WHEN FR. ANGELOS Sebastian arrived from his native India to the Diocese of Orange in 2007, he began his new assignment as parochial vicar of St. Bonaventure Church in Huntington Beach.
Fr. Angelos recalls meeting a parishioner who enthusiastically discussed with him the Shroud of Turin, one of the world’s most studied artifacts that is believed to be the actual burial shroud of Jesus Christ.
That parishioner, Dr. August “Gus” Accetta, a pelvic reconstructive surgeon and women’s health physician who returned to Catholicism as an adult, had begun studying the shroud intensively in 1992.
Four years later, Accetta founded the Shroud Center of Southern California, which houses a docent-led exhibit and reams of research about the shroud’s history and numerous efforts to authenticate the ancient burial linen.
Fr. Angelos eventually visited the Shroud Center of Southern California, which started in Huntington Beach and relocated to Fountain Valley before finding its permanent home in the Baker Canyon area of Silverado Canyon, deep in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains.
The two became friends.
At the Sept. 8 special blessing ceremony for the new interactive Shroud of Turin museum in the Cultural Center on the Christ Cathedral campus, Fr. Angelos gave tribute to Accetta and the center he founded.
Accetta wasn’t at the ceremony (although his sister and brother were) and was not directly involved in creating “The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” which opens to the public on Nov. 19, but he was a key inspiration for it, Fr. Angelos said.
His comments were echoed by Terry McGaughan, president of the Resurrection Center at Christ Cathedral, the nonprofit that funded and will operate the museum.
“We were inspired by the work of Gus,” McGaughan said.
Remarked Fr. Angelos: “God’s ways are amazing.”
‘NOTHING LIKE IT’
Accetta, who now lives in Bakersfield, said he plans to be in Orange County for the opening of the museum, whose 10,000-square-foot space features a groundbreaking series of 360-degree theater rooms, interactive displays, new sacred art and other exhibits.
“I’m thrilled about it,” Accetta said. “The Shroud Center of Southern California is like going camping in the hills. The new shroud museum at Christ Cathedral is like Disneyland. This will be far the biggest shroud exhibit in the U.S. There’s nothing like it.”
The Shroud Center of Southern California, Accetta noted, remains a vibrant venue for visitors to learn about the shroud, attracting some 25,000 high school students annually who soak up the science and research behind it. Accetta is a leading authority on the Shroud of Turin whose scholarly contributions to the artifact include four research papers that involved nuclear imaging of human subjects – including himself.
Although the Vatican takes no official position on the Shroud’s origins, according to a 2021 National Catholic Register story on Accetta, it has encouraged the faithful to venerate it as an image of the crucified Christ.
Neither the Shroud Center of Southern California nor the new museum at Christ Cathedral exhibit the actual Shroud, but rather high-quality and highly detailed replicas. For conservation purposes, the actual Shroud in Turin is rarely put on display. It is housed in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud within the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, and kept in a climate-controlled shrine.
SCIENCE AND FAITH
At the blessing ceremony in September, Bishop Kevin Vann remarked: “We live in a very skeptical age for a lot of reasons. And this exhibit is an exhibit of faith that reminds us, yes, Jesus lived and died and rose and yes, He is still with us.”
Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer called the new museum “an opportunity for us to reach young people and say, ‘Let us show you through science and faith that God does exist. And more than that, that he loves you.’”
Accetta, who has retired from orthopedic surgery but still practices women’s health, is happy that more people will learn about the Shroud of Turin. Growing up a Catholic in Huntington Beach, but later becoming a Protestant who considered science and religion incompatible, his studies about the Shroud, he said, flipped that thinking. “I’m pleased that the new museum will bring the message of the shroud to even more people,” he said. “It’s very complementary to what out center does, and I feel very strongly that I’ll be getting involved there.”
For more information and to learn about pre-sale tickets, visit TheShroudExperience.com.