St. Michael the Archangel was a busy celestial being last week in the City of the Angels.

On Sept. 25, St. Michael School held its third annual "Blue Mass" to honor police officers, gang intervention workers, educators at SEA (Soledad Enrichment Action) alternative school housed in the old St. Michael's High School building, and church and community leaders who have worked hard to improve South L.A. neighborhoods.

Two days later at the Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park, Auxiliary Bishop Edward Clark presided at the 20th annual Public Safety Officers Mass with a special "blessing of the badges."

At both liturgies, the patron saint of police officers - who battled the epitome of evil, Lucifer, after he rebelled against God and his divine order, driving him from heaven into hell - was held up as a protector of the innocent.

"We pray and pray for things to get better, and we wish things would get better in our community, in our city," declared Msgr. Dave O'Connell during the 8:30 a.m. Mass in St. Michael's stately arched church, attended by more than 30 LAPD officers and Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies as well as St. Michael students and faculty, SEA staff, GRYD (Gang Reduction and Youth Development) case workers and Chapter Two gang interventionists, and members of the community.

"But some people actually are doing something about it," noted Msgr. O'Connell. "And that's why we have this Mass this morning.

"I've been working here in South Los Angeles for over 20 years now, and I have got to know so many people in the Los Angeles Police Department, in the Sheriffs Department," the veteran pastor continued. "I can see that your work, your dedication and your sacrifices are making a difference. There are so many changes happening here. There've been huge changes, especially in our relationship with the police."

During the liturgy, St. Michael the Archangel Award plaques were handed out to LAPD First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell, Senior Lead Officer Fred Starkey of the Southwest Division, and Officers Adam Moore and Jamal Dawoudi of the 77th Street Division; Deputy Sheriffs Carlos Villafranco and Blake Basse of the Lennox Sheriff's Department; James and Cynthia Lumberg; Aleander Moradi, managing partner of ICO Development; Patricia Buckley and Fredi Garcia of St. Michael's; and the deceased pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Westlake Village, Father Patrick O'Dwyer.

PAL program
On his way to the post-Mass breakfast in the elementary school's auditorium, Officer Moore, who assists in LAPD's Police Activity League (PAL) mentoring program at the school, reflected about receiving the St. Michael the Archangel Award.

"'It's a blessing to be a blessing' - I always heard those words," he said. "But you think that you're going to do something special with the kids. In actuality, you're receiving much more than you're giving. That's how I feel each and every day I work with these kids."

The 37-year-old native New Englander, who holds a master's degree in education from Harvard University, pointed out that PAL's aim is to provide role models and steadfast hope to inner-city youths while helping them go on to high school and graduate. "We bring in speakers from the LAPD who the kids can look up to and know that it's possible to achieve success," he reported.

Eighth-grader Alberto Colin, who has gone to three Blue Masses at St. Michael School, liked having police officers on campus, especially when they brought along their horses and drug-sniffing dogs. "It's nice that we appreciate those who give their lives for us and everything," he said. "They care about us. They want the best for us."

Karina Sic, St. Michael's student council president, also thought honoring local police officers every year with a Mass and breakfast was a good idea. "They really deserve it," she said. "They have, like, a really hard job. They're always protecting us and trying to keep us out of trouble. So it's just a nice thing to do for them."

Third-year Principal Jim McMains said favorite LAPD on-site presentations had been the equestrian team, bomb squad, search and rescue unit and SWAT team with all their equipment. But he believed the real value of the PAL program was the breaking down of barriers between his mostly minority urban students and local law enforcement.

"Our kids actually were physically distant from the police," he explained. "Because the only time they'd ever seen them was when somebody was being arrested or there was violence going on, which happens all the time down here. So now when Officers Moore and Dawoudi come here, you have to fight the kids off. The older ones want a handshake, the little ones want to hug them.

"It just takes a little while to break down those barriers," he added. "It's good for the kids and the officers. It's really good for the kids."

