Latino Opus Dei archbishop to head Los Angeles
Apr. 06, 2010 By NCR Staff

The pope April 6 named Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio, Texas, to take over the Los Angeles archdiocese when Cardinal Roger Mahony retires.

The appointment of the Mexican-born Gomez as coadjutor for Los Angeles puts him in line to become the highest-ranking Latino in the American Catholic hierarchy.

Gomez, 58, is the first, and currently only, full member of Opus Dei to be ordained a bishop in the United States. (That we know of, and then of course there are plenty who are sympathisers or associates of this supposed 'lay' apostalate.)

At a future consistory, the pope would likely name Gomez a cardinal, given that Los Angeles is such a large and important archdiocese whose leader has traditionally worn a red hat.

Mahony, the current head of the archdiocese, is 74. The mandatory retirement age for bishops is 75.

Mahony will introduce Gomez today at a 10 a.m. press conference West Coast time inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

“I welcome Archbishop Gomez to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with enthusiasm and personal excitement,” said Mahony. “The auxiliary bishops and I are looking forward to working closely with him over the coming months until he becomes the Archbishop early in 2011.”

Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and studied theology at the University of Navarra in Spain. On January 23, 2001, Gómez was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Denver.

Gómez was appointed Archbishop of San Antonio on December 29, 2004.

In 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential Hispanics in the United States, and in 2007 he was on a CNN's list of "Notable Hispanics" in a web special celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.

On July 25, 2008 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a consultant to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at The Catholic University of America. Gomez is the Chairman on the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

**************************************************

Before I make any comments, here is an example of the kind of thinking the LA Archdiocese can expect:

San Antonio Archbishop Jose Gomez, who had been an ardent supporter of health care reform, is now urging Catholic lawmakers to vote against the proposal, because efforts to restrict use of funds to pay for abortions have failed, 1200 WOAI news reports.

“It seems that they are not going to do it, so we have no option but to oppose the bill,” Gomez said.

Gomez led a delegation of Hispanic bishops to Washington last month to urge Latino lawmakers to support a robust health care reform bill, and to broaden the bill to guarantee that coverage for illegal immigrants was included. (He starts out looking like a real champion of social justice----a pastor looking out for his Latino flock.)

“The immigrants, legal and undocumented, we have to find a way for a safety net for them to be a part of the new reform,” Gomez said.

But two separate votes were taken in the Senate Finance Committee on language which would have specifically outlawed the use of any public or health care reform funding for abortions, and both votes were defeated, basically along party lines.

Gomez says although he supports the vast majority of the measure as it is written, he will encourage all Catholics, especially Latino Catholics in Congress, to oppose it. (And the he will ask his own constituents to slit their own throats for the sake of the possibility of abortion funding ending potential life. He is asking his currently needy flock to forgo their own present needs for the sake of a possibility for a potentiality. This is very much the whole idea of sacrificing any good in the present for the sake of heaven after death.)

“We have no choice but to oppose the bill,” he said.

“We will ask people to reflect on what it means, and we will keep asking people to continue the fight to ban funding for abortions.” (Oh yes, I'm reflecting on what this means. Just like I reflect on how Chaput can say these same kinds of liberal things and then throw them out of the equation because of abortion and homosexuality.)

The White House says the measure in the Senate Finance Committee would not ‘guarantee abortion funding, but the independent ‘fact check dot org’ says the way the bill is currently worded, funding for abortions could not be denied.

**************************************************

This appointment is a clear message from the Vatican that we can rant and rave all we want about the direction of clericalism and it's attendant theology, but there will be NO change. Opus Dei will continue to call the shots. Abortion and homosexuality will still rule the roost as the only social/cultural issues which good Catholics can care about as they worship their Latin speaking priests and listen to polyphonous chant.

In the meantime the abuse crisis rolls on and Cardinal Groer, he of the 2000 alleged abuse victims, was a member in good standing of Opus Dei. Apparently he was doing God's Work. Kind of like that other 'efficacious guide for youth" the Legion of Christ's very own serial abuser Marcial Maciel.

Some of my readers have probably been reading comments from the last couple of weeks in which Opus Dei has been the topic. Some of the material may seem a little far out. I encourage readers to take the time to read this article which was first published in The Catholic Family News in 2003 entitled The Smell Of Death. It deals with the double murder and suicide which happened in the ranks of the Swiss Guard. One can't help but notice the involvement of one Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the very same Cardinal who on Easter Sunday referred to the media exposure in the sexual abuse crisis as "petty gossip".

For those who might be interested in more information I encourage you to visit the ODAN website. Two things to keep in mind about Opus Dei. In 1950 Pius XII gave permission for Opus Dei to recruit non Catholics as members without the necessity for conversion. It's amazing how many of them have been members of intelligence and governmental agencies.