The fire that ravaged Mission San Gabriel Arcángel church in the predawn hours of Saturday, July 11, left behind a haunting scene.
In a matter of minutes, the mission’s 230-year-old roof was nearly gone. The sunlight pouring down through the holes revealed the charred planks that had crashed down on the church’s pews. The altar, along with the mission’s bell tower and museum were spared, but the thick adobe walls were blackened.
As bad as the damage is, it could have been worse. Because the church had been undergoing renovations, much of the artwork in the sanctuary, including historic paintings and other devotional artifacts, had been removed prior to the fire.
But for Anthony Morales, tribal chief of the San Gabrielino Mission Indians and a parishioner of San Gabriel, the damage was more than material.
“These are my roots,” said Morales, holding back tears as he surveyed the scene just hours after the fire had been contained. “This is my church. All my ancestors are buried in the cemetery next door. Six thousand of my ancestors are buried on these grounds, and this is the church that they built. It’s just very devastating.”
The devastation was just the latest blow to be suffered this year by Los Angeles’ oldest Catholic outpost.
As 2020 started, preparations were underway to celebrate a “Jubilee Year” leading to the 250th anniversary of St. Junípero Serra’s founding of the mission Sept. 8, 1771.
But that was before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced the shutdown of California churches and a lockdown of the economy. Just several weeks before the fire, mission officials had decided reluctantly to postpone the jubilee plans for a year, while continuing work on much-needed renovations and improvements to the church.
As the church reopened for public Masses, along with others in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, waves of anti-racism protests had broken out across the country, protests that included attacks on public monuments and statues to controversial figures in U.S. history, including statues of St. Junípero, like those found on the mission’s campus.
Last month, statues to the California missionary were toppled in San Francisco and in Los Angeles, and the weekend before the fire, a long-standing St. Junípero statue outside the state Capitol building in Sacramento was felled.
That same weekend before the fire, San Gabriel staff had quietly removed one of St. Junípero’s statues from public view to keep it safe from possible vandalism.
The July 11 blaze at San Gabriel was part of a weekend that saw churches vandalized in other parts of the country. Statues to the Virgin Mary were damaged in Queens, New York, and in Boston; in Ocala, Florida, a man drove a minivan into a Catholic church before pouring gasoline in the foyer and setting fire to the building.
While there was no immediate word on the cause of the fire, investigators from a regional task force and from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent Saturday afternoon in the front of the mission, where the fire is believed to have started, City News Service reported July 12.
Local Catholics who showed up at the mission the next day to pray were suspicious. The timing of the fire, and the broader attacks on St. Junípero statues and other church properties, was too much of a coincidence for them.
“We don’t know how it happened, but it seems like the Church is under attack. There’s a lot of resentment and a lot of anger,” said Miguel Sanchez, president of the local “Knights of Bikes” chapter….
The above comes from a July 13 story by Pablo Kay, editor of Angelus News.
No electrical work being done
According to a July 13 story on laist. com, “a representative for the region’s fire department told Josie Huang that no electrical work was being done in a recent renovation.”
As a retired Fire investigator, I urge patience and want to let you know that there is a high probability that IF this fire was arson, that will be determined. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives responds to fires, even accidental ones, at churches because, under current law, places of worship and abortion clinics fall under federal jurisdiction (as do, of course, federal facilities, like post offices, Social Security and military recruiting offices). I’ve investigated both arson and accidental fires at churches. It simply takes some time to conduct an investigation (unlike on television).
The archdiocese wasted no time putting up a donation request to rebuild on the archdiocesan website. How tone deaf in this time of economic hardship, and California is shutting down businesses and worship for the second time now. The building was insured, of course, so no donations are needed to cover the cost of repairs. But any excuse to get money from people.
Fire insurance rarely requires full coverage. If people want to donate, let them donate.
If this were anything but a Christian place of worship, there would already be screams of “hate crime” all over the main stream media.
All 21 California Missions need to be declared Federal Monuments to ensure that the full weight of the Executive Order pertaining to vandalism against these sites is leveled against these loathesom people. 10 years in Federal Prison at the very least to start. Secondly, Catholic bigotry is not socially acceptable. Catholic lives matter.
Anti-Catholic bigotry is socially acceptable. Where have you been?
Check your “white privilege,” even if you’re not white. “Lives matter” must always be preceded exclusively by the word “black.” Use of “all,” “blue,” “Hispanic,” “Catholic” or any other terms is prohibited.
Could be spontaneous combustion due to Global Warming. That, or Structural Racism.