I wanted to pay my respects to Bishop David O’Connell, a preacher of the neighborhood, a beloved pastor of the streets who was senselessly killed by a handyman with five gunshot wounds. No motive was given for the killing, but the killer confessed and admitted to his evil wrongdoing.
I was just listening to folks describe how accessible and caring he was, how he would pay rent for immigrants, out of his pocket. “He truly cared for all immigrants,” Laura Luna said. Laura wanted to pay respects without knowing the Bishop but heard how good he was to all people. She was upset with some folks speculating jealousy as a motive when they are without any evidence. “How dark minds work,” she said!
Laura shared that her brother was inside an elevator inside Caesar’s Palace, while at a business convention. He fell 10 floors while inside and got out with broken bones and was mistaken for dead. He survived and will soon see the finality of his case against Caesar. I wish them the best.
My other mother Maura Brito described him as the preacher of the neighborhood who baptized her nephew and blessed her sister’s house. He was available to anyone who needed him.
Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2023
A priest, Fr. Paulo Garcia was standing in line with his mom. I recognized him as he too immediately recognized me as a friend of Fr. Rodel G. Balagtas, his professor at St. John’s Seminary in homiletics and who convinced him to serve in a parish in the Philippines. He went to the Philippines. His homily during Simbang Gabi was exceptional.
I asked him how he does his homily, he responded: “Always pray first, and to the Holy Spirit.” I do too, I told him. Just like that, Fr. Paulo gave me the assignment to write about the Bishop.
He told me that Bishop David O’Connell ordained him as a priest. He also shared with me his photo taken with the Bishop. Fr. Paulo again encouraged me to write about Bishop O’Connell.
Behind me was Santa Juana Talaveras, a well-coiffed woman who stood tall in her Mexican boots. She shared her story of meeting Pres. George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush with Cardinal Mahoney, invited by then Bishop O’Connell. She said she met him 30 years ago while he was then pastor at Ascension Church and has been in touch since. She spoke of her humanitarian program with the Consulate in Mexico where the Mexican government helps in sending dead family members home. She also works with the Consulate to accompany a dozen tourists to visit their family members in America for 21 days and accompanied them back home, all about following the rules of both the US and Mexico. She said that was influenced by Bishop O’Connell.
Exhibit at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, March 3, 2023
We both cried seeing the casket and after, she told me that she believes that the spirit of Bishop David O’Connell connected us. No doubt about these connections is Holy Spirit-inspired.
I lighted candles for family and friends who are sick and thanked God for the blessings bestowed on us: a new healthy grandson, a healthy breastfeeding mom, a completed project, and future intentions of hubby walking another Camino and another house project.
I also spent time still inside the Blessed Sacrament chapel.
When I got home, I attended the 7 pm vigil mass. The homily was both in English and Spanish. I did not catch the name of the bishop. He spoke of the interior core of Bishop David’s being that rises to greet folks happy and says yes to all their requests. He said that somewhere in a special place within him is the confluence of his mind, heart, spirit, and soul together with Christ the Lord. He said that’s true for everyone.
He also believed in two principles of Vatican II: first is the primacy of being baptized as Christian and the second is the communion of the saints as those who were baptized.
Archbishop Jose Gomez exhorted us that in the sorrow of our grief about Bishop Dave, he also cracked jokes as he wanted us all to be happy and to be joyful. Remember that about Bishop Dave, he said.
May you rest in peace, Bishop and I am certain St. Peter is welcoming you! We may even see a Rainbow over the Cathedral of Angels after you are buried tomorrow.
“God chooses his servants well,” a parishioner said. Was she talking about looks? Smarts? Some have advanced degrees, while others speak multiple languages.
Fr. Rodel with Archbishop Soc Villegas
I was part of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (IHMC), a multicultural and trilingual parish in 2008, welcomed by Fr. Rodel Balagtas. Standing as one, in various colors and shades of our attires, we exchanged peace signs, one in “heart” for God, where Fr. Rodel Balagtas was its pastor for 12 years.
Some are effective with diverse cultures who worship, not segregated, but together as one — in worship, listening, praying, and singing in three languages: English, Tagalog, and Spanish.
100-year-old Church IHMC was once a towering Gothic church supported by the Hollywood movie industry. It grew in the 20th century, and along with it, other poor churches that it helped. With donated land from Margaret Sullivan and $800 in funds raised, IHMC held its first Mass on Dec. 22, 1911, officiated by Rev. Daniel Murphy, for 300 people.
