Our Lady of Guadalupe called 'Mother Without Borders' in Los Angeles (Catholic Caucus)

Thousands of Catholics from throughout the greater Los Angeles area gathered in East Los Angeles Dec. 2 to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe as the mother of all peoples -- from every language, race and culture. A mile-long procession, the oldest religious procession in the city honoring Mary, led participants to East Los Angeles College Stadium, where Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and the auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles, numerous priests and more than 15,000 of the faithful gathered for Mass.

The theme this year was "Mother Without Borders: Bringing Down the Walls of Injustice." The event was part of a statewide call to action for comprehensive immigration reform by the California Catholic Conference of Bishops. "The Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of hope and compassion for all who are marginalized," said the cardinal. "Today she continues to unite us as a humble people of God in search for understanding, compassion, peace and human dignity for all -- especially for our immigrant brothers and sisters who are being kept in the margins of society by a broken immigration system."

For the procession, which began near La Soledad Church on Cesar Chavez Avenue, scores of churches decorated banners and colorful floats. Aztec dancers and parishioners wore indigenous and multiethnic dress, many bearing images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas. The annual celebration recalls the miraculous apparitions of the brown-skinned Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico, in December 1531. She left her image on his "tilma" or cloak.

For 476 years her image has been a symbol of unity, peace, compassion and hope for people around the world. This year's "Mother Without Borders" theme resonated with immigrant communities living in fear of workplace raids, deportations and family separation. In his homily, Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, speaking in English and Spanish, called on all Californians to work toward immigration reform.

"I want to welcome in a special way those of you who are English-speaking, because you understand that Our Lady of Guadalupe -- her message, her love -- is not only for those of Spanish language and culture. But she is the mother of all of us, of every language, every race, every culture," Bishop Zavala said to applause. "Immigration is today's sword, and it must be turned into a plowshare -- an instrument that prunes away all the injustices and serves to cultivate right relationship among nations and peoples," the bishop continued.

California's Catholic bishops have called "for just and humane immigration reform," he said. "As those who have faith in Our Lady of Guadalupe I call you to join us today in demanding immigration legislation that allows us to transcend borders and break down the walls of injustice," Bishop Zavala said. Those walls "view human beings as illegal" and "view undocumented immigrants as criminals, subjecting them to imprisonment and deportation and leaving them without any possibilities of becoming United States citizens," he said.

Among various measures, Bishop Zavala urged immigration legislation that would provide a legal path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants working and living in the United States and would prioritize the reunification of families separated because of mixed immigration status. Among the thousands of Southern Californians participating in the procession and liturgy was Maria Antonio Rodriguez, a parishioner at St. Anne Church in Santa Monica. She said she was there to affirm her belief that all people are human beings and no one should suffer discrimination.

"I am praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe, that through her people's hearts may be moved, the ones that are putting up the walls," Rodriguez told The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. "I hope they can change their point of view." Juan Sanchez, 19, attended with a dozen family members. A parishioner at St. Matthias Church in Huntington Park, Sanchez said he was there to celebrate how Mary brings all people together. "If everyone believes in her, then there are no borders with her," said the youth.

Dr. Truc Truong, a physician and parishioner at St. John Neumann in Irvine and St. Cecilia in Tustin, donated the thousands of red and peach roses that surrounded the images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego near the altar on the stadium field. A Vietnamese-American immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1975, Truong has been donating 2,000 roses weekly to be placed at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Hombre Nuevo, a Catholic multimedia center in El Monte. "Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother of every single nation, country and every single one of us," said Truong. "The Son of God and the mother of God -- they are together. You can't separate them. She intervenes for us."

Mahoney wants justice? Let him lead a demonstartion in Mexico City to demand that the bloodsuckers take care of their own people and not send them north to invade the United States.

My hostility is directed at the government of Mexico, which as always been controlled by a selfish elite that refuses to share the great wealth of the country with their own people. The only thing that keeps Mexico from being as rich as the United States is bad government. They were better governed by the Peninsulares.

***Thousands of Catholics from throughout the greater Los Angeles area gathered in East Los Angeles Dec. 2 to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe***

Dec. 2 is not even the right day for Our Lady of Guadalupe - it’s the 12th! I guess someone got mixed up...

On several levels the Bishop is right. The first level is unfortunately one over which he has no jurisdiction or control. And that is the impending North American Union.

There is soon to be no distiction between Mexico, Canada and the USA. And if Vincente Fox(CNN 10/8/07) is correct we will have a common currency by 2010. These Mexicans are our fellow Catholics and if God sees fit to punish this great land of ours because of our hedonistic culture I look forward to a huge influx of Catholics taking over. Our country which is still the greatest in the world is basicall Protestant and therefore flawed in my humble opinion. Attacking Bishops is not necessary. Jesus, I trust in You!

"It’s a fashion statement on the young women here and a car adornment for the men. I don’t see it as a devotion in many of the Hispanics here in town, so much as a “La Raza” statement."

Well, there's no way to gauge the individual devotion, but an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe might also be a way to say "Soy Catolico!" and ward off the Assemblias de Deos and the Jay Dubs.

I have no hostility toward Mexicans; I enjoy my Guadalupe-loving Latino fellow parishioners. I do have a amajor hostility toward the employers who use these people as low-paid field labor or swweatshop peons, and especially toward the $*&^*#^*% US government across the decades, both Democrat and Republican, which has neglected and/or protected this massive human dislocation and corruption until the situation got big enough to explode.

They were better governed by the Peninsulares.

LOL! I agree...and don't forget that Mexico (modern Mexico) is technically a socialist country, as a result of its "revolution." That does a lot to explain its problems.

I agree. We have aborted so many of our own that unless Our Lady sends us new Christian people, we will be overrun by Muslims just as in Europe. And then we will disappear.

I have been very distressed by some of the hostility towards Latin Americans here, and even more distressed because a lot of it is really nothing but Protestants (probably mostly elderly) expressing their hatred of Catholics. I think many of these people would actually be happy to see more Muslims come into the US - anything but Latin American Catholics.

So you've never heard of Pat Buchanan or Joe Sobran?

To put things into perspective, people should bear in mind that the Europeans in the West are uncomfortable with the migration of Christians from the east. So it is not just the Muslims that are giving them heartburn.

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