The Vatican’s choice of a Mexican-born archbishop, Jose Gomez of San Antonio, as the next prelate of Los Angeles reflects the formal acknowledgment of a remarkable, decades-long shift in the center of gravity of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church — from Northeast to Southwest, from Eurocentric to Latino-dominated.<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old Gomez has the potential to reshape the Archdiocese of Los Angeles over most of the next two decades, assuming he can successfully steer it past the shoals of a lingering sexual abuse crisis. In him, Pope Benedict XVI clearly saw a leader for a new kind of American church, one that is in sync with changing demographics but also adheres to Benedict’s traditional notions about Catholic theology.<\/p>\n
“This is an epic moment in the life of the church in the United States,” Cardinal Roger Mahony said Tuesday as he introduced his successor during a news conference at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, itself a symbol of L.A.’s position as the new capital of U.S. Catholicism.<\/p>\n
Gomez, who stood near Mahony, nodding and smiling slightly as he was introduced, struck a humble tone in his own remarks to reporters. “I know that God will give me the grace to serve this local church well, as Cardinal Mahony has done for so many fruitful years,” he said.<\/p>\n