Photos: Activist priest a fixture of the L.A. liberal scene

“I should be retiring, not starting a new career,” says Father Richard Estrada, 72, after joining the Episcopal Church last year. “But I had to be true to myself. God is putting me places. He or She is in charge.”  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada poses for a photo with Laura Barrera and Andersen Yanes, 7, during Estrada’s Jovenes “Holy Happy Hour” fundraiser for a homeless shelter on the Mexico-Guatemala border, at La Parrilla restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

In 2011, Father Richard Estrada, then priest at La Placita, walks with his dog, Coco, during a dramatization of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, enacted by actors including Carlos Tejada, left, as Christ, and Adrian Guerra as a Roman soldier, along Spring Street in L.A.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada says he thought the Catholic Church was too slow in changing its views toward gays and lesbians.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada at his home in Montebello. Last year, Estrada traveled to Tapachula, Mexico, where he marched to raise awareness about the plight of young immigrants.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

At his “Holy Happy Hour” fundraiser for a Mexican homeless shelter, Father Richard Estrada, center, gathers the group, including brothers Jefferson, 10, left, Andersen, 7, and Anthony Yanes, 6, for a birthday celebration at La Parrilla restaurant in downtown L.A.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada, center, leads protesters asking for higher wages in prayer before 10 of them were arrested for failing to disperse in front of a downtown L.A. McDonald’s in September.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada, in white, marches with Christina Chavez, right, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez; Delores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers; Arturo Rodriguez of UFW; and Maria Elena Durazo, then-head of the L.A. County Federation of Labor.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada talks with Jefferson Yanes, 10, left, during the “Holy Happy Hour” fundraiser for a Mexican homeless shelter.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

“He doesn’t see himself as the face of the establishment,” fellow activist Maria Elena Durazo says of Father Richard Estrada, seen in 2010. “He sees himself as the face and the voice of the believers.”  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

In 1989, Father Richard Estrada, seen in 2000, started a nonprofit, Jovenes, which provides counseling, job training and beds to hundreds of homeless young people each year, with a focus on Mexican and Central American immigrants.  (Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times)

Father Richard Estrada holds a United Farm Workers flag in this undated photo from the 1970s. Estrada says he relates to those fleeing violence -- and to those who have experienced loss.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)