Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Every diocese has a cathedral church, where the bishop’s chair or cathedra, a sign of his teaching authority, is housed. As the Bishop of Rome, the pope's cathedral is St. John Lateran, named after St. John the Baptist, and after the Lateranus family, on whose property the great church was first built some 1,700 years ago. This Sunday, we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

More than a feast about the stones of the Lateran, the feast celebrates the rock on which Christ founded his Church and in whom all Christians are united. Celebrating the dedication of the Mother Church calls us to dedicate ourselves to unity through Christ, who is the center of our lives, whatever our diverse experiences of God and differences in our understanding of Church.

We observe another day as a sign of unity this Tuesday, November 11th, Veterans' Day. The service rendered by those who have served our nation, those living and those who died is a sign of unity. In our politically divided times, President Lincoln's 10 sentences in his Gettysburg Address serve as a call to hope.

President Lincoln called those present, which reaches out to us today as a call to dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work of unity. Here's the full text:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Peace, Father Gil

Make a Gift of the Heart

Together in Mission proudly supports 62 parishes across the five regions of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Each one is a place that offers a haven for marginalized communities to encounter God, offering the Sacraments and various outreach ministries that care for the most vulnerable.

Our Parish Goal is $159,042 and so far we have received pledges for $66,380. Please make your gift today!



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Together in Mission - St. Paul the Apostle (P493)

For our immigrant sisters and brothers living in fear of deportation, may the Lord accompany them through the ministry of the Christian community:

For the healing, comfort, and peace of the sick, for Ron Schuster, Montana Gill, Jack & Vicki Phillips, Patricia Arias, Byron Adams, Tel Ramon, Mary Pat Cooper, Kate Dzierzek, Janet Platin, Catherine Gotfredson, Thomas Hinnebusch, Todd Wiench, Bernadette Tee, Estrella and John Monzon, Charles Candel, Joan Doyle, Marisa Kavanau, Carol King Wolcott, John Wolcott, Angel Appleton, Clark Gassan, Lohriena Lohrie Counts, Nora McCormick Heinen, Weldon Tilley, Paul Lannan, Mitchell Twersky, Erny Pinckert, Eileen Gaffney.

For the eternal rest of our beloved departed, Arlene Havel, Phil Duncan, Michele Kearin, Father Brad Schoeberle, CSP, Mary Tokuza, Haruko Hiromura, Donny Kie, Cesar Robeniol, Nellie Scholar, Linda Harris, Lauren Lagoeiro, Christine Azurin, Dr. Alfred Ferris, Lee Thompson, Lori Seyer, Birgitta Langeneckert, Emma Ruth, Don Zimmerman, Leilah Katibah, Cathy Abarta, William Sherritt, Georgina Eades, Roy Riblet, Bob Cooper, Bruce Taylor, Gary Clark, Raquel Escudero, Sister Maria Sorahan, DMJ, Charles Kroener, Pamela Bramhall, Kathleen McCann, Braun Levi, Mary Minette, Sharon Wright, Jim Gaffney, Michele (Cramer) MacGregor, Bruce Glaspy, Cecile Oswald, Nancy Hogan, Kitty Dukakis, José Javier Canalejo, Mary Looker, Thomas Roth, Maureen Russell, Nancy Reilly, Paul Sanchez, Sr., Martha Kohler, Maria Ines Gontijo Albergaria, Garry Pietro, Irene Beggs, Raul Hernandez, Ann Messinger, Rosalia DeLa Pena, Ron Roberson, CSP, Tom Foley, CSP, , may they rest in peace.

For peace in every nation: may the light of the Holy Spirit transform hearts so that all may seek the way of peace together and comfort the wounded and grieving, let us pray to the Lord: