Archdiocese of Los Angeles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basic information
Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles
Archidioecesis Angelorum in California
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Location	Los Angeles, California, United States
Territory	Counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura
Population	4,349,267
Rite	Roman Rite
Patron	Saint Vibiana
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Los Angeles
Established	April 27, 1840^[1]
Cathedral	Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Bishop	Roger Cardinal Mahony Archbishop of Los Angeles
Website	Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Metropolitan	Roger Cardinal Mahony Archbishop of Los Angeles
Diocesan Bishop	Roger Cardinal Mahony Archbishop of Los Angeles
Auxiliary bishops	Most Rev. Edward William Clark Most Rev. Thomas John Curry Most Rev. Alexander Salazar Most Rev. Oscar Azarcon Solis Most Rev. Gerald Eugene Wilkerson Most Rev. Gabino Zavala

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles (Latin: Archidioecesis Angelorum in California) is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the western region of the United States. The archdiocese comprises the City of Los Angeles as well as the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. With approximately five million professing members, the archdiocese considers itself the largest diocese in the United States in terms of congregant population.

The see was created when the Diocese of Monterey was renamed to become the conjoined Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles on July 7, 1859. It split to become the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno and the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego on June 1, 1922. With the exponential growth of the Roman Catholic population in the region, another split was promulgated on July 11, 1936 creating the Diocese of San Diego and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. On March 24, 1976, the Diocese of Orange was created from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the present area of the Archdiocese was established.

1 Archbishop
2 Ordinaries
3 Pastoral Regions
4 Schools
5 Events
6 Holy Days of Obligation
7 Lawsuits about sexual abuse by priests
8 References
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Archbishop

The archdiocese is led by the archbishop, who governs from the mother church Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The cathedral was dedicated on September 2, 2002 and replaced the former Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The Archbishop of Los Angeles is the metropolitan of the Province of Los Angeles of the Roman Catholic Church. Its suffragans are the dioceses of Fresno, Monterey in California, Orange in California, San Bernardino, and San Diego. The archbishop historically wielded great administrative powers over the suffragan dioceses. Today, such power is only ceremonial and kept as a tradition.

[edit] Ordinaries

[edit] Archbishops of Los Angeles

[edit] Pastoral Regions

The archdiocese of Los Angeles is divided into the following 5 pastoral regions, each headed by an episcopal vicar:

Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region, covering Downtown and central Los Angeles west to Malibu, south to LAX. The region has 78 parishes, 11 Catholic high schools, 5 Catholic hospitals, and 5 missions.
San Fernando Pastoral Region, covering San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys. The region has 54 parishes, 12 Catholic high schools, 2 Catholic hospitals and 5 missions.
San Gabriel Pastoral Region, covering East Los Angeles through San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys. The region has 66 parishes, 13 Catholic high schools, 3 Catholic hospitals and 2 missions.
San Pedro Pastoral Region, covering Long Beach and Southern Los Angeles County. The region has 67 parishes, 9 Catholic high schools, 6 Catholic hospitals and 1 mission.
Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, covering Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. The region has 37 parishes, 6 Catholic high schools, 4 Catholic hospitals, and 5 missions.

[edit] Schools

See List of schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

[edit] Events

The L.A. Archdiocese Office of Religious Education produces the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. The largest annual event of its kind in the United States, with an attendance of approximately 38,000.

[edit] Holy Days of Obligation

As directed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy and the Ecclesiastical Province of Los Angeles, the archdiocese annually observes four Holy Days of Obligation. The Roman Catholic Church currently recognizes ten holy days, established in the 1917 Code of Canon Law. However, the USCCB has reduced that number to 6 for Latin Rite dioceses in the United States. As of January 1, 1993, no provinces in the United States celebrate the solemnities of Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Saint Joseph, or the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul.^[2] The Province of Los Angeles, which includes the L.A. Archdiocese, further modified the list and currently celebrates 4 holy days of obligation on the day prescribed by canon law. The solemnity of the Ascension is moved from Thursday of the sixth week of Easter to the seventh Sunday of Easter. The province does not celebrate the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God as a holy day.^[3]Though this move was not approved by the proper channels, namely the Episcopal Conference with approval of Rome.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary — August 15
- Exception: If August 15 falls on a Saturday or Monday, there is no obligation to attend Mass.
All Saints — November 1
- Exception: If November 1 falls on a Saturday or Monday, there is no obligation to attend Mass.
Immaculate Conception — December 8
- Exception: If December 8 falls on a Sunday, the solemnity is transferred to the following Monday and there is no obligation to attend Mass.
Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ — December 25

[edit] Lawsuits about sexual abuse by priests

The archdiocese agreed to pay out .5 million dollars to settle 45 lawsuits it still faces over -2 other pending cases of sexual abuse. According to the Associated Press a total of 22 priests were involved in the settlement with cases going as far back as the 1930s. ^[4] 20 million dollars of this was paid by the insurers of the archdiocese. The main administrative office of the archdiocese is due to be sold to cover the cost of these and future law suits. The archdiocese will settle about 500 cases for about $2 million.^[5]

The 2006 documentary Deliver Us From Evil is based on accusations that the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Mahony, knew that Oliver O'Grady, a priest who sexually abused children, including a 9-month-old baby, in a string of Central California towns for 20 years, was a sexual abuser but failed to keep him away from children. In 1984, a Stockton police investigation into sexual abuse allegations against O'Grady was reportedly closed after diocesan officials promised to remove the priest from any contact with children. Instead, he was reassigned to a parish about 50 miles east, in San Andreas, where he continued to molest children. Not long after, Mahony was promoted to archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in the country. In Deliver Us From Evil, O'Grady says Mahony was "very supportive and very compassionate and that another situation had been smoothly handled". Mahony denies knowing that O’Grady was a child molester.^[6]

In this regard, on August 24, 2007, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler ruled for immediate jury trials for 42 sex-abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego duly filed by 150 litigants, who alleged sexual crimes by priests to children. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego offered about $4 million to settle the claims but plaintiffs' counsels demanded 10% of a million. With 1 million Catholics and several holdings, the diocese is the largest and wealthiest of the five U.S. dioceses which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the shadow of civil claims over sexual abuse. The Los Angeles Archdiocese settled 508 cases for $2 million in July, 2007, while the Orange County, California diocese settled 90 claims for $.2 million in 2004.^[7]

Rita Milla, an American citizen who was sexually abused by 7 priests was paid a $500,000 (€339,190) settlement on December 4, 2007, from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, America's largest, in her 23-year legal fight. Milla, 46, was one of the plaintiffs in a $660-million-dollar (€447.73 million) global settlement paid by the diocese reached for past abuse victims of molestation by priests. At 16, she was first abused by Fr. Santiago at Los Angeles and the Roman Catholic Church's failure to help here caused her loss of faith: "It felt like God hanging up the phone on me. I'll never escape the memories and I'll always be fighting the after effects of the trauma I went through, but now I can work on healing." She sued the church in 1984, and Tamayo apologized to her in 1991. Deceased (1999) Tamayo was paid to remain in the Philippines.^[8]

On January 22, 2008, Tod Tamberg announced that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles sold its 12-story Archdiocesan Catholic Center on Wilshire Boulevard to Jamison Properties (/ David Lee, President) of Los Angeles for $31 million to pay $660 million 2007 settlement on sex abuse by clergy. It was donated in 1995 by Thrifty PayLess.^[9]