The Catholic Church in California — an annual report

The following annual report, the first of its kind, is based on stories from California Catholic Daily from September 1, 2017 through August 30, 2018 and from staff research.

CONTENTS

• Yearly statistics by diocese
• Priests, parishes, ordinations, seminarians — information from diocesan websites or staff
• California bishop statements of note
• Immigration, gun control, gay acceptance, clergy abuse, responses to the Vigano letter
• Anti-Catholic incidents
• Columbus Day, Junipero Serra statues, fourth grade Missions project
• Personnel changes
• Pia de Solenni, Father George Schulze, Bishop Thanh Thai Ngueyn, Bishop Stephen Blaire, Msgr. Marc Trudeau, Andrew Rivas
• Vandalism at California churches
• Mission San Fernando, Old Santa Barbara Mission, St. Margaret Mary, Mission San Gabriel, St. Bede’s, Resurrection, St. Christopher
• Dark news
• LGBT rights in nursing home, pro-abortion politician at L.A. cathedral, gay LongBeach mayor at Catholic school, San Jose pulls seminarians from St. Patrick’s, Oakland cathedral construction flaws, California bishops named in Cardinal Vigano letter
• Positive signs
• Street evangelists in San Francisco, David Daleiden wins victory in Ninth Circuit, St. Michael Abbey begins construction, Anglican Ordinariate in San Bernadino, Thomas Aquinas College given campus in Massachusetts.

YEARLY STATISTICS

• Catholics statewide: nearly 11 million, about 29% of total population
• Archdioceses: 2
• Dioceses: 10
• Number of priests: 3,620
• Parishes: 1,073
• Priestly ordinations in 2018: 35

Diocese of Santa Rosa

• Bishop: Robert F. Vasa
• Area served: Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties
• Number of Catholics: 178,443 (About 19% of total population of 948,769)
• Priests: 97
• Parishes: 41
• Priestly ordinations in 2018: 0
• Seminarians: 6

Diocese of Sacramento

• Bishop: Jaime Soto
• Area served: 20 counties in the northern and eastern regions of California
• Number of Catholics: More than 1 million (About 28% of total population of 3.6 million)
• Priests: 97
• Parishes: 102
• Priestly ordinations in 2018: 3
• Seminarians: 26

Diocese of Stockton

• Bishop: Bishop Myron J. Cotta
• Area served: San Joaquin, Stanis­laus, Calav­eras, Tuolumne, Alpine, and Mono counties
• Number of Catholics: 298,061 (Slightly over 21% of total pop­u­la­tion of 1,376,940)
• Priests: 105
• Parishes: 35
• Priestly ordinations in 2018: 0 (3 ordinations in 2017)
• Seminarians: 2

Diocese of Oakland

• Bishop: Michael C. Barber, SJ
• Area served: Alameda and Contra Costa counties
• Number of Catholics: 394,000 (Slightly over 14% of total population of 2.7 million)
• Priests: 391
• Parishes: 84
• Priestly ordinations in 2018: 3
• Seminarians: 17

Archdiocese of San Francisco

• Archbishop: Salvatore Cordileone
• Area served: San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties
• Number of Catholics: 553,000 (30.7% of total population of 1.8 million)
• Priests: 396
• Parishes: 90
• Ordinations in 2018: 0
• Seminarians: 15

Diocese of San Jose

• Bishop: Patrick J. McGrath
• Area served: Santa Clara County
• Number of Catholics: 688,000 (Slightly over 36% of total population of 1.9 million)
• Priests: 306
• Parishes: 50
• Ordinations in 2018: 3
• Seminarians: 7

Diocese of Fresno:

• Bishop: Armando Ochoa
• Area served: Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced Mariposa and Tulare counties
• Number of Catholics: 1.2 million (About 41.3% of total population of 2.9 million)
• Priests: 179
• Parishes: 89
• Ordinations in 2018: 0
• Seminarians: 20

Diocese of Monterey:

• Bishop: Gerald Wilkerson, Apostolic Administrator
• (Bishop Richard Garcia died on July 11, 2018)
• Area served: Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and San Luis Obispo counties
• Number of Catholics: 208,100 (20% of total population of 1,040,498)
• Priests: 123
• Parishes: 46
• Ordinations in 2018: 0
• Seminarians: 26

