May 1, 2006, 1:57AM

L.A. cardinal to join immigration march in barrio
By MICHAEL MARTINEZ
Chicago Tribune

LOS ANGELES - That Cardinal Roger Mahony attended grammar school here, in the modest St. Charles Borromeo parish more than a half-century ago, was a fact lost on many parishioners on a recent Sunday.
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But little else is forgotten about the neighborhood-kid-done-good whose national profile has been on the rise, largely for his willingness to take on controversy, especially his stand on illegal immigration.

Mahony, 70, who leads the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, is scheduled to participate in today's planned mass protests in Los Angeles, except not the one to be held downtown.

Rather, after celebrating noon Mass at Los Angeles' Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels today, Mahony will march in a barrio.

Mahony has often been said to have a common touch among Latino immigrants.

When newly ordained in the 1960s, Mahony sought a remote post in rural Fresno, Calif., where he worked with immigrant farm laborers and their then-leader, Cesar Chavez.

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