Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Pastoral Letters and Statements of Cardinal Mahony

As I Have Done For You

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Conclusion

Cardinal Roger Mahony and the Priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Holy Thursday, April 20, 2000

Part One | The Changing Parish

Saint Leo's Parish, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 1955

In the year 1955 St. Leo’s Parish, Los Angeles, looked like most parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and indeed, across the United States. At the time, the pastor of St. Leo’s Parish had been there 22 years, and two full-time assistant pastors were assigned to help with church duties. On weekends, two priests from a large religious order arrived to help with confessions on Saturdays and with Masses on Sundays. These three full-time and two part-time priests served this average parish of 1,500 families.

The primary pastoral work of the parish was sacramental, educational, and devotional. Five Latin Masses were celebrated on Sunday morning beginning with the 6 a.m. Mass and ending with the 11:30 a.m. Mass. There were no Saturday evening anticipated Masses and the eucharistic fast was in effect from midnight on Saturday until after one received Holy Communion at Mass on Sunday. The priests alone distributed Holy Communion at every Mass and read the Scriptures in Latin, while the faithful followed the translated text in their missals. Usually the Gospel was repeated in English just before the sermon.

Weekday Masses were at 6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., and a Mass for the schoolchildren was celebrated every Thursday morning at 9 a.m. During Lent, schoolchildren were brought to Mass each morning before the beginning of the school day. All school children went to confession on the Thursdays before First Fridays. On Fridays in Lent, the children made the Stations of the Cross immediately after Mass. St. Leo’s Catholic School was staffed by a large group of Sisters. Most students had a Sister teacher for most of the eight grades. Lay teachers were the exception at St. Leo’s.

Confessions were heard every Saturday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Since most parishioners went to confession before receiving Communion, the lines to get into the confessional were often quite long. Confessions were often heard during Sunday Mass as well.

Devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help were held on Tuesday evenings, the Ladies’ Sodality met in church to pray the rosary together on Wednesday evenings, and the Holy Name Society gathered for a Holy Hour on Thursday evenings. Quite often the devotions were followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The younger assistant pastor was in charge of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, helped organize the Saturday morning program, taught the volunteer teachers, and took care of all the details of the program. He also trained and supervised the altar boys and set their regular schedules.

The senior assistant pastor took care of visiting the sick in the hospital and convalescent homes, and looked after the small Chi Rho Club youth group that met twice a month. He was also chaplain to the Legion of Mary.

The assistant pastors visited the parish school regularly and were visible on the playground often during recess or lunchtime. They would drop in on classes frequently and were considered special heroes to the school children.

The pastor took care of the parish administration, finances, Mass schedules and other similar duties. He also served as the chaplain to the Holy Name Society and the Altar Society.

During the course of a week at St. Leo’s Parish, there were few meetings of the parishioners. Members of parish organizations tended to meet during the daytime or on the weekend. Occasionally they met in the evenings, but these were usually set aside for the devotions.

The priests would schedule appointments during the evening hours to assist couples preparing for marriage or to counsel people. It was rare that more than one priest had a meeting to attend on a weeknight evening.

The parish had few paid employees. There was the janitor who cleaned the church and parish hall, and often took care of the school as well. A housekeeper lived in the rectory and took care of all the needs of the priests in their home. One parish secretary handled the telephone and the front door and those other duties that would arise, such as mimeographing the Sunday bulletin on Friday mornings.

St. Leo’s, like most parishes, had a part-time choir director and an organist who received very modest stipends for their work. The Altar Society took care of the sanctuary, sacristy, vestments, and sacred linens—all were volunteers.

The spiritual needs of the parishioners were fairly routine. They attended Sunday Mass faithfully and came to confession at least once a month. Some came to the devotions during the evenings. Many sent their children to the parish school, while most, who supported the parish financially, had little participation in the ordinary life of the parish during the course of the week. The parish church was there when needed—for baptism, First Communion, confirmation, marriage, and funeral Masses—and the priests responded to such normal family emergencies as illness, accident, or death.