Archdiocese of Los Angeles

• Archbishop: Jose Gomez
• Area served: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties
• Number of Catholics: 4,349,267 (38.6% of total population of 11,258,600)
• Priests: 1049
• Parishes: 287
• Ordinations in 2018: 9
• Seminarians: 53

Diocese of San Bernardino

• Bishop: Gerald Barnes
• Area served: Riverside and San Bernardino counties
• Number of Catholics: 1,622,829 (Slightly over 33% of total population of 4.9 million)
• Priests: 241
• Parishes: 92
• Ordinations in 2018: 0
• Seminarians: 33

Diocese of Orange

• Bishop: Kevin Vann
• Area served: Orange County
• Number of Catholics: 1.5 million (46.8% of total population of 3.2 million)
• Priests: 263
• Parishes: 57
• Ordinations in 2018: 2
• Seminarians: 29

Diocese of San Diego

• Bishop: Robert McElroy
• Area served: Imperial and San Diego counties
• Number of Catholics: 1,002,223 (30.5% of total population of 3,279,152)
• Priests: 300 (includes inactive and retired diocesan and religious order priests)
• Parishes: 98
• Ordinations in 2018: 
• Seminarians: 8

• BISHOPS’ STATEMENTS OF NOTE
• Aug. 2, 2017 Bishop Jaime Soto announces Aug. 25 get-together for pastors, parochial administrators, clergy and school administrators to discuss “concerns regarding the new Administration’s immigration enforcement policies.”
• Aug. 11 Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone served as ‘conference faculty’ at event during which Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample proclaimed, “Every priest and seminarian should learn the extraordinary form of the Mass.”

• Aug. 18 Santa Rosa bishop wants diocese, every parish and mission, consecrated to Mary. In preview copy of Aug. 26 letter posted on diocese’s website, Bishop Robert Vasa asks that consecrations be performed after all Sunday Masses on Saturday, December 9 and Sunday, December 10.

• Aug. 27 Denouncing racist beliefs and actions as “blasphemies” against God, Bishop Robert W. McElroy joined with several local interfaith leaders to speak out against bigotry.
• Aug. 30 President Donald Trump’s promise to treat undocumented minors with “great heart” needs to be reflected in policy that gives them legal protection, not deportation, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles has said.
• Sept. 15 San Diego parish to celebrate “All Our Children” anniversary.
• Auxiliary Bishop John Dolan will join Father Lucio Castillo at St. John the Evangelist Church to celebrate Mass on 20th anniversary of controversial 1997 pastoral document from USCCB.

• Sept. 20 Writing in America magazine, Bishop Robert McElroy accused Fr. James Martin’s critics of a “campaign of distortion,” says a “cancer of vilification is seeping into the institutional life of the Church.”

• Oct. 23 Bishop Gerald Barnes calls for “the seamless garment” in Respect Life Month. San Bernardino bishop says abortion just one element of what it means to call ourselves pro-life.
• Oct. 26 Last October, Bishop Robert McElroy held his own diocesan synod as a response to two global synods on the family called by Francis that took place in Rome in 2014 and 2015. One year later, he described it to Crux as a “stunning success,” as it both united the 100 parishes that make up the diocese and also reflected the diversity of its many communities. While the original hope was to develop a blueprint for new programming that could be tested in twelve pilot parishes, McElroy noted that “it became clear after three months or so there was going to be no model, because the reality from parish to parish is so different.”
• Nov. 13 Bishop Robert McElroy: “The notion that to restrict automatic and semi-automatic weapons is a restriction on personal rights that should be given to society, to me, seems unacceptable”
• Nov. 15 Three archbishops and nine bishops representing at least 13 million Catholics from Sacramento to Ensenada meet for six hours at San Diego diocese, discuss immigration, NAFTA and Laudato Si, among other issues
• Jan. 21, 2018 “In many ways, that’s why I’m here,” San Diego auxiliary Bishop John Dolan told Times of San Diego. “This whole March for Life encompasses everything, not just … the unborn, but also DACA.” He said everyone has value or purpose — “whether they’re walking or in the womb, whether they are immigrants or migrants or deported.”
• Jan. 22 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are backing public sector unions in an upcoming Supreme Court case.
• March 14 The Most Rev. Robert McElroy, Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego, released the following statement in reaction to President Donald Trump’s visit to San Diego to tour prototypes of the proposed new border wall: “It is a sad day for our country when we trade the majestic, hope-filled symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for an ineffective and grotesque wall.
• se, pitting church leaders against the Trump administration and conservatives in a legal battle over how organized labor is financed.
• March 17 “The answer is not more guns, not arming teachers with Oozies or AK-47s,” San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath addresses students at Archbishop Mitty High School before 17-minute walkout to protest gun violence

