Cathedral Ceremony Is Interrupted

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new $163-million Roman Catholic cathedral had just gotten underway Wednesday when protesters, including an Episcopal priest, scrambled across a back fence and landed in a heap on the far end of the downtown property.

Spotting the group in the distance, a robed friar broke away from the festivities, trotted across the lot and tried--by asking, tugging and, finally, tussling--to get them to leave.

But the group, scratched and bruised from their climb, advanced. As Cardinal Roger M. Mahony lifted a burgundy cloth, unveiling an artist’s rendering of the new cathedral, the protesters chanted loud enough for the assembled dignitaries to hear.

“No new cathedral!” they shouted. “Spend God’s money on God’s poor!”

Technically, they stopped the groundbreaking for the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at Temple Street and Grand Avenue.

The protesters, three women and two men, sat and stood on an earthmover that Mahony had planned to use to overturn some dirt. They held signs and rosary beads, chanted “Hail Marys” and refused to leave until they were hauled off by police.

“They made it impossible for us to do the groundbreaking,” said Father Gregory Coiro, who tried to stop the protesters from entering the property. “What they did was illegal, and I think very un-Christian.”

The protest was the latest in a series organized by Los Angeles Catholic Worker, which opposes spending so much money on the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Protesters, who have opposed the cathedral from its inception, argue that the millions earmarked for the huge complex could be used to help the city’s poor and homeless.

The new cathedral is a symbol of consumerism and overabundance, made possible by a rich club of Mahony’s friends, said Catholic Worker protester Jeff Dietrich.

“That’s not what Jesus was about,” Dietrich said, sitting on a piece of earthmoving equipment shortly before his arrest. “We’re not leaving. We’re here to stop construction of the church.”

Although Mahony never donned a hard hat or overturned the earth--standard fare at such events--the ceremony continued, with most trying to ignore the protesters.

Mahony said the complex will be “a magnificent symbol of God’s presence.”

“This will be the presence of God’s spirit in the soul of our city and that’s what makes today really exciting,” he said.

On a recent trip to the Vatican, Mahony said, he shared the drawing with the pope, and the project received the pontiff’s blessings.

Responding to questions about the protesters, Mahony praised the charitable work of the organization, which operates a soup kitchen and provides other services to the homeless and needy.

“They do good things here in the city,” Mahony said.

But the group’s opposition raised the question, he said, of whether the church can build structures, such as the cathedral, and still serve the poor. The answer lies within the history of the church, Mahony said.

“Yes, it is very possible to do all of these things,” Mahony said, drawing applause from the audience.

The cathedral will be for all people, Mahony said, adding that he was saddened because protesters “don’t believe that poor people can enjoy something beautiful.”

“Everyone has a right to enjoy God’s presence in a beautiful building,” he said.

Although protesters took the gathering by surprise, officials were not completely unprepared for their arrival.

“We had security at the gate because we knew there would be protesters and we did not want them to interrupt the ceremony,” Coiro said.

Although invited guests walked and drove onto the property, Catherine Morris and a group of eight Los Angeles Catholic Worker protesters stood outside the entrance of the property holding signs and a huge banner that read, “Let the cathedral stand unfinished until ALL are housed in dignity.”

A protest banner was later crumpled and taken away, Morris said.

“We have been at everything that has been public, in order to say, ‘No, this is not the way to go,’ ” Morris said.

Morris said her husband, Jeff Dietrich, had tried to enter through the entrance but was pushed back by a man at the gate.

Coiro said it appeared that “one of the people on the property put his hand up to say, ‘Stop,’ and Jeff walked directly into his hand.”

“He seemed pretty determined that he was going to get onto the property and ultimately did.”

The protesters climbed the fence on the Hill Street side of the property from a freeway embankment, Coiro said.

When confronted by police, the Rev. Alice Callaghan, one of the protesters, said she would abandon her spot on the earthmover if Mahony would kill plans for the cathedral and build a mission for the poor.

“If he’s changed his mind, we’ll jump off,” said Callaghan of Las Familias del Pueblo, a nonprofit community center.

The protesters were eventually placed under arrest on suspicion of trespassing. They were later released on their own recognizance, pleased by the turn of events.

“We consider speaking out part of what a Catholic Worker is meant to do,” Morris said.