The annual Chrism Mass will be celebrated April 6 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, continuing a holy and sacred tradition of the Church --- and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

With Cardinal Roger Mahony presiding, the auxiliary bishops and a large number of clergy (priests and deacons) will again be present for the celebration, at which the sacramental holy oils used throughout the coming year are blessed and distributed to parishes of the archdiocese.

This year also marks the tenth anniversary of a tradition begun at the 1999 Chrism Mass: the acknowledgement of the golden jubilarian priests of the archdiocese celebrating 50 years of service. In 2009, 15 archdiocesan priests are marking their golden jubilees: Monsignors Sean Flanagan, John Foley, Michael Killeen, John Mihan, William O'Keeffe and Francis Weber, and Fathers Francis Cassidy, John Daly, Kevin Larkin, Jeremiah O'Neill, Thomas Peacha, Cornelius Phelan, Alfonso Scott, Peter Tsang and Thomas Weible.

The 1999 Chrism Mass was held at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Ventura, in the midst of a period (spring 1995 to spring 2002) when annual "stational" liturgies of the archdiocese (such as the ordinations of priests and deacons) were celebrated in parishes (of the five pastoral regions), while the new Cathedral was under construction (St. Vibiana's had been closed for safety reasons).

At the April 17, 2000 Chrism Mass, celebrated at St. John Chrysostom Church in Inglewood, Cardinal Mahony announced that week's publication of "As I Have Done For You," a pastoral letter on ministry prepared by the cardinal and priests of the archdiocese. Through that letter, the cardinal convoked the first archdiocesan Synod in 40 years, leading to a process that resulted in the 2003 pastoral letter, "Gathered and Sent."

Both "As I Have Done For You" and "Gathered and Sent" were emphatic in their call to recognize and utilize the gifts of the entire Church --- lay, religious and clergy --- for evangelization of, and service to, the Church and the world. These points, as well as the Chrism liturgy's unique place as a "meeting place" for the entire Church community, is something Cardinal Mahony has further emphasized in his homilies at the Chrism Mass, such as the following from April 5, 2004:

"All of us are called upon to commit ourselves once again to complete reliance on the Spirit of Christ who, in the gift of earthen oil, enlightens, enlivens, guides and heals, so that together with the First Anointed of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, we, too, might be a balm poured out on all wounds, for the life of the world."

---Mike Nelson