Monday, July 9, 2007

Mayor Villaraigosa getting prayers


Tony Castro was ahead of the LA press corps on poking holes in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's gilded facade. He wrote this story in November that questioned the authenticity of the mayor's rags-to-riches story, and in January, he was the first to get the story-that-never-ran about Villaraigosa's failing marriage.

Last week, Castro's colleague at the LA Daily News, editorial page editor Chris Weinkopf, called on the mayor, a fellow Catholic, to end his affair with a local (suspended) newscaster and repent. It seems plenty of others think Villaraigosa needs to get right with God, Castro reports today.

A black lace mantilla draped over her head, Matilda Salas knelt at a side altar of downtown's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, immersed in solemn prayer, a rosary of crystal beads clutched in her tiny hands.

When she finished, she carefully lit two votive candles, as she had done since Tuesday, the day she learned of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's admitted extramarital affair.

"I light one candle for Antonio and one candle for (his wife)," said Salas, 56. "I pray that with God's help, they find a way of reconciling.

"If they don't, Antonio is lost. He is lost to his family. He is lost to himself. Most importantly, he is lost to God."

(Photo: AP)

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