Faithful flock to see statue of Santo Toribio, the immigrants’ saint

People say he’s their guardian, their lawyer, their smuggler. On a recent afternoon, they lined up at his feet with their requests:

Please, my mother needs a visa.
Please, my niece was caught by agents.

Please, I can’t go on being illegal.

As a border crisis involving the influx of tens thousands of children from Central America unfolds, the faithful of Southern California are flocking to Santo Toribio Romo Gonzalez.

Arcángel Film Festival aims to unite Christian media efforts

Created with the vision of uniting Christians through Hollywood, the Arcángel Film Festival will take place July 19 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse.

By connecting filmmakers and artists with their audience, the program is intended to celebrate and support the progress of faith-based films and inspire Christian unity and cooperation in media and mission, say organizers.

La Purísima hosts ‘step back in time’ events

Three events that enable visitors to glimpse California Mission life “once upon a time” will be presented this summer at La Purísima Mission State Historic Park in Lompoc.

“Purísima’s People Day” (July 12 and Sept. 6, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.) allows visitors to “step back in time” to 1822, and interact with costumed re-enactors who portray the people who called La Purisima Mission home — Padre Payeras, the Mayordomo, a blacksmith, and the women and children completing their daily chores.

Priestly formation and the new evangelization: The Four Pillars

Previously (May 30), we explained how the two guiding documents of the Catholic Church on the Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood — Pastoris Dabo Vobis (I Will Give You Shepherds) by Pope John Paul II in 1992 and The Program for Priestly Formation, 5th Edition from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006 (hereafter referred to as PDV and PPF) — present four Pillars (or Dimensions) that are essential for the training or preparation of seminarians, and indeed for priests throughout their lives.

In Altadena: A new altar for Sacred Heart

It wasn’t planned that way, but the weekend when parishioners at Sacred Heart Church in Altadena celebrated the blessing and consecration of their new altar was full of coincidences that couldn’t be overlooked.

St. Toribio relics in L.A.

The St. Toribio Relics Tour will be visiting parishes throughout the Southland in July, culminating with culminate with the Immigration Mass July 20 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

The relic, a bone from the left ankle of Santo Toribio, is encased in a 4-foot-5 statue of the saint, which was lent to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by the saint’s home chapel in Jalisco, Mexico. The Mexican-born martyred priest is venerated by immigrants for helping them reach the “dreamed land” safely and achieving success in the United States.

Where roots and stewardship run deep

On a recent visit with Msgr. John Hughes, pastor emeritus of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Camarillo, he looked out his study window and noticed newly named pastor Father Preston Passos watering plants on the priests’ residence patio.

St. Mary Magdalen Church

“Camarillo is steeped with history,” says Father Preston Passos, who as the seventh pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Church should know, given that five of his six predecessors each served a decade or more as pastor of this “bilocated” parish rooted in California’s rancho era.

‘We want girls to be a light unto each other’

At the end of June last year, when Raymond Saborio took over as principal of Sacred Heart High School, it’s safe to say he faced a few challenges.

In Montebello: Celebrating St. Pedro Calungsod

Catechist, Missionary, Martyr, and Soldier of Christ have been titles associated with the noble deeds of St. Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino to be declared a saint by the Church.