Solemnity, spiritual hope and humorous memories from a life well-lived — but cut all-too short — marked the funereal farewell for Valentino Alvero, one of the victims of the recent Monterey Park mass shooting.
Family, friends and other mourners filled the pews of St. Stephen Martyr Catholic Church — a midcentury parish whose campanile dominates the strip-mall skyline not far from the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where a gunman killed 11 and wounded nine others — on Friday morning, Feb. 3, for a funeral Mass honoring Alvero’s life.
The Mass, presided over by parish pastor Rev. Joseph Magdaong and Rev. Leo Ortega, lasted a little more than an hour. It was the first major public funeral for one of the victims, nearly two weeks after the mass shooting rent Monterey Park.
The Mass, though somber and underscored by grief, gave Alvero’s children a platform on which to speak lovingly about their father. The service also offered his loved ones comfort through prayer — and the knowledge that, as a devout Catholic, his soul was being shepherded to paradise.
“Val is no longer with us, he was taken all too soon,” Ortega said. “And so we mourn, and just like any mourner, we search our lives for memories we had with Val. We relive those moments. But is that all there is to it? How far can our memories take us — where is our hope?”
The hope for Alvero’s loved ones, he added, is in the Eucharist itself.
“Because in here, everything comes together,” Ortega added. “All the mourners, the light, the joy, everything comes together in the heart of the Eucharist.”
Around 100 people attended the funeral Mass at St. Stephen Martyr, which has a sizable Asian American congregation and has become the community’s central Catholic gathering place, having also hosted a special Mass for all 11 victims last week.
Complete coverage: Monterey Park Mass Shooting
During that Mass, on Jan. 27, Magdaong read a message from Pope Francis.
“His Holiness joins…
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