Since all of the Masses and sacraments were celebrated in Latin, the ethnic makeup of the parish did not make much difference. St. Leo’s did have parishioners from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but the majority spoke English. The priests assumed that most everyone in the parish spoke English sufficiently. On the other hand, the priest’s sermon was, for all intents and purposes, the only English spoken during the Mass. It often took the form of moral exhortation, peppered with reminders of the requirements of one’s duties in church and civil life. Rarely was the sermon directly related to the Epistle, the Gospel, or to an explanation of the Scriptures, which received little attention in comparison to the heart and soul of the Mass—the moment of consecration.

By all accounts, the above description would hold true for almost all of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. At the time, St. Leo’s would be described as a fine, active parish of the archdiocese, and almost everyone would agree. The pastoral life of the parish was simple and fairly routine, and the spiritual needs of the parishioners were met in accord with the schedule of services offered.

Saint Leo's, LA, 2005

The parishioners from St. Leo’s in 1955 will hardly recognize their old parish in the year 2005. St. Leo’s is still a typical parish—typical for an archdiocese with well over six million Catholics. It is estimated that the number of Catholics will continue to grow by at least one million every five years into the foreseeable future. The Catholic population of the archdiocese is richly multicultural and quite diverse. Every Sunday, the Eucharist is celebrated in over 50 languages in parishes all across southern California. There are still large numbers of parishioners whose origins are European; however, now there are larger numbers of parishioners from Asia and Africa, while the majority has roots in Mexico and Latin America, and a vast number of our population is immigrant and poor. Amidst these shifting circumstances, St. Leo’s 2005 understands itself as a vibrant Catholic community of faith, impelled by the Spirit to evangelize and, in word and deed, become a light to the nations.

Steeped in the riches of the Catholic tradition, the people of St. Leo’s are aware that there is no returning to the days prior to the Second Vatican Council when there were large numbers of priests, Sisters, and Brothers, and when the role of the laity in ministry seemed unnecessary and was inadequately recognized. At St. Leo’s, there is a strong sense of the baptismal call and a deep and growing awareness that all in the parish are responsible—to varying degrees and in different ways—for being and for building the Body of Christ in their own time and place. Their vision for the future of St. Leo’s is reminiscent of the vision of the prophet Isaiah:

You yourselves shall be named priests of the Lord,
Ministers of our God you shall be called. (Isaiah 61: 6)

At St. Leo’s Parish it is understood that ordained priests and deacons, women and men religious, and the baptized faithful all share in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ, each according to his or her own gifts given in baptism, strengthened in confirmation, and invigorated week by week, or even day by day, in the Eucharist.

St. Leo’s now has over 5,000 Catholic households. Over the last seven years, many English-speaking families have moved away from the parish. The current parish census indicates an ever-expanding Hispanic and Asian population. In a recent poll, many of the older parishioners expressed great dismay at the possibility of reducing the number of English Masses from two to one. Several threatened to leave the parish and go to another.

St. Leo’s is now served by a pastor, a lay pastoral associate who is a married lay woman with two young children, a permanent deacon, and a large staff of laypeople, some of whom are full-time, some part-time, and others volunteer. There is a parish business manager who manages the temporal affairs of the parish: managing the front office, balancing the books, ordering supplies, assuring that all parish facilities run efficiently. The pastor is fluent in English and Spanish. The deacon is a widower in his mid-60s, the father of four adult sons. He is Spanish-speaking and struggles with English. The pastoral associate speaks no Spanish, but communicates well with the Vietnamese parishioners. The pastor presides at most of the liturgies in English and Spanish and is grateful when a priest from one of the other parishes in the pastoral region lends a hand from time to time. One "supply" priest visits to help with Mass in Vietnamese and another with the Mass in Korean.

The Saturday evening and Sunday Masses are well attended. A particular strength in the parish is the preaching at Mass, especially when the deacon manages to relate the Gospel to the demands of marriage and family life. The director of liturgy is a full-time, paid staff member. She does an admirable job at coordinating all the different liturgies at St. Leo’s, planning music appropriate for each and working with the different priests who come to celebrate Mass at the parish, as well as with the other lay ministers involved in the different liturgies. Morning Mass is celebrated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Parishioners are encouraged to go to Mass on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at neighboring parishes.