• June 13 “The end of our great national tradition.” San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy joins other bishops in denouncing decision by attorney general to put a stop to asylum claims based on domestic abuse, gang violence: “We have truly lost our moral compass as a country.”

• June 19 “Un-American, un-Christian and inhumane,” San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath denounces separation of families at US-Mexico border.

Aug. 27 San Diego’s Bishop McElroy, in response to the letter by former papal nuncio Carlo Maria Vigano: “Archbishop Vigano’s statement constitutes a distortion. It is not an attempt to comprehensively convey the truth.”

Aug. 27 Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto: “The concerns raised by the former nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, are serious and call for an honest, transparent response.”

Aug. 29 Orange Diocese Bishop Kevin Vann: “The questions raised deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence.”

Aug. 30 San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone: “Archbishop Vigano’s statements must be taken seriously. To dismiss them lightly would continue a culture of denial and obfuscation.”

ANTI-CATHOLIC INCIDENTS

• Aug. 31, 2017 Los Angeles has become the largest city nationwide to remove Columbus Day as an official city holiday, replacing it with a day to commemorate indigenous people.
• Aug. 26 Removal of a number of statues and other smaller Catholic icons from the campus of San Domenico School in San Anselmo has raised concerns among some parents.

• Sept. 7 California halting 4th-graders’ Mission-building projects? School tradition called “offensive to many” A new educational framework in California is encouraging teachers to drop a 4th grade tradition — constructing a replica of one of the state’s historic missions — in favor of a more “nuanced perspective of history.”

• Oct. 19 Junipero Serra impasse at Stanford University. Committee formed in 2016 stalls in effort to make recommendations on renaming a street and three campus buildings named after St. Junipero Serra. After repeated delays, a committee assembled by the University in early 2016 to establish principles for renaming campus buildings and landmarks expects to release its conclusions by the end of fall quarter.

• However, in what the committee chair describes as an effort to move an unexpectedly challenging process along, the group’s mandate has changed. At the request of University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the faculty, student and staff members of the eight-person committee are no longer aiming to form a recommendation on the issue that jump-started the renaming debate: the street and three campus buildings named after Junipero Serra, a Catholic saint who ran several California missions that have come under scrutiny for their treatment of Native Americans. Instead, as of spring quarter, the committee is formulating general principles to guide any future renaming deliberations,

• March 8, 2018 California missionary St. Junipero Serra will be among the figures removed from a prominent location near San Francisco City Hall after the city’s art commission unanimously voted to remove the statue March 5. The bronze statue, titled “Early Days,” shows three figures: a Native American sitting at the feet of English seafarer Francis Drake and of Serra.

• April 20 Monument featuring St. Junipero Serra will stay put in San Francisco. City’s board of appeals unanimously reverses earlier decisions by two municipal commissions to remove statue criticized for allegedly celebrating the subjugation of American Indians

PERSONNEL CHANGES

• Aug. 9, 2017 The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has named Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta as head of the eparchy of Saint Peter Apostle of San Diego of the Chaldeans, pulling him from his prior post in Canada.

