been embroiled in a sexual scandal.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, however, is one of the worst afflicted by the clerical sexual abuse crisis that has convulsed the US Church since 2002.

Three years ago Cardinal Roger Mahony, the reigning archbishop, agreed to a record-setting £430 million settlement with more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse.

A federal grand jury is also investigating how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles handled claims of abuse."

[Bold is my emphasis.]

For those who want to know, 430 million Pounds Sterling is worth $653.22 million as of 9:03 AM, 7 April 2010.

The dollar has gained about 1.1% against the pound in 3 years... $660 million dollars was the amount paid to victims by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2007.

May God grant the Archbishop-elect, Don Jose, many years!!!

Great news for LA. I have met many of the clergy who serve Opus Dei. They are the elite of the Latin Church. You can bet that the next Religious Ed Congress in LA will be devoid of the usual dissident presenters, and they will be replaced by top-drawer orthodox speakers! Liturgy will be cleaned up! A lot of good things will happen. Wonder how he will deal with the ugly new cathedral? Blow it up and start all over again?

Dn. Robert

Fr. Dcn.,

I wouldn't get ahead of myself. Although I wish all of your hypotheticals were true, bishops rarely work that way. While I think the liturgical shenanigans will probably be less egregious than under Cardinal Mahoney, I wouldn't immediately look for any full-scale changes. That may happen over a long, extended period of time. But unfortunately Bishop Gomez cannot afford to completely alienate the portion of his flock that adores all the vomit-inducing junk that goes on in the Archdiocese.

Alexis

I agree with you, Alexis.

Archbishop Gomez will become archbishop of LA about three weeks before the next Religious Education Congress (REC) begins- very little time to make any significant changes. By then, the speakers will have already been selected and the planning for the liturgies will have already begun. It's possible though that he may make some modifications to the closing liturgy, such as prohibiting liturgical dance.

I hope and pray to see more significant changes for the 2012 REC.

Hopefully he will straighten out LA! LOL
Stephanos I

Christ is Risen!! Indeed He is Risen!!

Many years to His Excellency and may the Good Lord be with him as he begins a new service to another portion of the Vineyard.

Let's pray for him. Remember he's only one man and his success will rest on his ability to lead by convincing those under his authority that the direction he wants to lead is the one that is best for the local Church and for the people who are part of it. Gone are the days when a bishop could go to a place and impose his will against the will of the majority of the clergy and the people. If you want an example, just look to Scranton where a relatively young, but very conservative bishop, was in and out in about three years.

Part of the problem with any place that has developed a reputation for extreme liberalism and doctrinal and liturgical abuses is that it becomes almost impossible to reverse in a short period of time--or sometimes in a long period of time. I think it's well to keep in mind what an Orthodox priest once told me, "Once you relax Church discipline, it's impossible to re-establish it." I think in the Latin Church with our legalistic attitude of doing "what I ahve to do," it is almost self-fulfilling. Some of the people I know who remember the stricter days prior to Vatican II are absolutely against any sort of rules being imposed again.

Bob

Church history shows this not to be the case, since both in the East and the West there have been repeated cycles of decadence and renewal. What it takes is strong and charismatic leadership willing to set an example and to take the heat.

Stuart:

Christ is Risen!!

I have to admit you're more optimistic than I at this point. I've been immersed in the "I don't have to do that anymore" attitude in parishes for the past 45 years and I guess I'm either tired or giving up. The whole is more than simply liturgy. It seems to me that it involves the whole recovery of the ascetic way of life that holds the liturgical tradition as its centerpiece. It also seems to me that simply to return to more strict liturgical practice without the accompanying living out of the Christian life during the rest of the week is simply a way of deluding oneself.

Bob