Parishioners Welcome Baby Found on Church’s Doorstep

Tucked away on a side street in an industrial section of Lincoln Heights, Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church is not a place you come upon unless you’re looking for it.

On Saturday night, someone crept up to the church steps and deposited a bundle wrapped in a filthy blue rag on the doorstep and then disappeared into the night.

It was a baby girl, no more than an hour old.

On Sunday, police searched for the girl’s mother, and the baby rested in good condition at County-USC Medical Center. The parishioners counted their blessing and prayed for one more: that little Christina, baptized in an emergency ceremony Saturday night while the priest waited for paramedics to come, will become a permanent member of the church.

“I want to keep this baby. She was there for a reason,” said Mercedes Martinez, who found the baby and wants to adopt her. “It’s a sign for me, and I’m going to follow it up.”

At first, Martinez thought she was imagining things. Toward the end of Bible study, she kept hearing the faint and plaintive sound of a child crying, but at 10 p.m there were no children at the church, and no one else in her prayer group had heard a thing.

Nevertheless, before going home for the night, she implored a fellow church member--who told her he thought she was hearing things--to accompany her through the chapel and around to the front door of the church.

There, lying under a welcome sign and next to a trash can, they found the baby.

Shaking and covered with blood and dirt, the little girl was wrapped in a greasy blue rag that looked like it had been used to clean auto parts. She was still attached to her umbilical cord, meaning she could have bled to death if not attended to quickly.

“I picked her up. I didn’t know what to do,” said Martinez, who said she and her husband have been thinking of adopting children or serving as foster parents.

“It was like a dream,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I have three kids of my own, and I can’t even imagine leaving a newborn baby.”

Holding the baby, Martinez ran back into the dining hall next to the chapel. Bible study members quickly cleared away their coffee cups and cookie plates and used the tablecloth to swaddle the baby.

Just then, Father Rumie Gonzalez returned to the church.

“The prayer group came running up to me, and they said, ‘We have a surprise for you,’ ” the priest said. “I said ‘Whose baby is this?’ ”

Gonzalez shook his head. “Even though it was dirty, it was the most beautiful baby you ever saw,” he said. “It was like something out of a movie.”

Many church members wanted to take the baby home, but Gonzalez insisted that the group call 911.

And then, while they waited for paramedics, Gonzalez performed an emergency baptism, naming the girl Christina because she was found on the eve of Corpus Christi day.

On Sunday he told the congregation what had happened. Gonzalez said he thinks the girl’s mother is either homeless or a teenager, overwhelmed by the prospects of raising a baby. Whoever it is, he said, must have known about the church.

Many parishioners were so touched that they began weeping.

“This church has been blessed,” said Delia Corona. “We want to know where the mother is and how she is doing. She did it for the good of her baby.”

Police, however, say what the mother did is a crime, and if they find her, she could be prosecuted for child endangerment.

“This is the second one in Hollenbeck [police] Division this year,” said Sgt. A. Paul Acosta. “This is not an uncommon event, and that’s the sad part. These children are left abandoned, but how many are never found.”

Though she may have been abandoned, Baby Christina is so far receiving a warm welcome into the world. After hearing about her on the news, many people have called the hospital offering to adopt the baby, police said.

Parishioners at Our Lady Help of Christians have collected money and swaddling clothes for her.

And Martinez, who missed church for the first time in a long time Sunday, instead spent the morning at the hospital trying to visit the baby. She was told the child was in protective custody and Martinez could not be allowed to see her until at least today.

Martinez, who teaches religion at the church, and her husband Ruben, who is PTA president of the church school, said they are praying that they will be allowed to adopt the baby.

“I know we’re going to face a lot of obstacles,” said Ruben Martinez. “But if anyone adopts her, it should be us.”