Nation's first Latino Cardinal

It will most likely be Bishop Jose Gomez, appointed today to be coadjutor of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which means that when Cardinal Roger Mahoney, 75, retires, which will be soon, Bishop Gomez will become Archbishop of Los Angeles and in line for a red hat.  From 2004 until just now, Gomez had been Archbishop of San Antonio.  From 2001 to 2004, he was the auxiliary bishop in Denver.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the largest in the United States and includes about 5 million Catholics.  About 70% of those 5 million are hispanic.  In the United States as a whole, about 40% of Catholics are hispanic.  (The city of Los Angeles has the world's largest concentration of Mexicans outside of Mexico City.)

Gomez has been affiliated with Opus Dei since 1978.  He is the only full member of Opus Dei in the American episcopate.  On the other hand, he once marched with Cesar Chavez, and says he is a supporter of the social justice teaching of the church.

Comments

[Hypatia]

I believe it's Cardinal Mahony who marched with Chavez and made a point of identifying with social justice teachings. He was also implicated in the original child abuse scandals up to his eyeballs. Gomez is a reliable conservative. I read somewhere he objected to Hillary Clinton's team renting out a church building or something to that effect. I don't think the Opus Dei thing is a big deal one way or the other.

[John Petty]

I read somewhere that Gomez marched with Chavez also. It could be like Gardner C. Taylor once said, "I worked with Martin King. Course nowadays, everybody says they did."

I don't know much about Mahoney's role in the abuse scandals except to note that the Los Angeles Archdiocese has paid out something like $600 million in damages so far.