The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest and most diverse diocese, will celebrate the contributions to the Catholic Church of nearly 40 ethnic communities at the 14th annual Celebration of Cultures Mass on Saturday, September 15. Archbishop José H. Gomez will preside at a special Mass at 3:30 p.m., at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown L.A. (555 W. Temple Street, 90012).
“I look forward to this Mass every year because it is like a family reunion — with all our brothers and sisters from every nationality and ethnicity coming together as God’s family to worship and give thanks to our heavenly Father,” said Archbishop Gomez. “If you want to experience the power of the love of God, join us for this joyful celebration.”
Themed “Do Not Be Afraid of Holiness,” the Mass is a celebration with prayer, song, and cultural expression of the Archdiocese’s diversity.
“In Pope Francis’ Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate/Rejoice and be Glad, he calls us to respond to holiness in own practical ways in today’s world. This is what inspired this year’s theme,” said Maria Aguilar, member of the Ethnic Community Council of the Archdiocese’s Office of Ethnic Ministry, event organizer. “We the Ethnic Communities have seen the courage examples in many martyrs/saints/blessed and holy people from our suffering countries. The Blessed Mother through her many Sorrows is the foremost force of our courage to not fear holiness.”
Highlights of the Mass include:
- Prayer of Four Directions by the Native American Indians.
- Procession of 22 communities carrying a saint or a religious image
- A traditional Samoan story told by Deacon Maselino Alefosio, a representative of the Samoan community.
Full story at Diocese of Los Angeles website.
So much wrong with this. We shouldn’t celebrate cultures nor ethnicities.
The Ethnic Community Council of the Archdiocese’s Office of Ethnic Ministry: a prime example of bloated archdiocesan bureaucracy that shouldn’t exist nor be funded.
E pluribus unum. Not e pluribus plures.
It’s a Mass I would steer clear of. Like Halloween dress-up pageantry. Ethnicity raised to the status of an idol.
Not that theres ever a good time for this sort or stupidity but of all times, now ? Another example of 2hat the church has become.
This is a mini Anaheim Religious Education Congress with all the liturgical abuse, multiple languages and pagan prayers. Indians praying to the four directions? Give me a break. That’s not Catholic faith and it’s not inculturation. It’s paganization of Catholicism by an archbishop who should know better.
“Steven” is correct: not a subject for celebration. There is One Holy Catholic Church, One Faith, and (should be) One Language and One Mass (and One Catechism, etc., etc. and etc.).
Not rocket science here. Those clerics that push “diversity” as some sort of holy goal to be attained, as having some independent merit are already lost.
We can all be American citizens [by law of course], the ‘unum’ part, while retaining part of our diverse background, the ‘pluibus’ part. As I understand it, in the Los Angeles Archdiocese there are Masses in over three dozen vernacular languages as well as Latin.
Masses celebrated in over three dozen languages? [note: “vernacular languages” is redundant.] That’s great mike m, I agree. The point is that all three dozen should NOT be included in ONE Mass. That’s not worship; it’s a Busby Berkeley theatrical.
American citizens should all know English. So why not celebrate Mass in English? Because, as Steven points out, the purpose of celebrating Mass in an ethnic language is to celebrate the language and ethnicity, not to celebrate Mass.
It’s the Tower of Babel.
God created a world in which multiple races, cultures and languages exist. Please read about the history of the Church’s missionary work. The missionary priests and nuns usually permitted some aspect of the existing culture to be a part of their efforts to evangelize the people. God smiles when he sees people of different races, cultures and languages working together.
The truth is that Americans should speak the American language: English. The truth is that these people aren’t objects of missionary efforts: they are already Catholics. The truth is that dressing up in ethnic attire for the purpose of celebrating your ethnicity/culture at Mass is inappropriate because it makes the Mass about you and your ethnic pride — something this-worldly — instead of being about Christ. The truth is that pagan religious practices are not compatible with Catholic faith. The truth is that someone displaying white ethnic pride would be ushered out of the event more quickly than former Cardinal McCarrick would be on a handsome seminarian.
During the greatest portion of the missionary times, the Mass was offered in ONE language—Latin. It’s the Mass we’re talking about here, not a cultural convention.
Steven, at the risk of making “Anonymous” believe that we are the same person, you are spot on!
These kinds of “celebrations” are designed to create division. It’s Mass Archbishop Gomez, not a commercial for ancestry.com. For those who want a little Catholic culture, try a traditional Latin Mass, which was the Church’s ONLY Mass for hundreds of years. At the very least, you’ll feel you’ve actually been to Mass, not some slap dash ceremony unrecognizable to the faithful.
Never in their wildest dreams could the bishops at Vatican II imagine these abuses being possible when they voted to approve Sacrosanctum Concilium in 1962.
These abuses were simply not possible in the [pre-1962] Roman Rite of Mass.