The memorial occurred just weeks after the Los Angeles County Crematorium Cemetery in Boyle Heights laid to rest the cremated remains of more than 1,600 people in a mass grave — bodies unclaimed since 2019. Many among them were presumably homeless with no known family members to claim them.
Every year, over a thousand individuals die on the streets of Los Angeles while experiencing homelessness. Archbishop José H. Gomez and religious leaders from across Los Angeles presided at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office of Life, Justice and Peace’s Homeless Persons’ Interreligious Memorial on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.