SAN DIEGO — For more than 50 years, the diocese’s annual celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe included a colorful procession of Aztec dancers, floats and mariachi musicians joyously parading through downtown San Diego streets.
The pandemic put that tradition on hold this year.
Instead, the diocese will livestream a bilingual Mass on Sunday, Dec. 6, at noon, celebrated by Bishop Robert W. McElroy, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops John Dolan and Ramón Bejarano.
“Regrettably, the crisis we’re living through has forced us to make this decision,” said Guadalupe “Lupita” Alvarado, from Sacred Heart Parish in San Diego.
She is the new president of the Guadalupana Confederation, made up of groups at 25 parishes in the diocese devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The pandemic has precluded the organization from meeting regularly, she said. Instead, the member parishes take turns leading the prayer of the rosary daily at 7 p.m. through the Facebook page @confederacionguadalupanadesandiegoca. She invited all families to join in, particularly at this most difficult time.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe is our most sacred Mother who always listens to our prayers, who always intercedes for us with her Son, Jesus.”
The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is organized by the diocesan Offices of Ethnic and Intercultural Communities and Liturgy and Spirituality. The Mass will be livestreamed Sunday, Dec. 6, at noon, in Spanish by two Internet-based Latino Catholic organizations, hombrenuevoradio.com and renovacioncatolicasd.com, and by the Guadalupana Confederation through its Facebook page. Details are available at the diocese’s website, sdcatholic.org/ ourladyofguadalupe.