With increasing frequency, the deacon officiates at weddings at St. Leo’s. Often, two or three couples are wed in the same nuptial ceremony outside Mass. The baptism of infants usually takes place within the context of the regularly scheduled Sunday Masses. Funeral liturgies are often celebrated within the schedule of weekday Masses.

St. Leo’s School continues to struggle financially. There is no want for students. The number of applicants each year far exceeds capacity. While most of the students at St. Leo’s are Catholic, some are not. There is one Sister in the school and a young single lay man is the principal. The lay teachers and staff at St. Leo’s could all earn larger salaries as employees in the public school system, but they are committed to St. Leo’s, its students, and its mission.

Most of the Catholic children of St. Leo’s Parish attend the public schools and receive their religious education through the various catechetical programs of the parish, which enroll five times the number of students as the parish school. The Director of Religious Education is a full-time staff member of the parish, but also lends a hand at the neighboring parish. Her work takes her away from home most evenings, since the catechetical programs must be organized around the students’ school schedules. Catechetical programs must also be developed in light of the different languages spoken by students and their parents. One of the hopes of the pastor and his staff is that parents will take greater responsibility for the religious education of their children, fostering more home-based catechesis and fewer parish-centered programs of religious education. All on the staff are aware that this will call for a change in thinking on the part of a great number of the parents, as well as an increase in their willingness to be educated for the purpose of educating their children in the faith.

Each day and most evenings of the week there is something going on at St. Leo’s. The Pastoral Council meets on the first Tuesday evening of each month. During any given meeting of the Pastoral Council, there may be a discussion of the need for volunteers for the parish-sponsored food pantry, or of the need for more frequent outreach to the elderly and the shut-in in the parish, or of finding more creative ways to raise funds for the various programs of the parish. Marriage preparation classes are also held on Tuesday evenings. These are coordinated and conducted by three married couples in the parish, one couple for each of the major language groups in the parish. On Wednesday evenings there are classes in adult faith formation, taught by one of the seminarians for the archdiocese who is in residence at another parish in the cluster to which St. Leo’s belongs. A new group has emerged in the parish, and meets on Thursday evenings. Aware of the diverse religious groups within the parish boundaries, this group is seeking ways to engage in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue as an expression of St. Leo’s commitment to a new evangelization. On Friday evenings, the young adult group gathers at the parish at six o’clock and then decides on which restaurant and movie theatre they will go to together. Over dinner they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the literacy program which they have launched in the parish. Additionally, there are small groups that meet once a week: the charismatic prayer group, the Cursillo group, and the communities of self- and mutual help inspired by the Twelve-Step Program.

The pastor, the pastoral associate and the deacon share oversight of the various groups and activities of the parish. The pastor tries to be present for as many of the evening meetings as possible. When he is not able to do so, he asks the deacon or the pastoral associate to go instead. In addition to numerous scheduled parochial duties, his typical day might also include a funeral Mass, a visit to the hospital to anoint a patient who is gravely ill, and a meeting with the other pastors of the deanery in the archdiocese. At the end of the day, he might have yet another commitment, which brings him away from the parish. He relies heavily on the members of the parish staff, especially the pastoral associate and the deacon. Without them he would have little chance for a day of rest and recuperation each week. He is aware of the need for ongoing formation for himself and for all the members of his staff, and is seeking creative ways to make this possible. As pastor, he understands that it is his duty to take advantage of the many opportunities within the archdiocese to develop his skills as a minister of Christ and his Church, and to encourage others on his staff, and within the parish at large, to do so as well.

Because St. Leo’s understands itself to be an evangelizing Catholic community, the Word of God in Scripture is central to its life, prayer, and ministry. The readings for the coming Sunday are reflected upon in all groups and meetings in the parish, as well as in the 25 small Christian communities scattered throughout the many blocks which make up St. Leo’s. Indeed, the people of St. Leo’s have come to think of themselves as a community of communities. These small communities, or ecclesial groups, are of such size as to allow for the development of human relationships rooted in a shared vision and in commonly-held purposes and values. They also allow for an ongoing experience of shared faith and prayer.

