Nearly a week after the day in which California and other parts of the country honor his legacy, civil rights activist César Chávez is still being celebrated in Los Angeles.
On Sunday, Los Angeles’ Archbishop José Horacio Gomez gave a special mass inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown Los Angeles dedicated to Chávez.
“César Chávez fue un hombre de oración y un hombre de paz,” said Gomez during the mass.
Among the hundredths of people that attended the mass were Paul Chávez, son of the late leader and Arturo Rodríguez, president of the United Farm Workers Union which Chávez founded.
During the mass, Gomez also highlighted that Chávez was a man of faith.
“Tenía una profunda devoción a Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y que trató de vivir las bienaventuranzas en su vida diaria,” he said.
Gomez also used the mass an opportunity to rally for an immigration reform saying that one of the best ways to pay tribute to Chávez is to allow the millions of undocumented workers the passage to citizenship.
This is not the first time an LA archbishop celebrates Chávez. Gomez’s predecessor Cardinal Roger Mahony marched with Chávez in the 1970s and also held masses for him.
