ARTICLES
January 2003 ARTICLES
Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
We Aren't Going Away
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parishioners Protest Removal of Priest
By Maria Elena Kennedy
A pastor who is accusing an elderly Latino priest of stealing the collections has prompted a revolt among the working class Latino parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Rosehill, in El Sereno. Father Tom Baker, the pastor of the parish, accused Guatemalan native, Father Gustavo Lara, of stealing from parish coffers. Baker has said that ever since the older priest arrived at the parish six years ago, money has been disappearing from church collections. In his latest accusation, Baker insists that the elderly priest stole $760 from Baker's room. Lara vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
When I first contacted parish council member Rosa Arevelo on October 30, she said that she was not at liberty to speak to the press. "We had a meeting with Bishop [Gabino] Zavala yesterday and he said he wants to clear this up. One of the conditions was not to speak to the press," she said. At the time, Arevelo was hopeful that Zavala would straighten out the situation at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Another parishioner was not so confident that Bishop Zavala would straighten out the problems in the parish. "Why doesn't he want us to talk with reporters," she asked? "Are they hiding something?" The situation came to a head on September 20 when the pastor said he found $760 missing. "Because of Lara's past history, I must presume that he took the money," Baker said in his September 21 letter to the bishop, after he dismissed Lara. Afterwards, Baker ran a blurb in the parish bulletin telling the parishioners that Father Lara was retiring, but did not give a reason for the retirement. In a homily on October 30 (the day the parish bulletin came out), a frustrated Father Lara told the parishioners that he had been accused of stealing from the parish. "In this series of events I have felt humiliated as a man and as a priest and with a great pain for not feeling supported by my archdiocese," Lara has been quoted as saying. "I only want my name to be cleared."
Parishioners have rallied around the elderly priest and are ready to confront the archdiocese. Parishioners are standing by the elderly Lara. "Father Lara is not the only one who is in the rectory," one parishioner told me. "The secretary is there, so is the cook. The pastor has friends who come by," said this parishioner, who asked not to be named. According to parishioners, Father Baker does not fit in with the largely immigrant population. Parishioners complained that Father Baker is ill tempered and has a perchant for liturgical dance -- something that is alien to the more traditional Latinos who make up the parish.
In spite of the flurry of letters to Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Zavala, the parishioners say they have not received an adequate explanation why Lara was dismissed and was not allowed to defend himself. Parishioners say that their letters and calls have fallen on deaf ears. To date, parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Rosehill, have been patient with their pastor and the auxiliary bishop -- in spite of the alleged stonewalling. Although the accusations by Baker first surfaced in September, nothing was resolved as of early December.
After having a meeting with Zavala, parishioners have been told to meet with the pastor in order to solve the differences. "We have sent letters to the cardinal; we were told to wait," the parishioner, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "Father Lara wants to come back, but we are not sure if he' ll be able to come back. Bishop Zavala's response was to send a letter telling us to talk to Father Tom. At this point we are waiting for the parish council to act and coordinate a meeting; it's a process that is taking time." When asked how the people were feeling, the parishioner replied, "we have to take this with a calm attitude because we can't do anything more. The people are tranquil; we are waiting for them to respond."
Although Arevalo initially heeded Zavala's request not to speak with the press, the perceived stonewalling by the bishop's office, it seems, has changed her mind. When asked if the situation at the parish had been resolved, Arevalo said, "not at all. Father Lara had a meeting [November 4] with [Zavalo' s office]. At first the bishop said that he wanted to work with us to resolve the issue, but now he is saying to talk to our pastor. So we are back at step one.
"We are not going to go away," she cautioned.
When asked how she felt, Arevalo said she was frustrated. "It's very frustrating, we want to follow the procedure, but I don't know why they don't resolve it. The bishop came to meet with the parish council, and he told us to go back and speak with our pastor. We are going to make an effort to do this. We just got a letter from the bishop telling us to have faith in our pastor, even though he may do things we don't like. That's not going to bring us to the table in good faith. The process is not working. When the situation has gone to a higher level [the bishop's office], it's not going to come down to a lower level [the pastor]. I wonder what other things are happing at the parish."
At present, Father Lara is living with a niece. The elderly priest, who has heart problems and diabetes, has planned to return to Guatemala in April. Since he is not incardinated in the archdiocese, he doesn't receive any retirement benefits, something that has caused him hardship, according to parishioners.
The archdiocese has not responded to press inquiries. Deacon Gus of Bishops Zavala's office declined to comment. "I'm not a liberty to discuss this; an attorney has already sent us a letter," he said. Instead the deacon suggested that I contact Carolina in the archdiocese's communications office. Carolina did not return calls for comment. Calls to Father Baker were also not returned.