  • Aug. 15 The Most Reverend Kevin Vann, Bishop of Orange, has appointed Pia de Solenni, SThD, and current theological consultant to the Office of the Bishop, to serve as Chancellor of the Diocese of Orange
• Aug. 25 St. Patrick’s Seminary & University celebrated the installation of Reverend George E. Schultze, SJ, as the institution’s 17th President-Rector.
• Oct. 7 Fr. Thanh Thai Nguyen – a Vietnamese “boat person” serving as pastor of a parish in Jacksonville, Florida – will become second auxiliary bishop of Orange, which has nation’s largest number of Vietnamese Catholics

• Dec. 6 Ordination scheduled for Orange diocese’s new auxiliary bishop. Bishop-elect Thanh Thai Nguyen to be ordained December 19 at St. Columban Church in Garden Grove; cardinals, bishops and interfaith leaders from across the U.S. expected to attend

• Dec. 7 Dominic Luong, first Vietnamese-born Roman Catholic U.S. bishop, dies at 77. Luong was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Orange diocese by Pope John Paul II on April 25, 2003; he died from a lengthy illness on Wednesday, Dec. 6
• Jan. 23, 2018 Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Stockton, California, and has named Auxiliary Bishop Myron Cotta as his successor, up until now the Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento.

• March 19 Champion for Life Monsignor Kavanagh has died. Longtime pastor of St. Rose Parish in Sacramento, dies on St. Patrick’s Day at age 93

• March 28 Dominican friar named new San Francisco auxiliary bishop
• Pope Francis today appointed Fr. Robert Christian, O.P., of the Western Dominican Province, as auxiliary bishop for San Francisco
• April 5 Rector of St. John’s Seminary is newest auxiliary bishop for Los Angeles archdiocese. Msgr. Marc V. Trudeau was personal secretary to Cardinal Roger Mahony from 2001-2004, replaces Bishop Thomas J. Curry, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on April 3
• April 13 Ned Dolejsi to retire as executive director of California Catholic Conference. Dolejsi will be retiring this summer; a search firm has been retained to find a new director

• June 29 California Catholic Conference announces new executive director. Andrew Rivas was onetime executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference and most recently served as director of the Office of Government and Community Relations for the Los Angeles archdiocese

• July 11 Pope Francis names coadjutor bishop for San Jose diocese.Bishop Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, New Mexico, will assist Bishop Patrick McGrath, 73, in the administration of the diocese and succeed McGrath upon his retirement or death
• July 12 Monterey Bishop Richard Garcia has died
• Diocese attributed death to complications of Alzheimer’s Disease, which was diagnosed in April and followed by “a very rapid decline in health”

VANDALISM

• Aug. 18, 2017 Several people stopped by a statue of Father Junipero Serra in a park across from Mission San Fernando on Thursday after a photo made the rounds on social media appearing to show the statue had been vandalized. A picture circulating Facebook showed the statue spray-painted red and the word “murder” written on Serra in white.

• Sept. 11 A priest shot, a stained glass window smashed, a church set on fire, and a parish tagged with hate speech. These incidents are all part of a summer crime wave that has targeted Catholic churches and personnel in the Diocese of San Bernardino.
• Sept. 14 Another statue of St. Junipero Serra vandalized.Statue at Old Santa Barbara Mission decapitated and splashed with red paint, latest in a series of incidents targeting the missionary who brought the faith to the West Coast
• Sept. 14 Our Lady of Fatima statue vandalized in Chino
• Suspicious fire at St. Margaret Mary parish
• Oct. 15 Nearly 200 pro-life posters were taken down at a Catholic university by students who were reportedly upset the posters sought to highlight similarities between the issues of abortion and immigration.
• Nov. 6 A metal statue of St. Junipero Serra was vandalized early Friday morning at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, mimicking a similar incident at another mission less than two months ago. Pastor Manuel “Tony” Diaz said at 1:15 a.m., a man jumped on the pedestal of the statue and tried to decapitate it with an electric saw.
• Dec. 19 Vandal defaces statues of Mary, three Fatima children and a lamb at St. Bede’s Catholic Church in Hayward, third time in three years statues have been damaged

• Jan. 31. 2018 Arson fires occurred at Resurrection Catholic Church in Boyle Heights early Thursday and the Church of the Angels in Pasadena on Jan. 13. The blaze at the Boyle Heights church was primarily contained to the first floor of the two-story structure. The small fire at the Episcopal church in Pasadena was lit in the sanctuary, with pews, prayer books and hymnals used as kindling.

