The following comes from a July 13 story in the San Jose Mercury News.
Beginning two weeks ago, thieves crossed one of the last taboos in a struggling part of town. They broke into a storage room at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in East San Jose and stole $25,000 worth of musical instruments and sound equipment.
Actually, they did it three times — on June 27 and then on July 3 and 4 — almost as if a single insult were not enough to a parish that depends on the equipment for its Sunday Mass. It was like robbing someone repeatedly of a voice.
While Our Lady of Guadalupe is not a rich church, it has been touched by eminence.
Cesar Chavez was one of the first parishioners. Bobby Kennedy visited in 1968. One of the church’s first priests, the Rev. Donald McDonnell, brought the gospel of social justice to the neighborhood.
And what happened Thursday night in the wake of the burglaries proved the adage that misfortune can evoke the very best in us.
Under the leadership of the Rev. Jon Pedigo, who has just been assigned to the parish, the church members hit on the idea of a mariachi festival. It would raise money to replace the equipment, which the church’s musicians had bought with hard work and taco sales.
With only four days’ notice, between 400 and 500 people lined up outside the church to pay $10 apiece to hear groups like Mariachi San Jose, led by college kids.
I asked one of the emcees for the event, attorney Fernando Zazueta, why the thefts had such resonance.
“The thieves violated sacred ground,” said Zazueta, who grew up nearby at 31st and San Antonio streets. “We knew they had no respect for property. But they violated the community directly. No one wants to see a church desecrated that way.”
Zazueta couldn’t help but add another reason for the big turnout: “We told people it was going to be mariachis.”
And there were more people than just mariachi fans helping out. Last Wednesday, Zazueta stood up before the downtown San Jose Rotary Club and told them about the church’s plight.
One of his listeners was Greg Nelson, a San Jose City College administrator who offered to help. SJCC no longer has a marching band, but the school has unused instruments and equipment he was willing to donate….
To read entire story, click here.
My husband saw Bobby Kennedy in San Jose in 1968 just before he died, and if I am not mistaken, I believe that Bobby Kennedy also visited that church just a matter of hours before he died also. That church has given so much to the community it serves that it defies description. That people can behave as these thieves have done is further proof, as if any were needed, of how much the message of Jesus Christ is needed in America today. Stories such as these leave one’s heart in one’s throat.
Satan prowls the earth seeking the souls of men. We should be praying St/ Michael’s prayer at the end of mass. I was told that that was done in many churches at one time.
I hope they catch the theives, but Sunday Mass does NOT depend upon musical instruments as stated in the article. Other than possibly an organ or a piano most Catholic Churches do not have instruments. The Pope has asked us to get back to Gregorian Chant.
i LOVE gregorian chant.
however, if a community uses instruments such as guitar and such for the sunday mass which little children attend, it would be sad indeed for the kids’ worship to be zapped by these darned thieves.
“Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!” (psalm 150:3)
at our parish, the music people teach the little kids both the old traditional hymns and more recent hymns, so the children are benefitting from the riches of our catholic tradition. i somehow doubt they could master gregorian chant, however…
Apparently Rev. Donald McDonnell did not preach on the need to not support pro-abortion politicians. Chavez supported many pro-abortion Demoncrats!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
KENNETH, i rather suspected you would find some way to attack this fine priest, and of course you did.
for your information, father don mcdonnell was the ESSENCE of pro-life and got arrested for his anti-abortion activities on more than one occasion.
perhaps when you saw the words “social justice” in the article you reacted as many on CCD do, but here is part of the obit for father don mcdonnell, whom many of us here in the archdiocese of san francisco knew well – he was QUITE a character, at least in his old age:
“Fr. McDonnell was born in Ireland and ordained by San Francisco Archbishop John Mitty at St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1947. Soon thereafter, he began serving the Spanish-speaking people of Santa Clara County, where his extensive ministry to Mexican workers led him to make the acquaintance of Cesar Chavez—and perhaps changed the course of history.
“Paul F. Chavez, Cesar Chavez’s middle son and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, remembered that his father and Fr. McDonnell were both in their early- to mid-20s when they met and that they subsequently became close friends. ‘My father often spoke about how much Fr. McDonnell influenced him during his early years, before he became a community organizer in 1952, and long before he started building the United Farm Workers in 1962—claiming that his education started when he met Fr. McDonnell, who introduced him to the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church and to the writings of St. Francis and Mahatma Gandhi.’
“Fr. McDonnell also served in Mexico, Japan and Brazil in the 1960s. In 1970, he returned to the Archdiocese of San Francisco as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, where he served until his retirement in 1989. Most recently, he lived with family in the Diocese of Oakland, helping at St. Margaret Mary Parish. Fr. McDonnell, who was ardently pro-life, prayed the rosary daily for the unborn.
St. Margaret Mary Parish is whwere they celebraqte the latin mass, which gives you yet another insight into his soul.
Some good things, Kenneth and Max, were done in that movement such as stopping pilots from spraying the fields while the workers were there. Nevertheless, not everyone in the movement was as pure as the driven snow, and some bad things took place, too. That is the case with most such movements.
dear ANNE T., your post is very wise and on target.
aside from the whole movement, though, father mcdonnell was very well known as a pro-life advocate here in the arhcdiocese of san francisco, so i didn’t want people thinking he was indifferent in that area.
even if some people he worked with were not so zealous.
Does anyone know what’s become of Tradtional Andelo? I miss his posts and this really sad story spotlights how his presence made a difference. Hope he’s okay!
oops. typo! Traditional Angelo.