Católicos por La Raza

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Católicos por La Raza is a political association organized by Ricardo Cruz in the later 1960s in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles archdiocese was one of the wealthiest, but it included some of the Church's poorest members. The group was considered a radical organization due to its criticisms of the Catholic Church, which was viewed as insensitive to the needs of the Chicano community.

[edit] St. Basil's arrests

On Christmas Eve, 1969, law student Ricardo Cruz led a march of several hundred demonstrators to the newly constructed St. Basil Church in Los Angeles. The demonstrators picketed outside while midnight mass was being celebrated inside.

As Los Angeles Archbishop James Cardinal McIntyre celebrated mass inside the demonstrators, who were conducting a prayer vigil, were confronted by off-duty sheriffs and a Los Angeles Police Department riot squad who warned them about entering the building and disrupting the service.

As congregants inside the church sang Adeste Fideles, protesters entered the church, led by Cruz. Cruz and twenty others were arrested.

Afterwards, Cardinal McIntyre compared the Chicano protesters to the “rabble at Christ’s crucifixion". A month later, the Cardinal announced his retirement.

Cruz passed the California State Bar examination in 1971, but was subjected to a series of hearings before he was admitted. The State Bar argued that Cruz was of poor moral character due to his disruption of a religious service. The American Civil Liberties Union and others, including the new Archbishop of Los Angeles, Timothy Cardinal Manning, supported Cruz and he was eventually admitted to the Bar.