A 'Mass for Peace' as pupils protest immigration raids

Archbishop asks God to 'awaken again the conscience of Americans'

- SONJA SHARP

WORSHIPPERS attend a Mass led by Archbishop José H. Gomez at Our Lady of the Angels on Wednesday.

(ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez celebrated what he called a "Mass for Peace" at Our Lady of the Angels on Wednesday, stopping just short of a direct appeal to the Trump administration to draw down its aggressive immigration enforcement efforts as protesters gathered blocks away.

“We are united with everybody in our country praying for peace, and specifically praying for immigrants in our country,” Gomez said during an address from the pulpit Wednesday afternoon.

“Today, we especially pray for our government leaders, for the law enforcement officers and for those protesting and defending the immigrant families in this struggle here in Los Angeles.”

As police helicopters buzzed overhead monitoring the demonstration nearby, the archbishop called on God to “awaken again the conscience of Americans.”

His remarks coincided with a student walk out, with teen protesters converging on the Metropolitan Detention Center about a mile away.

More than 500 students carrying signs and draped in flags gathered at the intersection of Aliso and Los Angeles streets and marched to the jail, where a swarm of police stood behind yellow caution tape.

Kiro Perez, a freshman at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, held a sign above her faded green hair that read, “My parents work more than the President.”