Pablo Kay

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell was remembered as a man "gripped by grace" and "at ease with movers and shakers and also with the moved and shaken" as nearly 5,000 attended a funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels March 3.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell, a native of Ireland who spent most of his four decades as a priest ministering in L.A.'s inner city, was found dead of a gunshot wound Feb. 18. 

Local Chinese Catholics celebrating the start of the Lunar New Year at Chinatown's Catholic parish also prayed for the victims of the mass shooting in nearby Monterey Park the night of Jan. 21.

After being closed for more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles can begin to open to the public the first week of June if they implement certain safety guidelines, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez told priests and parish staff late May 26.

The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging the "unequal treatment of faith communities" in California's coronavirus reopening plan, warning that continued restrictions on worship services threaten believers' civil rights to practice their religion.

A new private independent program set up to compensate victim-survivors of child sexual abuse by priests was rolled out Sept. 16 in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and five other participating Catholic dioceses in California.

In a last-minute twist, a California bill that would have required priests to break the sacramental seal of confession was shelved by its sponsor amid a remarkable grassroots campaign mounted by the state's Catholics, members of other faith groups, and religious liberty advocates from across the country.

Church officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese and five other California dioceses May 14 announced a new private compensation program that will be available to any person who has been sexually abused as a minor by diocesan priests.

A bill making its way through the California Legislature would make the state the first since 1999 to require priests to choose between violating the law or violating the seal of the confessional.

Citing health and other personal reasons, Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Alexander Salazar, 69, said he offered his retirement to Pope Francis for "the good of the church."

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles Dec. 6 released an updated list of priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, with the report showing two cases of alleged abuse of current minors in the archdiocese since 2008.