MCA Mass: ‘We all come together as a family’

Colorful balloon arcs swayed in the cool morning breeze at the entrance to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Oct. 15 as more than 3,000 students from the Los Angeles Archdiocese (some skipping and hopping) entered to join in the nation’s largest children’s Eucharistic celebration.

Archbishop José Gomez presided at the twelfth annual Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) Mass to celebrate the contributions of local youth who help underserved children in 90-plus countries around the world.

Tillie Shafer: L.A.’s first Catholic HS connection to the Fall Classic

Tillie Shafer — that name ring a bell? Local product. Navy veteran of World War I. Amateur golf champ. Successful businessman. “Haberdasher to the stars” of the 1930s and ’40s. Good family man.

And, by all accounts, the very first product of a Los Angeles area Catholic high school to play in baseball’s World Series. Twice in fact, in 1912 and 1913, for the New York Giants.

Local Catholic hospitals step up Ebola preparedness

Local Catholic hospitals have infectious disease protocols for the possibility of managing both suspected and confirmed Ebola patients and are providing ongoing training and safety precautions to protect healthcare workers, say area hospital officials.

Loyola ‘Innocence Day’ panel addresses wrongfully convicted

“The legal system failed each one of you. I’m part of that system. I don’t know if anyone has ever apologized to you — has said, ‘We are sorry for what has happened to you, personally.’ I think everybody in the chain of command that put you where you were should have the humility and the decency and the humanity to have apologized to you years ago.”

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.