• The same verse was spray-painted at Ancient Church of the East Mar Shaleeta Parish, an Assyrian church in San Fernando. Police in February 2017 found similar graffiti at three West Covina churches: Christ Lutheran Church, St. Christopher Catholic Church and West Covina Christian Church.

DARK NEWS

• Aug. 5, 2017 The Archdiocese of Los Angeles caused a stir by distributing an invitation to a Mass at its cathedral in partnership with a clinic that prescribes contraceptives. After receiving inquiries regarding a partnership with an organization that acts in conflict with the teachings of Catholic Church, the archdiocese acted to amend its invitation.

• Aug. 23 pro-abortion Congresswoman Judy Chu speaks at the Archdiocese Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Plaza.

• Aug. 23 The “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Bill of Rights,” or Senate Bill 219, will criminalize referring to a transgender nursing home resident by his/her actual gender. The proposed law, which passed the California senate, states, “It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to … willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred (transgender) name or (opposite sex) pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.”
• Aug. 24 The California Catholic Conference of Bishops supports SB 54, the California Values Act. SB 54 “attempts to address injustice of indiscriminate deportations.”

• Sept. 1 Openly gay Long Beach mayor Robert Garcia lauded at St. Anthony Catholic High School. Story from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles newspaper fails to mention that the mayor, who used to work at St. Anthony High School, is openly gay

• Sept. 5 Federal judge upholds California’s abortion-coverage requirement. Lawsuit filed by three churches that challenged policy on First Amendment grounds is dismissed. The California Department of Managed Health Care is forcing churches to pay for elective abortions in their health insurance plans. Its mandate forces all insurance plans to cover all abortions.
• Sept. 15 California bishops thank governor, state legislators “For supporting DACA students, naturalization services and other programs”

• Oct. 16 Comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell has been named the Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts at Santa Clara University for 2017-18. The Jesuit university’s website says, “Bell will mentor and engage with students, faculty, and the Santa Clara University community.” Bell is a self-declared critic of the Church, as well as a supporter of same-sex marriage

• Oct. 16 Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday vetoed legislation wading into the contentious debate over reproductive health rights and religious freedom in the workplace. Assembly Bill 569 would have prohibited employers from punishing workers who use birth control, get an abortion or make other reproductive health decisions they disagree with.

• Oct. 17 At the Catholic diocese of Orange Diocesan Ministries Celebration, the event’s keynote speaker was Fr. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who dissents from Church teaching.  Faithful Catholics protesting Fr. Boyle’s speech distributed flyers to attendees as they arrived early on Saturday morning at Mater Dei High School in Orange County.

• Oct. 27 Diocese of San Jose moved its seven seminarians from Saint Patrick’s University and Seminary in Menlo Park to University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill. The Bishop said the move to Mundelein, as the seminary is known, was 18 months in the making. “They are dedicated to the principles of the Second Vatican II,” he said.

• Oct. 30 Jury selection begins in lawsuit over sale of former convent in Los Feliz. Legal action pits Los Angeles archdiocese and singer Katy Perry against a businesswoman they allege meddled with a contract to sell the property in 2015.

• Oct. 30 Governor’s veto of AB 569 (Gonzales-Fletcher, D-San Diego), the bill that targeted religious employers and would have created unprecedented liability for a fabricated problem, so-called “reproductive discrimination.”
• Nov. 7 World needs ‘brain washing’ on climate change, Jerry Brown says at Vatican, Brown: “The problem … is us. It’s our whole way of life. It’s our comfort … It’s the greed. It’s the indulgence. It’s the pattern.”
• Nov. 20 Jury awards Katy Perry and Los Angeles archdiocese $5 million in convent lawsuit. In dispute over former Los Feliz convent, archdiocese gets $3.47 million in attorney fees, Perry’s company awarded $1.57 million in fees ; jury to decide on punitive damages, if any, at a later date.

• Nov. 24 Bad news for Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light. Vicar general reports that latest review has determined that earlier construction flaws discovered in the chancery, rectory and parking garage now include cathedral as well.