Blessing of the badges
At the beginning of the Public Safety Eucharistic Celebration at the Police Academy, six Knights of Columbus in capes formed an honor guard with their swords for Auxiliary Bishop Edward Clark as he processed into the rock garden for the 10 a.m. outdoor Sunday Mass. Soft light filtered through tall pines as the congregation of current and retired police officers and their families sang the old standby hymn "Holy God We Praise They Name."

The bishop of Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region said the Mass was in thanksgiving for police, sheriffs, firefighters and "all who serve so well the people today."

A highpoint of the liturgy was the "blessing of the badges." After a moment of silence, Bishop Clark asked officers to hold up their badges and members of the congregation to turn towards an officer and extend their hands with his.

"Send down your blessing upon these badges and your servants who so generously devote themselves to helping others," he prayed. "When they are called on in times of need, let them faithfully serve you and their neighbor with courage, integrity and a cheerful heart."

Then the bishop and Father Michael McCullough, chaplain of the Los Angeles Police Department, quickly walked through the rows of white folding chairs blessing the congregants with Holy Water.

The prayers of the faithful included Los Angeles County firefighters Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones, who lost their lives in the recent Action Fire, along with two deceased LAPD detectives. The final prayer was for all "peace officers who work this day that they return safely to their loved ones at home at the end of their watch."

After Mass, Bishop Clark told The Tidings that "to protect and serve" was an apt motto for members of the LAPD. And he pointed out that the traditionally large proportion of Catholic police officers, here and in cities like Boston, New York and Chicago, was no accident.

"Especially Irish Catholics have gone into this line of work over the years," he said. "And I think a lot of it comes out of their Catholic background. They bring certain values with them. They really do bring their Christianity to the way they serve. And people see them not just as police officers and firemen, but they also see them as Christian men and women. And I think that the more conscious we are of being that, the more likely that it is we're going to serve well."

Protecting society
Jim McDonnell, first assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, readily agreed. "Your faith is one of the guiding principles of how you lead your life," he observed. "When you look at the job of policing, I think you need a strong faith, you need a belief in a higher power, you need an ability to be able to put things in perspective with what you see every day. And their faith sustains an awful lot of people in doing that duty.

"So I think it's very compatible with the job we do," he stressed. "I think the values are very consistent, and I think it's a great help to those who have a strong faith to be able to do the job well."

The former Catholic elementary and high school student, and graduate of St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, said it had been that way for him during 28 years in the LAPD, ever since he joined the force at age 21. Moreover, he believes the annual Public Safety Officers Mass - and especially the blessing of the badges - is vital in renewing a police officer's faith commitment to serve.

"The blessing of the badges symbolizes so much because the badge is over your heart," he said. "I mean, it's a piece of metal, but it's a strong symbol for everything good in society - for protecting society from those who are looking to harm people. And being able to come here and get Father Mike and the bishop to bless the badges, I think just makes you feel much more confident in what you're doing and what it represents for everybody."

As chaplain of the Los Angeles Police Department, Father McCullough - who last month was honored as one of the 2009 "Luminaries of Law Enforcement" by the Los Angeles Police Historical Society - has counseled police officers and their families for 32 years. It's convinced him that the challenges faced by police officers were a "little heavier" than those encountered by the average citizen.

He said he likes to say that being in law enforcement and a first responder creates a daily "drop of corrosion" on the soul. It was why he established the Desert Refuge for Peace Officers near Joshua Tree in the mid-'90s as a place where law enforcement officers and their loves ones could find solitude and support while dealing with stress and crises.

"I think the greatest danger in this profession is cynicism because police officers are so often dealing with the five percent of society that no one else wants to deal with," he noted. "They start getting the idea everybody's like that. So I encourage them to stay balanced.

"If you've had a relationship with God when you started in the academy, don't lose it. Keep it strong. Because the ones who have a strong faith life tend to have a better emotional life. They're better able to cope with the challenges as they arise. And that's why the Public Safety Officers Mass is so important."