Ceremonies to Consecrate Cathedral Site

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, monks from Italy and as many as 12,000 onlookers will consecrate the site Sunday of the new $50-million Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Los Angeles.

“It really will be historic,” said Father Gregory Coiro, Mahony’s spokesman. “Can you imagine if you had been at the ground blessing for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris or St. Patrick’s in New York, or any of the great cathedrals of the world? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Called a ground blessing rather than a groundbreaking, the public festivities and outdoor liturgy begin at 3 p.m. at Grand Avenue and Temple Street.

The ceremonies will be replete with symbolism. Holy water will be sprinkled on the construction site, and Franciscan brothers from Assisi, Italy, are bringing a stone from the 13th century church of St. Francis of Assisi to be incorporated into the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. St. Francis’ church is also called Our Lady of the Angels.

An 800-voice choir of children and adults from parishes across the archdiocese will sing throughout the liturgy, which will include a new composition by Christopher Walker commissioned by the archdiocese to celebrate the church’s third millennium. Other participants will include a Mexican mariachi band, a Polish folk dance ensemble, Tongan tauolunga dancers and the Knights of Columbus.

Mahony will deliver the homily. Also speaking will be the cathedral’s architect, Jose Rafael Moneo of Spain, and Mayor Richard Riordan.

For Mahony, the ground blessing represents not only a milestone in his own controversial drive to build a new cathedral but a turning point for the Los Angeles archdiocese, the nation’s most populous, covering Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Several of Mahony’s predecessors had hoped to build a new cathedral--and had even obtained Vatican approval. But for one reason or another, their plans were put off.

Most recently, the archdiocese began razing the old St. Vibiana’s Cathedral in June 1996 in hopes of erecting a new cathedral on the same site at 2nd and Main streets. But a Superior Court judge stopped the work after complaints from the Los Angeles Conservancy, which is trying to save the structure.

As subsequent rulings brought further delays, Mahony decided to build the cathedral elsewhere and picked the present site near the Music Center.

Coiro said the construction start date is uncertain because environmental impact reports and various city permit approvals are still in the works. But Mahony is determined to dedicate the cathedral Sept. 4, 2000--the Catholic Feast of Our Lady of the Angels and the same year in which the Catholic Church is marking its Jubilee as well as the advent of Christianity’s third millennium.

Beginning at 3:20 p.m. Sunday, there will be a procession of auxiliary bishops, priests and others led by Mahony from St. Vibiana’s to the new site. Coiro said the public is asked not to join in the procession but instead greet it when it arrives at Hill Street and Temple. Coiro said the church has no parade permit, so the procession must be confined to sidewalks.

“The official ground blessing is a commemoration not only of what has been in the past but what this entire site will be for the future, for the Catholic Church and for all those who are citizens of the City of Angels,” said Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, the cardinal’s secretary for the event.

Large models of the new cathedral will be on display, and commemorative posters will be distributed at the site. The Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women will provide free refreshments.

Free public parking will be open at the following Los Angeles County lots:

* Lot 11: Entrance on either Broadway or Spring Street between 1st Street and Temple.

* Lots 17 and 17A: Entrance on Olive Street between 1st and 2nd.

* Lot 18: Entrance on Hope Street between 1st and Temple.

* Lot 26: Entrance on Olive between 1st and 2nd.

* Additional free parking is available at the Department of Water and Power lot on Hope between 1st and Temple, and in The Times’ parking structure at 213 Spring St. between 2nd and 3rd.

The gates to the cathedral site will be open at 2 p.m., an hour before the ceremony. The service and festivities are expected to conclude by 5:30 p.m.