Cardinal Arinze at the Cathedral, A Joy to be Catholic

Cardinal Francis Arinze, preceded by Cardinal Roger Mahony and Msgr. Paul Albee, processes toward the altar at the beginning of Mass July 20 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Looks like Cardinal Arinze's mass at the new Cathedral in Los Angeles proceeded without a hitch:

More than 2,000 people, including immigrants and visitors from several African countries, attended the 3:30 p.m. Mass, concelebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony and culminating weekend festivities commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Igbo (Nigerian) Catholic Community in Southern California.

In his opening remarks, Cardinal Arinze thanked Cardinal Mahony for welcoming the church of God "in its many colors" with "God's people" from many parts of Africa and around the world.

...He added, "The church teaches us the Ten Commandments, the church teaches us human rights, ...the rights of the family; justice and peace... harmony, living together as brothers and sisters."

The church also teaches the importance of being a good citizen, as well as standing up for the rights of the unborn, said Cardinal Arinze. "Nobody pretends that being a Christian is easy," he added.

At the same time, the cardinal reminded the assembly, "there is room for everybody in the church," which has "no reserved seats." He concluded his homily by saying, "It is a joy to be a Catholic."

The best part was this:

At the end of the liturgy, Cardinal Arinze announced that the Los Angeles Archdiocese would receive a gift of relics of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. The previous day, Cardinals Arinze and Mahony had participated in the dedication of the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi Shrine at St. Cecilia Church in Los Angeles. Blessed Tansi, who was known for his work with the poor in Nigeria, was beatified in 1998 and, if canonized, will be the first West African saint.

Remember that Cardinal Arinze was himself baptized by Blessed Tansi in 1958. And let us not forget Cardinal Arinze's own comments about the Cathedral itself:

Cardinal Arinze --- as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, the Vatican's top liturgy official --- publicly congratulated Cardinal Mahony for the extraordinary turnout of people for the day's event as well as for the new cathedral which he described as "really original."

He said the cathedral "delivers a message" that God is "transcendent." He prayed that visitors to the cathedral would be enlivened and quickened in faith.

You bet it's original! :)

This is a followup to my earlier blog about Cardinal Francis Arinze being in Los Angeles for a liturgy at the Cathedral and also a dedication of a chapel to Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.