It expanded to 700 parishioners, a cornerstone was laid in 1940, and a new rectory was in 1948. From the 1950s to the 1960s, the Church grew and even donated $538,000 to poor parishes in its heyday.
Fast forward to 2008, located in the poor section of Hollywood (the east side), the Church had half-painted interior walls. Electrical wires dangled loosely from the side of the altar walls. Tattered pews had half-torn fabric kneelers. The once deep-blue carpet was heavily stained and turned gray.
Yet, despite being in a poor neighborhood, the bones of caring humanity could be felt. This community had a bakery, a small carinderia, a produce market, and a restaurant.
Fr. Balagtas took over this parish with a history of grievances from factions within. Dogma solidified their grievances. The community’s unhealthy condition mirrored the church structures — dying and falling apart.
Then, a transformation happened. The parish was mobilized for a centennial celebration. Archives were dug up, and new inspiration emerged from a realization that this church was built during the recession. After an economic slowdown in 2009-2011, the church was renovated.
The history inspired the community to reach its capital campaign goal, grossing over $1 million. On May 31, 2014, a wall permanently displayed the families who made donations of $1,000+, and with those: a repaired roof, painted interiors and exteriors, paved parking lots, an air-conditioning/heating system, a new electrical system for the church, new marble floors from the aisles to the altar, new baptismal font, new altar seats for the priests, (donated by Fr. Balagtas for the community), new trees in the school playground, a new auditorium floor, a new school roof and a new rectory kitchen floor from the leftover tiles. 3,000 came to celebrate its centennial.
In 2013, Fr. Balagtas trained Josh Diener, a seminarian at St. John’s. He is now a new priest with a Master’s in two specialties.
75-year-old St. John’s Seminary From IHMC, a one-hundred-year-old church, Fr. Rodel’s journey took him to St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, 100 miles one-way commute, where he is the Director of Pastoral Formation and Field Formation and faculty to seminarians.
Fr. Rodel with Immaculate Heart of Mary’s parishioners, and Pete Avendano, his music director
In commemoration of its 75th anniversary, St. John’s Seminary commissioned five-time NY Times’ best-selling author Joe Garner to create a fully illustrated hardcover compendium of its history, entitled “I Will Give You Shepherds: The Story of St. John’s Seminary.”
Then deacon Josh Diener gave us a tour, “Land came from Don Camarillo, while the poor folk’s donated penny by penny to get the chapel finished. The rich folks, like Countess Carrie Estelle Doheny and Edward Laurence Doheny, built two libraries to house their collections of artifacts and books. Later, the libraries and their collections were donated to the seminary. The Doheny Collection included rare books, including Guttenberg Bible (a page on display from 1450-1455), which was sold to seed the initial endowment seminary fund.”
In this seminary, Fr. Balagtas obtained his Master of Arts in Religious Education, his thesis on “Evangelization of Cultures.” He has a doctorate in Ministry in Preaching at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri, with a dissertation on “Communal Preaching for Transformation: Insights from a Filipino-American Community.”
Our interview with him took us to the Feast of Santo Niño, joined by parishioners at churches he served St. Augustine, St. Martha, St. Joseph the Worker, St. John Neumann, and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. 200 came to attend and to share their faith in the form of dancing and sumptuous food.
Fr. Balagtas’ homily spoke of the significance of the Santo Niño and how it came to be celebrated as part of the International Eucharistic Congress in 2016. The original Santo Niño statue was given by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 to Queen Juana (wife to chief Humabon) as a baptismal gift for her conversion to Christianity.
Fr. Balagtas’ views on his identity Regarding unfulfilled dreams, Fr. Balagtas lit up his Saturday column in Asian Journal, where his readers look forward to his insights, “I always want to be a writer, a good one. Writing nourishes my soul. It is integrative. It is healing. It expresses my thoughts, my feelings, and my views. With writing, I can relax. I want to write on spirituality, change people, and help them in their spirituality.” He has just published his first book, “Walking with God: The Journey of a Priest’s Heart.”
Close to 600 folks gathered at St. John the Baptist in Baldwin Park, California, on July 9, 2016, to witness the 25th sacerdotal ordination or Silver Jubilee of Rev. Fr. Rodel G. Balagtas. The crowd was impressive: a multicultural assemblage of Latinos, Filipinos, Asians, and Whites with few African-Americans; some have traveled from China, Vancouver, the Philippines, and the United States. They sang sacred hymns in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. “God has worked in all of us,” Fr. Rodel reminded those who came, “How would I have survived the ministry, despite my weaknesses?” He describes the driving force of his priesthood, “the law of God is love written in our hearts.”
