The 80th annual procession and Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in East Los Angeles drew a record 25,000 people from throughout the archdiocese Dec. 4, all challenged by Archbishop José Gomez to view and help each other as brothers and sisters of the family of God.

For Archbishop Gomez, it was his first time presiding at the Mass which followed Los Angeles’ oldest religious procession. The archbishop walked among parish groups, floats and indigenous dancers escorting the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, then sat with the people prior to the Mass at East Los Angeles College Stadium, concelebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony, Auxiliary Bishops Gerald Wilkerson and Alexander Salazar and more than 20 priests.

At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Gomez blessed images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that will be taken to parishes to share the Blessed Mother’s message of hope with immigrants. And both he and Cardinal Mahony were presented with medallions of Mexico City’s Basilica of Guadalupe by the event’s organizing group Guadalupanos Unidos de Los Angeles. 

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