-Photo by Terry Miller
San Gabriel Mission, the 241-year-old birthplace of the Los Angeles region, will join hundreds of Catholic churches and thousands of people across the United States of America to ring bells on the first day of the Year of Faith from Oct. 11, 2012 through Nov. 24, 2013, proclaimed by Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI.
Anyone can participate by ringing any kind of bell starting at noon on Oct. 11, 2012, for three minutes. Church bells, hand bells, bicycle bells, and doorbells can be rung.
People whom would like to ring the largest of mission’s six bells, the 2,000 pound bell, can visit San Gabriel Mission’s Gift Shop at 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 11, and will be led to a special place where a very few escorted visitors ring the bells each year, announced San Gabriel Mission Rev. Pastor Bruce Wellems, CMF. There is no cost to participate.
During the Year of Faith, Catholics are asked to study and reflect on documents of Vatican II and the catechism so that they may deepen their knowledge of faith, said a church spokesperson.
San Gabriel Mission, located at 428 S. Mission Dr., San Gabriel, was founded on Sept. 8, 1771 as the fourth oldest of 21 missions in California. The Roman Catholic parish has more than 50 active groups that speak either English, Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese, Tagalog (Filipino) or Chinese. Mission’s telephone number is 626-457-3035.