Episcopal Press and News
Robert Kennedy remembered at L.A. hospital where he died 40 years ago
Episcopal News Service, Los Angeles. June 6, 2008 [060608-03]
A prayer service remembering the life of the late Senator Robert Kennedy was held June 3 in All Souls’ Chapel of Good Samaritan Hospital where Kennedy died June 6, 1968 after being shot the previous day at the nearby Ambassador Hotel.
Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno and Cardinal Roger Mahony joined in offering prayers and reflections, leading a congregation assembled in the same chapel where members of the Kennedy family kept vigil following the tragic shooting.
Good Samaritan – founded in 1885 and an institution of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles – took particular pride in preparing for the 40th-anniversary liturgy, said hospital president Andrew B. Leeka in welcoming the congregation to the service.
Among those offering reflections was Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, who spoke of Kennedy’s solidarity with the poor across the U.S., and of the need to keep alive his vision for economic justice.
Speakers also included Paul Schrade, former director of the United Auto Workers Union, who was shot before Kennedy in the hotel kitchen. Los Angeles City Council Member Tom LaBonge added his remembrances.
Episcopal priest Gabri Ferrer of All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills, offered a musical tribute that included a recording of “Danny Boy,” sung by his late mother, the well-known vocalist Rosemary Clooney.
Participating clergy included hospital chaplains Jerry Anderson, Ronald David and Felipe Martinez. Canon Lydia Lopez, associate for communications and public affairs of the Diocese of Los Angeles, was among diocesan representatives.
The diocese’s late Bishop Suffragan Oliver Garver Jr. was present at the Ambassador Hotel when Kennedy was shot. Garver later served as chaplain to the jury that convicted Sirhan Sirhan as assassin.
The historic All Souls’ Chapel dates from the 1920s and is a smaller scale replica of L.A.’s former St. Paul’s Cathedral. Both Mediterranean-style structures were designed by noted architect Reginald Johnson, son of the diocese’s first bishop, Joseph Horsfall Johnson.
More about the hospital is online at http://www.goodsam.org/.