Los Angeles archbishop presides at Masses for southern California fire victims, first responders

CV NEWS FEED // Responding to fires that are blazing through the region, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, who has called for continuous prayers, is presiding at a series of Masses Jan. 9 and 10 for the victims and first responders.

The Mass schedule is an English Mass at 12:10 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, a bilingual Mass at Mission San Gabriel in the Chapel of the Annunciation at 6 p.m. Jan. 9, and a Mass at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Incarnation Church in Glendale, according to a press release the Archdiocese sent CatholicVote the morning of Jan. 9. The 12:10 p.m. Jan. 9 Mass was originally scheduled to be at St. Monica Church in Santa Monica, but an evacuation warning in the area prompted the move to the Cathedral.

The respective regions’ auxiliary bishops — Bishop Matthew Elshoff at Our Lady of the Angels, Bishop Brian Nunes at Mission San Gabriel, and Bishop Albert Bahhuth at Incarnation Church — will join the Archbishop in celebrating the Masses.

The locations may need to change based on fires’ movements and any subsequent evacuation orders. The fires have burned more than 28,000 acres, according to Reuters.

The Masses will be (or have been, in the case of the Mass at the Cathedral) livestreamed on the Archdiocese’s social media channels and at lacatholics.org/california-fires/, where the Archdiocese will also share updates regarding the fires’ impact on Catholic parishes and schools as well as details regarding its dedicated fund to support those sites. The Archdiocese’s multimedia news magazine, Angelus News, is also reporting on the fires via its website and its social media channels (@Angelusnews).

As CatholicVote previously reported, Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood has been destroyed, and 65 Catholic schools have had to close. Some Catholic churches in the county have been sheltering families who had to leave their homes behind because of the fires.