• Nov. 27 The Vatican gave a shout-out to California Gov. Jerry Brown Sunday, praising him for his war against climate change and his defense of human “dignity and freedom.” In a Tweet from Casina Pio IV, the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican called Brown a “true leader” while singling out the Democratic governor’s concern for “the good of the planet

• Dec. 6 The fast-spreading flames of a California wildfire reached the borders of the campus of Thomas Aquinas College, but did not cause serious damage. Campus is evacuated.

• Dec. 15 Proposed Catholic hospital mega-merger assessed by Church officials: Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives and San Francisco-based Dignity Health proposed merger would include 139 hospitals, employ 159,000 people, and have combined revenues of $28.4 billion
•  Jan. 16, 2018 This year, as in previous years, the Religious Education Congress features a roster of speakers that includes promoters of the homosexual agenda, several of whom have found a warm welcome in Gomez’s archdiocese.  Under the topic “LGBT ministry,” which include nine scheduled talks, speakers include Fr. James Martin, who regards homosexual orientation as part of God’s design of the individual, and as a person’s legitimate “identity.” Martin calls “LGBT people” “holy”

• Jan. 19 San Francisco Catholic parish to be site for re-design of Harvey Milk Plaza. Meetings will be held at Most Holy Redeemer parish hall to discuss plans for site named to honor slain gay crusader. Dr. Arthur Fitzmaurice, an open homosexual and LGBT activist, will be giving two talks.

• Jan. 24 Communion cup suspended in Sacramento diocese. Other anti-flu measures announced by Bishop Jaime Soto include no handshaking during Sign of Peace, no handholding during the Our Father, encouraging reception of Communion in the hand
• Feb. 1 In a strongly worded statement, the California Catholic Conference joins other opponents of two-year-old statute permitting physician-assisted suicide, express worries over coercion and care for the poor
• Feb. 20 Pope Francis appointed Mahony to be his special envoy to the Catholic Diocese of Scranton’s 150th anniversary Mass, but after threat of protests Mahony says he’ll be unable to attend

• Feb. 27 Maria Shriver to speak on opening day of LA Religious Education Conference.Catholic and former First Lady of California is openly pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-women’s ordination, pro-birth control and pro-communion for divorced and remarried

• April 10 Cecile Richards speaking at Catholic university in SF Archdiocese.
• Dominican University was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
• April 30 If the American Civil Liberties Union has its way, Catholic Charities and other faith-based organizations providing care for illegal alien minors will be forced to tel them that they have a “right” to an abortion.
• May 22 No vocations this year in San Francisco archdiocese; meanwhile, three to be ordained in Oakland
• May 28 Statement of Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles: “Questions from the faithful and some members of the news media indicate that it would be helpful for me to clarify the status of Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry. Cardinal Mahony, as Archbishop Emeritus, and Bishop Curry, as Auxiliary Bishop, remain bishops in good standing in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.”

• Aug. 25 An 11-page letter issued by the former papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, named Cardinal Mahony and Levada as “closely linked” to sex abuser Cardinal McCarrick and opposed to recent appointments of bishops in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Denver, and San Francisco and told how the “appointment of McElroy in San Diego was also orchestrated from above, with an encrypted peremptory order to me as Nuncio by Cardinal Parolin: “reserve the See of San Diego for McElroy.”

SIGNS OF HOPE

• • Aug. 14, 2017 About 1,000 teenagers — the official count was 995 — and their chaperones rocked the bleachers of Cal State East Bay’s gym at a Saturday morning Steubenville NorCal event
  • Aug. 16 Anti-abortion activist David Daleiden has scored a victory in the Ninth Circuit, with judges finding a lower court’s order blocking his access to public information about researchers associated with the University of Washington’s Birth Defects Research Laboratory was too broad
  • Aug. 17 Archbishop José H. Gomez welcomed 21 new seminarians to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as they begin their journey toward the priesthood at St. John’s Seminary and Queen of Angels Center for Priestly Formation.

• .