“Although I am in the academe, I will always be a shepherd by heart. I also understand why the Lord put me in the seminary: to train priests to have a shepherd’s heart and have pastoral zeal, skills, and wisdom. We’re not training seminarians to be intellectual and spiritual priests but to have genuine human and pastoral qualities. They must be compassionate, loving, sensitive, understanding, and caring priests, much like what Pope Francis is showing to the whole world,“ he continued.
Aglow, in his new job of teaching seminarians, spanning from the late 20s to 60s, feels like he is with his siblings and numerous nieces and nephews. “They all bring me joy. They are my life,” he said.
He is grateful to his brothers and sisters, who nursed him, and to God for his miraculous recovery. “You are God’s walking miracle,” I told him once, as few survive aneurysms.
His stewardship of children While at IHMC, Fr. Balagtas accompanied the Children’s Choir to compete in the World Choir Games in Ohio. He became the strongest source of support for them and their parents.
Under Pete Avendańo’s leadership and patient mentoring as musical director, these schoolchildren learned self-discipline, balancing musical practice with academic performance. Fr. Balagtas hired a new principal, Allyson Alberto, and the children thrived.
“With the implementation of blended learning, students’ comprehension and test scores reportedly have grown 82% in math and 65% in reading” under Allyson Alberto’s leadership.
On New Year 2016, they joined others to form a thousand singing voices to sing for Pope Francis. Six months later, the IHMC’ s choir sang at Carnegie Hall.
Imagine you do this while in the midst of a capital campaign, renovation of the church, forming the National Association of Filipino Priests, and caring for a dying father. Fr. Balagtas integrated all these tasks by bringing love into all his actions.
He shows us his profound love of God and the Blessed Mother through his inclusive love for all God’s children and patiently exhorts us to love others, even heroic love if called for. By his actions, and his words, he shows us he is God’s chosen!
Fr. Rodel G.Balagtas in the Philippine provinces, Feb. 2023
Since this interview, Fr. Rodel assisted in teaching classes with then Head of the Homiletics Department, Fr. Steve Thoma.
He also assumed leadership role by becoming St. John Seminary’s Director of Pastoral Formation and eventually as Vice Rector.
At St. John’s, they are training seminarians not just to be intellectually rigorous, to know their faith well, but also spiritually and to pastorally grow to serve parishioners, hopefully with emotional intelligence and maturity. A total human being formation is essential as their heart-centered stewardship with practical internship and theological mastery of biblical studies.
In 2019, he returned to parish ministry and became the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, its First Filipino pastor.
It was during the course of pandemic, when he facilitated and supported biblical studies and deeper faith formation at Incarnation. He emphasizes: “I don’t lead it,” as Incarnation has trained lay ministers and deacons who provide lay leadership and do these biblical studies.
Fr. Rodel successfully completed, with his dedicated parishioners doing a special novena, the church’s capital campaign to support the Archdiocese of LA and Incarnation’s building operational expenses.
They had set a goal of $1,105,000 and 283 families answered the call to contribute long-term. More than 100% of the goal was reached, while 11% of what has been pledged have already been satisfied as of March 3, 2023.
Since Incarnation Church was established in 1927, it is now 96yo and while the roof leak that resulted in ceiling leakage by the choir station has been fixed, a newly paved parking lot, several master plan of project improvements are waiting for completion as soon as 89% of the pledges are satisfied. These structural improvements are to provide for the next generation of parishioners in the forthcoming century.
Just as earlier parishioners provided for the present churchgoers, in 2023 this current generation will provide for the next, an unbroken circle of structured philanthropy and giving.
Latest feedback from a Culver City-based customer: “Thank you so much for the granola; it is delicious! I love the sweet, salty, and crunchy flavors. It was so good I ate it straight out of the bag while I was in a Zoom meeting, and then I also had a bowl with almond milk for lunch! What a great idea to put the proceeds to your granddaughter’s education.”
This feedback inspires me to make the next batch, #25. This project is called “CircleofGrace” for #princess2015la – I want her to go to the college of her choice, not encumbered by financial costs. Her parents are proactively saving for her college.
Back story: My son was admitted to Harvard for his Master’s in Urban Planning. He opted to go to UC Berkeley as he could pay in-state tuition instead of out-of-state tuition fees, plus his favorite professor was in Berkeley. The irony is that she was lured by UCLA to teach there and establish an Institute on Global Poverty and Practice.
