When the holy water flows over a child's head in baptism, it is believed that all sins are washed away. For devout Catholics like Guadalupe Gutierrez, baptism points to the mystery at the heart of her deep faith, the promise of eternal salvation.
Because her grandchildren had not been christened as infants, Gutierrez was desperate to have them baptized and receive Holy Communion in a Catholic Church. Her daughter, Gigi, thought she found the perfect parish in Carson: It required a $50 fee for each sacrament, and both rites could be celebrated within six weeks. It was a fast track compared to the year of catechism required by most Catholic churches.
In November, the children were baptized, and shortly after they received Holy Communion.
Still, Gutierrez had her doubts. Last month, after confession at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in downtown Los Angeles, she asked a priest, "What do you know about Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Carson?"
He said, "Carson? We have no Roman Catholic Church by that name in Carson."
In the past five years, dozens of independent churches have opened across Southern California that use the words "Catholic," "Old Catholic" or "Traditional Catholic" in their name but that are not part of the Roman Catholic Church, clergy members say.
Leaders and many priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles see those churches as a scam, victimizing people like Gutierrez and her family by passing themselves off as Roman Catholic in ritual and administering illicit sacraments in return for cash.
"They're opportunists, and this is the prostitution of religion," said Father Dennis O'Neil, pastor of St. Emydius Church in Lynwood.
Father Albert Vazquez, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Church in downtown Los Angeles, says the Old Catholic churches "are deceiving people for money. They use trickery and try to imitate the church as much as possible, but they are not being honest about who they are."
Hundreds of Latino families have come to his church with complaints of being misled by Old Catholic churches, Vazquez said. Parents often discover the truth when they register their children to enter Roman Catholic schools and the baptismal certificate does not bear the seal of the archdiocese, he explained. Responding to such problems, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has issued an advisory about Old Catholic churches and asked churches with large Latino congregations to run it in their Sunday bulletins.