• Aug. 15 Alta Loma parish posts pro-life message on freeway. St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church helps pay for hard-hitting billboard message on Interstate 210
• Aug. 25 Six teams of Catholics take non-confrontational approach to spreading the Gospel. Adam Janke, co-founder of St. Paul Evangelization Ministries, will be leading a basic evangelization training on Friday, Oct. 6 (7-9 p.m.), and Saturday, Oct. 7 (8 a.m.-5 p.m.), at Mary Star of the Sea Parish
• Aug. 28 Officials of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will meet on November 17 to study the life, writings, and ministry of the Claretian Missionary known for his four decades of priestly work in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Antonio Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria, CMF
• Oct. 19 Seven schools in the Diocese of Oakland will become Lumen Christi Academies in fall 2018. They are Queen of All Saints, Concord; St. Anthony, Oakland; St. Catherine of Siena, Martinez; St. Cornelius, Richmond; St. Elizabeth, Oakland; St. Paul, San Pablo; and St. Peter Martyr, Pittsburg.

• Oct. 25 Hundreds attend Oct. 21 Mass and blessing of site on campus of Christ Cathedral that will be home to a $25-million shrine for Our Lady of La Vang, venerated by Vietnamese as a symbol of strength and resilience

• Nov. 17 Next year (2018) will be the 40th anniversary of Ignatius Press
• Jan. 10, 2018 ProLife Democrats endorse Cox for governor. Republican venture capitalist and practicing Catholic John Cox is running for California governor in 2018.Today California ProLife Democrats joined with the California ProLife Council, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, In supporting John Cox for Governor of California.
• April 1 LA Archdiocese blesses, breaks ground on new seminary.Archbishop Jose Gomez blessed and broke ground of the new Queen of the Angeles Center for Priestly Formation in Torrance, California.
• March 29 San Francisco archbishop defends ‘Humanae Vitae’. “Leaders in the Church do a grave disservice to our people by misleading them with the false idea of what conscience means”

• March 27 Construction starts on new St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County.More than 50 Norbertine priests along with 34 seminarians and St. Michael’s Preparatory School have outgrown current abbey in Trabuco Canyon, new abbey in Silverado Canyon will be in traditional Romanesque style

• April 1 LA Archdiocese blesses, breaks ground on new seminary. Archbishop Jose Gomez blessed and broke ground of the new Queen of the Angeles Center for Priestly Formation in Torrance, California.
• April 10 Abortion pill reversal article set for publication in peer-reviewed medical journal. Progesterone protocol offers second chance for women who change their minds after beginning the medical abortion procedure. Procedure promoted by Dr. George Delgado of Culture of Life Family Services
• May 2 Anglican Ordinariate establishes presence in San Bernardino diocese. Holy Martyrs of England and Wales Catholic Mission will begin holding Mass in a Murrieta gymnasium on Pentecost Sunday, May 20
• May 9 Classic curriculum to be offered at San Francisco Catholic school. Liberal education coming to Star of the Sea Elementary School in fall of 2019
• May 11 There should be an image of Mary in every home. Archbishop José Gomez: “I will be personally blessing and offering an image of our Blessed Mother for every family in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who wants one”

• May 23 Christ Cathedral transformation about 40 percent complete. The project is tracking to the budget and construction schedule, with the cathedral’s dedication set for July 17, 2019

• June 10 Sixteen ordained to permanent diaconate in Los Angeles. Archbishop Jose Gomez ordains 15 married men and one single man at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on June 9
• June 22 “We’re very pleased that they are coming to Massachusetts.” Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston, supports efforts to open Thomas Aquinas College, New England, in time for the start of the 2019-2020 academic year
• June 26 Supreme Court sides with crisis pregnancy centers.In 5-4 decision, justices rule that California can’t force pro-life pregnancy counseling centers to promote abortion
• June 27 Property sales reduce outstanding Christ Cathedral acquisition debt. Sale of former pastoral center, St. Callistus parish properties leave long-term debt on the property of about $20 million
• June 28 Latin Mass finds permanent home in Los Angeles archdiocese.St. Vitus Catholic Church in San Fernando will be first parish in Los Angeles run by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter; Archbishop José Gomez dedicated the church according to the Latin liturgy.