The pastor, pastoral associate, deacon and other members of the parish staff gather on Monday evenings with each of the following groups in rotation: catechists, teachers, leaders of small groups and animators of various ministries and initiatives within the parish. Their focus is less on programs and organizations and more on communities of mission and ministry: feeding the poor of the parish and beyond, visiting those shut-in, preparing couples for marriage, working in RCIA teams to assure readiness for sacramental initiation into the Church, and organizing circles of catechists devoted to the religious education of children, teens and adults. All are invited to look at their own lives and the life of St. Leo’s Parish in light of the Sunday readings, discerning how the Word is calling for their own transformation, for the transformation of the whole Church and the wider world. Here, the pastor plays an important role, since it is in the Monday gathering for Scripture reflection that he preaches the Word in such a way as to invite parish leaders to be teachers and exemplars of the Word in their own communities through the exercise of their various ministries throughout the week. It is here, during the Monday evening meeting, that the preparation of the prayers of the faithful for the Sunday liturgy begins. As the members of the community gather in faith around the Word together with their pastor, they can listen to one another and begin to voice in prayer the needs of the parish, the neighborhood, the wider Church and the world. It is also during the Monday meeting that the pastor and the deacon begin to profit from the wisdom of the community, listening to their concerns and insights and bringing them to bear upon the preparation of the Sunday homily.

Scripture study and faith sharing takes place in various groups throughout the parish during the week and strengthens the identity of St. Leo’s as a communion of communities. Thus the people called together by the Word come to celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday having already reflected at length on the readings. They are prepared for the liturgy and more deeply bonded with other members of the community who have likewise been washed in the Word throughout the week. At St. Leo’s, the parishioners are aware that the full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy to which they were called at the Second Vatican Council (Sacrosanctum concilium 14) is not possible unless there is full, conscious and active participation in the life of the community.

The activities of the parish and its liturgical life strengthen the sense of being called through baptism to share in the mission of Christ and the Spirit. The gathering on Sunday for Eucharist is understood as the source and summit of the parish’s life, but not the whole of it. The parish church is no longer seen as the place where people go simply to have their needs met. Rather, the parish is where one and all are challenged to exercise their baptismal calling. The pastor no longer sees himself as the one called to meet all the needs of the people, but as the one who animates the people of the parish to put their gifts to the service of each other and of the wider Church and the world. The pastor presides over a community of faith, gathers it together, calls it to unity and charity, orders its life, and animates its mission. This he does preeminently in the celebration of the Eucharist with his people. At St. Leo’s, who the pastor is and what he does can only be understood in terms of his relationship to his people, his Church, the entire Body of Christ. It is not just the ordained, but the community as a whole, which is called to share in the mission of Christ and the Spirit, to witness to the presence of Christ and the creative activity of the Spirit in the Church and in the world.

Week by week, the people of St. Leo’s gather for Word and Sacrament. The Sunday Lectionary is the principal text for the spiritual life of the people and of the pastor, just as the Eucharist is their principal source of spiritual nourishment. As their knowledge of Scripture has deepened, they have come to see themselves in the Gospel account of Jesus and the apostles faced with a hungry crowd. In Mark 6: 30-44, the apostles are concerned about how so many people will be fed. Jesus tells them, "Give them something to eat yourselves." The pastor at St. Leo’s seeks to discern, call forth, animate, and send forth his parishioners to serve the needs of the people. Jesus does not feed the hungry people himself, but he urges those near him to do so; and yet it is Jesus who makes the feeding possible by the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. At St. Leo’s, the pastor is not the one who does it all, but is one who is devoted to animating the baptismal gifts of his people for the service of others. Like Andrew in John’s account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (6: 1-14), the pastor has an eye for what is present in the community and brings it to the Lord, so that the Lord might now show how it is sufficient and give it increase for the life of the whole Church.

By all accounts, the above description would hold true for almost all of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2005. St. Leo’s would be described as a fine, active parish of the archdiocese, and almost everyone would agree. The pastoral life of St. Leo’s, L.A., 2005, is anything but simple and routine, and the spiritual needs of the parishioners are not met according to the schedule of services provided in 1955—or even in the year 2000.

Continue to Part Two

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