In their signature white aprons and black habits, the Friars of the Sick Poor of Los Angeles bowed their heads and received a blessing from Cardinal Roger Mahony.
While most of the men stood before the cardinal, one man simply stood out.
Father Cesar Galan, fsp, who is also a friar in the order, remained in his wheelchair.
His triumph over tragedy — and what caused him to end up in the wheelchair — is what inspired Brother Richard Hirbe, fsp, to found the religious order in 2001, now commemorating its 25th anniversary.
“We’re able to turn the darkness into light. We’re able to turn sadness into joy,” said Brother Hirbe, fsp, minister general. “I want us to go deeper, go higher and follow the promptings of the Spirit.”
To honor the Friars of the Sick Poor’s anniversary, a celebratory Mass was held on June 13 at St. Euphrasia Church in Granada Hills. More than 200 family members, friends, and women religious attended the Mass presided over by Mahony. During the homily, Mahony highlighted the order’s mission to give itself to God through serving the sick and marginalized.
“You have stood beside those who suffer, not as professionals performing a task, but as consecrated men who recognize the face of Christ in every wounded body and every anxious heart,” Mahony said. “You have been that presence of God for others.”
It was Mahony who approved the order in 2002, making it the only men’s religious community ever started in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The order’s charism of hope was sparked a year earlier when two strangers — one from the Church, one from the streets — were brought together by an act of violence.
In early April 2001, Galan, who was affiliated with a gang in Artesia, was hanging out with friends and his brother, Hector. An argument ensued, and another gang member opened fire. Hector took the first bullet and when Cesar tried to intervene, he too was shot. The ambulance ride to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood was pure agony.
“I remember closing my eyes a whole lot because I was trying to control the pain,” said Galan, who had been hit twice. “I was freaking out the paramedic who kept asking if I was OK and shaking me to make sure I was still there with him.”
After that, he recalled very little until the chaplain, Hirbe, then a conventional Franciscan, delivered the devastating news: Hector was on life support with no hope of survival, and Galan was paralyzed from the chest down. The next words spoken forever changed both men.
“Cesar said, ‘If I am never going to walk again, then teach me how to fly.’ That’s when God’s work began,” Hirbe said. “Cesar was a deeply reflective person. He had a spirituality that most of us yearn for.”
Galan’s recovery was painful but fruitful. He developed a lasting friendship with Hirbe, attained “self-healing” by encouraging other patients, and reinvigorated his Catholic faith. Eventually, Galan’s volunteering blossomed into a vocation, and in 2015, he joined the very order he inspired.
“I did not know what I was looking for until Brother Richard came into my life,” Galan said. “He had a peace and a joy. He was living out the Gospel, and that’s what attracted me most. I said that’s what I’ve been looking for in my own life.”
Yet God kept calling further and Galan became the first paraplegic priest ordained in the archdiocese in 2023. The 53-year-old said he’s been too busy serving at St. Raymond Church in Downey to dwell on his challenges, but freely shares them. Stairs are the “enemy,” altars are too high, and some days he would rather kick his wheelchair than use it. He perseveres, he said, thanks to a “great prayer life.”
His new assignment will be replacing the retiring Hirbe as director of both chaplain services and spiritual care at St. Francis. After nearly 40 years of tending to patients, Hirbe said he’ll now enjoy tending the crops at the order’s motherhouse in Fillmore. But not before offering up some advice to his successor and to anyone else who hears the cry of the poor.
“Everybody has a story but no one wants to listen,” Hirbe said. “Pull up a chair and make yourself available. Jesus did that all the time. He heard his name and he stopped.”
During the anniversary Mass, Brother Adam Becerra, fsp, thanked the founder for “answering the call” of the Holy Spirit and creating their unique order.
Whether it’s helping the sick or the impoverished, the young or the old, the friars choose their individual professions and pay their own way. What the 10 members do share, however, is surviving a traumatic event.
Becerra said he was drawn to the order’s optimism after he, like Galan, lost a sibling to gun violence. Going forward, he would like the friars to welcome new members but more importantly, the right members.
“We’re not interested in numbers, we’re interested in quality,” said Becerra, vice-minister general. “We’re trying to animate hope in the Church and in the world today. After experiencing my own suffering, I want to be that instrument. We need others who feel the same.”
After the Mass, the friars were swarmed by loved ones offering congratulations and hugs, some of the Galan siblings among them. They confess they never suspected their brother would end up a priest, but knew he was special.
“Even if we did grow up in a gang, he always had a very good heart,” said his younger sister, Gabriela. “When he knew [the gang was] going to do something dumb, he wouldn’t go. He had a conscience.”
Other former gang members turned out for the jubilee celebration, including Ramon Garay, who said thanks to the friars’ support, he got his GED and now works as a carpenter.
“I got an opportunity to change my life,” Garay said. “They showed me how to pray, showed me how to be closer to Jesus.”
Stephen and Diane Eubanks came all the way from Nebraska to congratulate Hirbe, a cherished member of their family.
“He has just been an amazing role model that I’ve looked up to my entire life. He truly lives out the charism of his order,” said Eubanks, Hirbe’s nephew. “I cried throughout the Mass.”
Surrounded by so many supporters, there were times Hirbe could hardly speak. He would simply place his hand over his heart and shake his head in joyful amazement. His wish after 25 years of leadership is to be remembered for teaching an important lesson of hope.
“It’s not three strikes and you’re out,” Hirbe said. “We keep forgiving, keep living, and keep moving forward until we get it right.”
Galan chuckles at the idea of being an inspirational figure but gladly accepts his journey to the priesthood.
“Except for losing my brother, I would do it all over again,” Galan said. “We go through great things in our lives to understand great things. The mercy of God is right there waiting for us.”