My latest article on “The Joy of Watching Philippine Ballet Theater” was recently published in Asian Journal’s digital edition. I asked my then 7yo granddaughter to interpret some videos I took. I was so impressed. She humbly said: “Grandma, I took ballet lessons.” She loves her teacher so much that every time we pass by the strip mall near West LA City College, she articulates her wish of taking ballet lessons with her, “Oh, how I wish,” she said.
I made brunch for my family and served ribeye steaks with garlic; calamansi and sriracha marinated chicken; frittata with potatoes, red pepper, and cabbage; fresh strawberries and pineapple; salad and calamansi yogurt bundt cake. I forgot to take a photo of the whole bundt cake.
Imagine living up to 100 years old. Imagine how family, neighbors/friends, and caregivers fuss about you to make it a special day.
Imagine Joe ordering a special birthday card from England on January 15 and, to be told it won’t arrive until Feb. 15, buys another card from Walgreens only to receive it yesterday.
Imagine a busy Grandma who attends to her grandchild #princess2015la and attends to her workers finishing a house project and still makes time to bake with the help of Maura Brito tres platanos and tres chocolate cake.
Imagine a very busy florist Ed Rame who created a special event called Alice in Wonderland with Elaine Quadra yesterday and then makes time at 8 am to deliver a spectacular arrangement of 100 roses which everyone wanted to take photos of as if the arrangement was a celebrity?
But May is a celebrity in her own right – a person who ages in place, with grace and elegance. She taught me about mensch, about her Jewish faith to do good to others, of her struggles to get into the US from New York, who married for love and moved to California, surviving four wars.
Most of the invited neighbors showed up: Karen, Tom, their daughter; Larry and Bonnie; myself and my husband; and May’s lovely daughters Esther and Nadine and her loving and caring caregivers, Michelle, Loida, and later tonight, Nora.
I was very touched by Nadine’s comments about how I made it so special with love, thoughtfulness, and meaning. How can I not? Can you contain 100 years of life, love, and faith? You cannot! You can only show the outburst of blue, white, and gold balloons made by Loida and her son and daughter for 5 hours!
Then, to chance upon Pope Francis celebrating mass in South Sudan, celebrating this country’s 100 years of faith this morning. Pope Francis invited spiritual leaders from Scotland, England, and Sudan to come together in prayers and amongst their faith differences of Anglican, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic, to find common ground to believe that we are all beloved children of God, conceived and thought of by God.
I was in tears as I offered mass intention for an elegant and graceful May!
Here we are today, surrounding her: neighbors from diverse backgrounds of various ethnicities, celebrating May. Our cards and gifts came from Mexico, Italy, England, Germany, and the USA. It was as if the Holy Spirit orchestrated synchronicity, #graceupongrace, and multicultural unity.
Happy happy 100th birthday, May Bendit! The best remark came from Bonnie: “Do you ever wrinkled up?” We all laughed!
Happy righteous and prosperous New Year 2023. May we all fly our wings to reach our best self potentials, at whatever age we are, in service to others.
Righteous popped up as an insight that our divine self is greater than status, title, role or function. It is greater than fame, fortune, and fashion.
Prosperous is more than wealth, it is spiritual abundance of having God’s peace in our hearts to see royalty in others. May you all have #graceupongrace in 2023!
My post while in Pismo Beach Cove…
Captivating landscapes to ocean views to sunsets to oceanfront view, more like the view at the cove.
Thank you my dear Enrique de la Cruz who has a love for adventure, discovery and travel. The best trip thus far for the serenity, calm and meditative retreat and reflection.
As I prayed the rosary and remember the beautiful homilies of Fr. Rodel G.Balagtas, Fr. Ernesto Roxas Cordero Fr. Raymond Bareng Decipeda Fr.Thomas Asia, Fr. Michael Montoya, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, I am most grateful for how they impart the passion of their love of God, Jesus Christ, Mama Mary, St. Joseph and all the saints, martyrs, angels.
I am sitting by the cold waters of the cove of Pismo Beach, warmed up by the burning flames of their hearts of love for Jesus, their parishioners, their communities, their families and their countries of residence.
2023 will be a year of important milestones for me, the figure 8 is prominent, as 100.
When asked how did we last 44 years – it is forgiveness, love, pilgrimage travels, celebration of each year anniversary, and soulful friends who remind us of our strengths, not weaknesses and an abiding vision that we will last.
