Archdiocese celebrates silver jubilarian priests in 2014

In 1989, Archbishop Roger Mahony was in his fourth year of heading the largest archdiocese in the country whose Catholic population was more than three million.

In Camarillo, St. John’s Seminary was celebrating its golden jubilee, with priests ordained that spring including men from the Dioceses of Orange, San Diego, Tucson and Pago Pago, American Samoa, as well as Los Angeles.

Maryknoll Leadership Team includes Bishop Amat grad

Four Maryknoll Sisters, including a Bishop Amat High School graduate, were elected as new leaders of the Congregational Leadership Team at its recent General Assembly. The new team, who will begin their six-year term of service in January 2015, are Sisters Antoinette Gutzler, president; Numeriana Mojado, vice-president; and Anastasia Lott and Teruko Ito, members.

Dia de los Muertos: Where faith and culture intersect

Father Rigoberto Rodriguez has an indelible memory of his first “El Dia de los Muertos” (The Day of the Dead) celebration as an eight-year-old living in the Mexican state of Michoacán.

A boy soprano in his all-boys’ Catholic school choir, he was asked to sing Latin hymns alongside a priest blessing graves at cemeteries crowded with family members assembled to pray for their deceased loved ones in early November.

‘Throughout the years it’s gotten worse’

In 2011, 13-year-old Cynthia Abuede, an eighth-grader at Resurrection School in Boyle Heights, appeared in a documentary commissioned by California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) called “The Right to Breathe.” The film derived its emotional impact from the personal stories from people like Cynthia, who held up her drawing of the lead battery recycler Exide Technologies and her sister nearby coughing with asthma in the film.

White Mass: Celebrating ‘a noble calling’

Jorge Francisco Carreon, M.D., is a seemingly tireless OB/GYN who sees patients at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and at his own clinic in South Gate. When he’s not delivering babies, Dr. Carreon — known for his admirable work ethic and leadership roles — serves on numerous boards and advisory committees. But the 70-year-old physician always makes time for faith and family.

Christian Service 4Life: ‘You are the light of the world’

The atmosphere across the outdoor tennis stadium at the StubHub Center in Carson crackled with the energy, enthusiasm and clamor of more than 6,000 junior and high school students during the annual Christian Service 4Life rally on Oct. 14.

St. Raphael School receives Barona Grant

St. Raphael School recently received a $5,000 Barona Education Grant through the Barona Band of Mission Indians to fund a portion of the technology needed for a new junior high science program, which includes virtual dissections, interactive physics, and virtual chemistry experiments.

La Reina offers middle school in 2015

In an effort to provide “a seamless transition from middle school to high school,” La Reina High School will offer a middle school for girls to include grades 6-8 beginning in fall 2015. Founded in Thousand Oaks by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1964, La Reina currently offers enrollment for grades 7-12.

OLA named Fair Trade Congregation

Shepherded by its active Fair Trade Ministry, Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Claremont has been named a Fair Trade Congregation, one of only seven in the United States.

Fair Trade is a self-sustaining business model with principles that include fair prices and wages, safe working conditions, no forced or abusive child labor, strict environmental standards, and community development. Small producers are able to generate enough income to put food on the table and send their children to school.

St. Francis Med Center designated as Approved Stroke Center

On a typical summer day in July, 36-year-old Rosina Espinoza suddenly felt dizzy. Though she initially thought it was an anxiety attack, she realized it was something more when she tried in vain to reach for a bottle of water. Then she noticed dampness on her arms and legs, and realized she couldn’t speak clearly.