Mourners at the funeral of the Rev. Canon Richard Estrada. Photo by Sandra Martinez
Nearly 400 mourners filled St. John’s Cathedral for the April 26 funeral Mass for the Rev. Canon Richard Estrada, civil rights and immigration justice leader who died March 31 at age 83. Mariachi standards melded with hymns and chant as Bishop John Harvey Taylor presided at the two-hour liturgy for which the Rev. Dr. Francisco Garcia, longtime activist and former rector of Holy Faith Episcopal Church in Inglewood, preached.
Eulogies were delivered by Dolores Huerta, 95, co-founder with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers; Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, former U.S. secretary of labor in the Obama administration; the Rev. Tom Carey, a former rector of Epiphany, Los Angeles; and Andrea Marchetti, executive director of Jovenes Inc., founded by Estrada as L.A.’s first shelter for homeless immigrant youth. California State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo joined Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, in offering the prayers of the people. Richard Zaldivar, director of the The Wall/Las Memorias Project,
Dolores Huerta delivering a eulogy. Photo by Bob Williams
and his spouse, Joselito Laudencia, moderate the presentation of symbolic gifts, received at the altar by the cathedral’s interim dean and priest-in-charge, the Very Rev. Anne Sawyer, and the Rev. John Watson, priest-in-charge at historic Church of the Epiphany, Lincoln Heights, where Estrada was assisting priest since 2015 after his reception as an Episcopal priest by the late Bishop J. Jon Bruno. Previously a Claretian, L.A.-born Estrada had served as a longtime associate pastor and sanctuary movement leader at La Placita Roman Catholic Church. Burial followed at Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles.
Read the Bishop’s Blog post about the funeral here.
Read the Rev. Canon Richard Estrada’s obituary here.
Photos by Bob Williams