Gustavo Arellano

Gustavo Arellano

Gustavo Arellano is a columnist with the Los Angeles Times and a longtime reader of NCR.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who died Oct. 22, celebrates after the Dodgers won the National League title over the Expos Oct. 19, 1981, in Montreal. Valenzuela, the Mexican-born Dodgers phenom, taped images of La Virgen de Guadalupe and El Santo Niño in his team locker.

In Fernando Valenzuela, as biblical a tale in baseball as we'll ever see

LA Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela did not wear his faith on his sleeve. But his reverence for La Virgen de Guadalupe and El Santo Niño highlights the remarkable life of a Mexican, Catholic athlete.

The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968, they entered a draft board in Catonsville, Md., took 378 draft files, brought them to a nearby parking lot and set them on fire with homemade napalm. Then they sang, prayed, spoke with reporters and waited to be arrested by the Baltimore County police. (CNS/www.catonsville9.org)

This story of '60s Catholic social justice still has power decades later

When I served as dramaturg for the Los Angeles-based Center Theatre Group's reading of "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine" by Fr. Daniel Berrigan, I didn't expect how profound the experience would be for my Catholicism.

José Huizar, right, then a Los Angeles council member, is pictured with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti showing their Metro cards as they ride the Angels Flight Aug. 31, 2017.

Saints and sinners of LA linked to Mexican diaspora

An LA felon has no business wrapping himself in Mexican Catholic iconography in desperate, public attempts for sympathy, writes NCR contributor Gustavo Arellano. 

Candles, flowers and photo on table

Grandma leaves behind laughter, love and faith

Funeral traditions for Grandma highlight the faith that brought her community and friends and remind her descendants that life is never about you, but the people you love. 

At left, an image said to resemble the Virgin Mary is pictured underneath the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago April 18, 2005; at right is a photo of the image that Gustavo Arellano took in June 2023. The image is known as Our Lady of the Underpass. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway; Gustavo Arellano)

Chicago's downtrodden, magnificent Our Lady of the Underpass still inspires

The Salt Stain Mary on a concrete underpass is in bad shape, but Gustavo Arellano's pilgrimage to Chicago reminds him that devotion to Our Lady cannot be erased.

This is a collection of tombstones at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles that date from the 1940s — proof of how beloved Santo Niño de Atocha was even back then. (Courtesy of Gustavo Arellano)

In the dark world of 'Perry Mason,' Santo Niño de Atocha offers hope for L.A.

A recent mention on the HBO series "Perry Mason" is just the latest of Hollywood guest appearances by Santo Niño de Atocha, an image of the infant Jesus revered by Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

Maria de la Luz Arellano Miranda, Gustavo Arellano's mother, cooks gorditas for her family in 2018. She passed away a week after Easter four years ago from ovarian cancer at 69. (Courtesy of the Arellano family)

What Lenten leftovers from mis tías taught me about death and resurrection

Enchiladas, huachales and capirotada from his aunts are more than just nice meals for Gustavo Arellano. They remind him of his late mother and that it's never too late to change our ways.

The author's photo of Luis Cantabrana's public shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe in Santa Ana, California. (Courtesy of Gustavo Arellano)

Instagram allows Donald Trump — but not Our Lady of Guadalupe. What's wrong with this picture?

A photo of a homemade shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe landed Gustavo Arellano in Instagram jail, yet its parent company is allowing Donald Trump back.

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