Los Angeles's spiritual leadership changes

Cardinal Jose Gomez takes over L.A. Catholic Archdiocese
Mitchell Landsberg (LA Times, Feb. 28, 2011)

Cardinal Roger Mahony walked slowly across the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, leaning softly on his shepherd's staff as he completed one of his last public acts as archbishop of Los Angeles.

Passing the altar on one side and his assembled bishops on the other, he finally reached the [Hispanic] man who was taking over his position as head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.

Mahony handed the crooked staff, known as a crosier, to Archbishop Jose Gomez, symbolizing one of the most ancient traditions of the church, the transfer of authority from one bishop to another. More>>

"Devas" as understood in Catholicism (Christian cosmology)
The "angels" are divided into nine choirs and form three hierarchies, hence the "angelic world is presented to our view as a magnificent army arranged in the most admirable order." Each choir has a different office as will be shown in the following outline. The Nine Angelic Choirs ranking system for angels was developed by a theologian in the sixth century. Dionysius the Areopagite's system was endorsed and accepted by the Catholic Church.

What will the Queen of Angels think?
Macpherson, Perez, & Nguyen, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)
It is wonderful to have new leadership of course. But there seems to be no indication of change in Catholic Church policy, particularly regarding the unspeakable child molesting.

Does the Virgin (Guanyin) or the Angels (devas) she's queen of have a happy surprise in store?

(After all, "L.A." or the "City of Angels" is really only an abbreviation of the city's full Spanish name: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula or "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciúncula, according to neatorama.com).

As figureheads change, new possibilities for change emerge. But our new cardinal is simply a new face fronting for the most powerful corporation in the world, the Roman Catholic Church, Inc.

It is sure to help, much as Pres. Obama reading teleprompter addresses written by Bush-Cheney speech writers.

Cardinal Mahony is resigning not because he covered up financial or sex crimes and reassigned perpetrators but because he turned 75 yesterday and was obliged by the Vatican to submit his resignation to the Pope Benedict.

We can only hope that Los Angeles' largely Hispanic archdiocese will be better represented by JoGo (his new Hollywood moniker), a conservative Mexican-American archbishop from San Antonio, Texas.

As Catholicism grows in traditionally-Buddhist China and stands shoulder to shoulder with Buddhism in (formerly French Catholic colonial) Vietnam, L.A.'s new cardinal is expected to make ecumenical and interfaith overtures welcomed by everyone.

Los Angeles can only hope for the best. But its "recovering" Catholics -- who may still love catholic ideals that are now only very rarely expressed by Catholicism -- do not expect much more than business-as-usual.

• IMAGES: The Queen of the Angels (Guanyin with Devas) as beneficial celestial-beings (NewMexicoLegionOfMary.org). The Virgin Mary surrounded by angels (wjpbr.com). At two masses in the Cathedral of "Our Lady of the Angels," leadership of the largest archdiocese in the U.S. is transferred from Roger Mahony to Jose Horatio Gomez (Wally Skalij/LA Times).
  
• An interview with L.A.'s Cardinal Gomez