By LESLIE ANNE JONES Special to the Daily Press
As the global community witnessed last week just how deeply Pope John Paul II’s legacy has touched the lives of people around the world, hundreds of Santa Monicans experienced his mission of uniting people during a special noon mass on Friday at St. Monica Church when Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson led a spirited memorial and celebration of the Holy Father.
Torgerson and his parish joined thousands of other services held in remembrance of the Pope, who was laid to rest on Friday in Rome. Since it became known that the Pope’s health was deteriorating, thousands of parishioners have flocked to St. Monica to offer their prayers during specific masses and liturgies.
Torgerson, a man who has served St. Monica and the greater community for the past 24 years, follows the Holy Father’s philosophy that it’s about community rather than one individual. And it’s not just about one community either — Torgerson believes that service from one parish can have effects around the world.
That’s why Torgerson plans to travel with 10 of his parishioners to Africa for a third year this summer in an effort to help one of the poorest communities in the world.
The crowd at St. Monica on Friday was mixed — young and old, some dressed in black veils and funeral garb, others in beach gear. Torgerson began his sermon by mentioning that he had spotted the Rev. James Boline of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, and he took the opportunity to thank those of different faiths who were visiting St. Monica.
St. Monica is used to a crowd — the church has a membership of 7,400 households, making it the largest congregation in Santa Monica. The church offers eight masses on the weekends, as well as three daily masses, daily confessions and numerous weddings and funerals, which keeps the 65-year-old Torgerson busy.
The church, located at Seventh Street and California Avenue, was built in 1927 and supports an elementary school and high school with a combined 850 students. It’s the parish for many of Santa Monica’s most high-profile residents, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver.
Torgerson — who had little sleep the previous night because he watched the Pope’s funeral live on television on Friday — delivered an energetic sermon, highlighting the Holy Father’s message of peace and the need to embrace people of all walks of life. Torgerson explained there are two kinds of people in the world — those who can’t forgive and, as a result, live angry and resentful lives. And then there are those who live in peace. Pope John Paul II was a man who wanted the world to be a non-violent place.
Torgerson also mentioned a chapter taken from “The Purpose Drive Life,” written by pastor Rick Warren, that suggests all people are given one chance to serve a higher purpose and the Pope did just that.
“He certainly made the most of it,” Torgerson told the congregation. “The man showed us that non-violence works... You and I are given one chance to serve, I hope we use it.”
He joked with the congregation that they may want to keep the commemorative John Paul II cards that St. Monica passed out, because in Rome, Polish funeral atten-dees were carrying signs vying for the immediate sainthood of the deceased Pope.
Torgerson entered the priesthood 40 years ago and has been the pastor at St. Monica since 1987. A humble man, he was not eager to talk about himself, explaining that what it’s really about is the community and the parish as a whole.
Raised in east Los Angeles, Torgerson’s mother was a Roman Catholic and his father was a Lutheran. He and his sister both practiced Catholicism growing up.
Torgerson knew that it was always in his heart to enter the clergy. He attended St. John’s Seminary School in Los Angeles and entered the priesthood at 25 years old.
After seminary school, his first assignment was at Holy Trinity Parish in San Pedro, where he served for five years. Torgerson went on to receive a degree in religious education from Fordham University in New York. With his degree in hand, Torgerson spent 17 years working in the field of religious education for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles before coming to St. Monica.
After the Friday mass, Torgerson spent some time with the Daily Press in his home next door to St. Monica. Eating chicken-salad sandwiches around the kitchen table, he shared his thoughts on St. Monica and its role in the community.
What role does St. Monica play in the community?
“We have a variety of outreaches in the community. One of the things that we’re kind of seen for is that meal that we have each year on Thanksgiving eve. And we get nearly 1,000 people coming here who are poor, who are homeless, who are lonely. It’s a variety of folks, and we offer them a Thanksgiving meal. But the good thing is we do that, and the whole community is involved with it. So it’s the parish and the two schools working together to have some kind of a celebration for the folks on Thanksgiving.
