Saint Casimir 

The Filipino community celebrates the arrival of the Catholic faith to Philippine shores five hundred years ago. On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan of Spain landed on the island of Cebu to bring the good news and God's love. Several days later, the Cross was planted and the first Mass was offered. The theme of the 500 years jubilee celebration is Gifted to Give. During the beatification of the first Filipino saint Lorenzo Ruiz, Pope John Paul II reminded Filipinos that Christianity means daily giving, in response to the gift of Christ who came into the world so that all might have life and have it to the full. Pope Francis urged them to preserve the faith and keep bringing the joy of the gospel throughout the world. Los Angeles Auxilliary bishop Robert Baron said: “I do think in God’s often strange providence he’ll take a particular church, a particular people, and use them as a means to invigorate and evangelize the rest of the Catholic world, and I do believe in God’s always beguiling providence [that] you’re playing that role now – the Church of the Philippines .“ At Mass, Filipinos renewed their baptismal promises and at the end each was presented a lighted candle with the Philippine flag to go out on a mission and to bring God's love wherever they are.

The following is the Holy Father’s Guideline on the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the current pandemic . Where the individual faithful find themselves in the painful impossibility of receiving sacramental absolution, it should be remembered that perfect contrition, coming from the love of God, beloved above all things, expressed by a sincere request for forgiveness (that which the penitent is at present able to express) and accompanied by votum confessionis, that is, by the firm resolution to have recourse, as soon as possible, to sacramental confession, obtains forgiveness of sins, even mortal ones (cf. CCC, no. 1452).

A tile mural of Lithuanian martyr and hero will grace the exterior wall of the parish hall, as a gift to the Catholic faithful of Los Angeles, in thanksgiving of eighty years of God's unending graces from 1941-2021. To include your name, family, organization or to honor a loved one on the commemorative marker, call the parish office for details.

The Mass in Lithuanian is available on live stream direct from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius, every Sunday at 8:00 AM, Pacific Time. Click the link to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary (Dievo Gailestinguno Sventone) or go to : http://www.gailestingumas.lt