Catholic parishes offer shelter, relief to evacuated families near LA fires

LOS ANGELES — Several Catholic parishes opened their doors to families evacuated from their homes as wind-driven fires continued to burn through parts of Los Angeles County.

Several wildfires have been raging in Los Angeles since Jan. 7, spread by tremendous winds and affecting multiple areas. The Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires have destroyed roughly 60 square miles. At least 24 people are dead, with many others missing. Evacuations have been ordered for more than 92,000 Los Angeles County residents. Thousands of structures, including houses and churches, have been destroyed.

St. Monica Church in Santa Monica was open until almost midnight Jan. 7, offering evacuees from the nearby Palisades Fire a place to freshen up, get snacks and charge their devices, said Merrick Siebenaler, director of parish life at St. Monica.

“We have dozens and dozens of parishioners and school families who have lost everything,” Siebenaler said.

The parish campus was again open to evacuees the following morning, but by Jan. 8 had to close after fire officials designated it part of a “warning zone.”

One older couple from St. Monica spent the night at the parish rectory, after pastor Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson learned they’d been evacuated from the Palisades Fire burn area.

Another family whose Pacific Palisades home was threatened by the fire stopped by St. Monica Jan. 7 to pray. Hours later, they learned the house had been destroyed. The next morning, Siebenaler said, the family was back to drop off their bicycles and pray with Msgr. Torgerson.

On Jan. 8, Sacred Heart Church in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles opened its auditorium to make water, food and masks available to evacuees and victims of fires in the area.

The shelter was being operated by the City of Los Angeles, but representatives of the local St. Vincent de Paul Society council were also on site with supplies, including children’s clothes and diapers, Sacred Heart pastor Father Tesfaldet Asghedom told Angelus.

“We’re here to help out,” Father Asghedom said.

After classes were cancelled at St. Andrew’s School in Pasadena, principal Jae Kim opened the school gym to families who needed a break from the hazardous air quality caused by the growing Eaton Fire just to the north. Coffee, donuts and snacks were brought to the gym Jan. 8. On Jan. 9, Kim planned to screen a movie for children on a large screen and have a “lot of board games” available.

“You can’t be outside here in Pasadena, the air is really bad. It’s hazardous and toxic,” Kim said.

Many of the families who came by Jan. 8 had been evacuated from the Eaton Fire evacuation area around Altadena and Pasadena. Several were waiting to be allowed back into their neighborhoods to see if their homes were still standing.

“Every hour, I’m getting a phone call from another family who’s lost everything,” Kim said.

“You can hug them, pray with them, listen to them as best you can,” said Kim of the several school families who stopped by. “What else is there to do?”

On Jan. 8, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced a special dedicated fund “to support parishes and schools impacted by the fires.”

“I am praying for all of you,” Pope Francis said, using his televised Angelus address to speak directly to the people impacted by the wildfires in Southern California.

“I am close to the residents of Los Angeles County, California, where devastating fires have broken out in recent days,” the pope told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Jan. 12 to pray the Angelus with him.

In a telegram released by the Vatican the previous day, Pope Francis also assured the people of Los Angeles of his prayers as the fires continued to cause death and destruction.

“Entrusting the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of almighty God, His Holiness sends heartfelt condolences to those who mourn their loss,” said a telegram sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, to Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

Fire captain makes way through ruins of incinerated church to find tabernacle intact

By Ann Rodgers | OSV News

LOS ANGELES — Four days after Corpus Christi Church was incinerated in the Palisades Fire, Capt. Bryan Nassour of the Los Angeles Fire Department picked his way over a 6-foot layer of rubble in the ashes of the sanctuary and recovered the tabernacle Jan. 11.

“I did it because the whole community has been decimated — it looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off and nothing is standing,” Nassour told Angelus, the news outlet of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Nassour is a member of St. Francis de Sales Church in Sherman Oaks, and his brother belongs to Corpus Christi.

“My brother lost his home. I have close friends who lost everything but the shirts on their backs, and they belong to that church too. So, if I could save just one thing, let it be this, so they have something to believe in,” he said.

Nassour, whose station in Pacific Palisades is across the street from Corpus Christi, had been up all night battling other fires. As he sipped coffee at his desk and gazed at the ruined church, he decided to check.

Scorched bricks, tiles and hunks of debris filled the nave so high that he had to crawl under the top of door frames that no longer had doors. The roof had collapsed, and a burned steel frame teetered above the twisted remains of a chandelier. The pews had been consumed. Only the granite altar remained, with the solid brass tabernacle atop it and a cross above. The Blessed Sacrament was intact.

He made many calls before he was able to reach Msgr. Liam Kidney of Corpus Christi to tell him that the tabernacle was safe and undamaged.

“He was in utter disbelief,” Nassour said.

Nassour offered to search for other sacred objects and the priest told him where to find the chalices and patens. Firefighters from Station 69 helped dig for the crushed cabinet. The chalices and patens had been severely damaged. But the firefighters recovered other sacred objects, including three unbroken containers of holy oil.