“But having said that, as an example, on Holy Thursday, I was in the kitchen at our pastoral center, and I saw the high school students preparing a meal for SAMOSHEL, and I said to myself, ‘Where would the Lord be on Holy Thursday?’ Well, he’d be there. So I went with them. And they had a wonderful meal. It’s those kind of opportunities that I have as a pastor to join with people. We have an outreach to many different folks across the city. From St. Joseph’s Center, which is a great partnership for us, to SAMOSHEL, to Step Up on Second. We deal with a lot of folks that come to us individually, and we try to help and support them. I think that’s only one piece of it.
“About three years ago, I got this kind of a nudge inside me — I don’t know how else to describe it — and it provided a chance for me to do something that I had some fears about. It gave me a chance to go with a priest who had been here for five years. And he talked to me about it, and somehow I just felt — because I’m 65 now, I’m at a very different time in my life — one of the things I really need to do is experience the third world and then bring people from this community with me to the third world.
“Two years now I’ve gone, I’m going to go again this summer, and I’m taking 10 people with me from the parish. Hopefully as long as the Lord gives me life, I will take 10 folks each summer. The parish is on the garbage dump, literally, of the city of Nairobi, Kenya. So it’s not only third-world poverty, it is the poorest of the third-world poverty. And there’s all kinds of things in that community — a very large congregation, much like ours: very spirited, great music. People welcome the poorest of the very poor. As you know, HIV/AIDS is rampant there. On one Sunday, in this parish we showed a video, because you know a picture is worth a thousand words. So we showed the video and on that Sunday this community gave $100,000 to that church. The generosity of the people of this community is really something. But you have to see the need, and connect to that. So to me, all the care that we’re doing in the city of Santa Monica is very critical, whether it’s the lonely or the poor, or the people there in some difficult situations, we want to support them. But we have a second need, and that is to bring a community to the third world, and they to us, because we’ve received so much more than we could ever give. Their community, to us — their simplicity of life, their faith, their values, the way in which they live their life, their faith and confidence in God.”
Where do you think you got the desire to serve the third world?
“I think a grace comes that says this is the time, put away fears of getting sick or put away fears of not knowing what’ll be there when you get there, going to a strange land and a strange community — just go.”
What qualities should the next Pope have?
“There’s a lot of issues that the church faces today — many, many issues. And so, I suppose you might say it should be someone who is a great learner, a great teacher. You might want to say someone who will take up the issues that face women and the ordination of priesthood — all of those things that are going on that we face that are the issues of the Christian world. But I would say, for me, if I were to pick one thing, I would hope that the next Holy Father is a pastor who cares about, especially, those who are poor and broken.
“Pope John Paul was in Africa more than any other continent. That’s a wonderful thing...They in a very special way need that strength. I think especially also our young, because they’re still looking, wondering. And I think a pope that can touch lives. That’s a pastor, someone who is willing to listen and talk to people about the issues that they face.”
Did you ever meet the Pope? “I did. I was in Rome. I was there when John Paul I died. It was the 31 days, when he was elected, and died 31 days later. And I happened to be in Rome, and our Archbishop was there, and he brought me into the funeral. So I had that wonderful opportunity to meet the cardinals and to be there for that. And then maybe six years or seven years later, the Holy Father has a mass early in the morning in his private chapel, and he’ll invite various people. So I had the chance to meet him. The thing I noticed most, he said, ‘God Bless’ me and all — he was really very gracious. But the thing I noticed is that he’s right there, and he looks right at you, so for that moment he’s fully present. His motto by the way... each bishop has a crest, and they always put a word or two that kind of says what his ministry can be. You know what his words were? ‘Totus Tuus.’ It means ‘all yours.’”
What’s your philosophy on life? “I wake up every morning, grateful. That’s how I wake up. If I live in that gratitude, that for me is the key to my ministry and to my life: Grateful to God, grateful for the people I serve, very grateful that I’m pastor of this community. So for 40 years when I look back, that’s the word: Grateful.”
How involved are you with other clergy and churches in Santa Monica?
“Every year in January we have the parishes of the Lutheran church, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Episcopal and the Baptists meet. We meet about four times a year, have lunch together, chat about various concerns. And then we have a service, a joint service, and it’s usually held at St. Monica every year. And we pray together, and preach, sing and reflect together.”
How do you prepare for your sermons? “One of the things the Lord has blessed me with is I enjoy reading. I try to spend
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 11, 2005. Read the original PDF.