Only one Catholic church was destroyed in one of the most destructive fires in the history of Los Angeles, this month’s Palisades fire. That’s because it was the only Catholic church in Pacific Palisades.

The four regional wildfires that exploded at the same time have already claimed 28 lives and incinerated 40,000 acres. Evan Wyloge of the San Francisco Examiner estimated the total fire zones of the LA-area fires “is 30% larger than all of the area of San Francisco.”

Corpus Christi parish is one of the more than 6,000 structures demolished by the Palisades Fire. Students at adjacent Corpus Christi School, a K-8 school also incinerated by the fire, are among the more than 5,000 students impacted in the community. Other parishes, such as St. Martin of Tours in Brentwood and Our Lady of Malibu, were affected by evacuation orders and closed roads, according to Holy Cross Father David Guffey, national director and head of production at Family Theater Productions in Hollywood.

Corpus Christi recently made national headlines when Capt. Bryan Nassour of the Los Angeles Fire Department, an alumnus of L.A.’s Jesuit university, Loyola Marymount, discovered the 300-pound tabernacle unscathed amid the wreckage. Nassour and his crew hauled the sacred receptacle to the fire station across the street.

Often mistaken as its own city, Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles. The population at the time of the fire was about 23,000, with a daytime population that included hourly workers, commuters and beach visitors of more than 77,000.

With only one Catholic church located in the Palisades, it might appear at first glance to be a reflection of the supposed religious indifference that permeates Southern California. 

“The archdiocese’s post-World War II population was established on a ‘need’ basis, as opposed to, say, the big Italian or Irish parishes” common in Boston, New York or Chicago, said Kevin Feeney, Los Angeles Archdiocese archivist. 

Such a need was determined to meet the growing Palisades area. Corpus Christi was established in 1950 by Los Angeles’ archbishop, Cardinal James McIntyre, having split from nearby St. Monica 2 miles south. The topography of the Palisades, a bluff in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountain range, proved prone to not only wildfires but also landslides. “The Palisades fire burned through canyons right down to the ocean,” Feeney said. 

The perilous terrain upon which Corpus Christi was built is in stark contrast to the dozens of Catholic parishes that populate the area. From St. Monica, headed east along Santa Monica Boulevard (the famed Route 66) towards Hollywood, one will find a dozen nearby Catholic churches that were founded as Los Angeles established massive precincts across the sprawling flat landscape. 

Corpus Christi has remained at the same location off Sunset Boulevard, less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean. Until its destruction this month, the present red-brick church stood since 1965. Corpus Christi was described as a “bustling parish” and “the spiritual, social, and educational center for many Palisadians,” according to a 2007 guidebook, Hometown Santa Monica.

Corpus Christi School, which opened in 1951, was initially staffed by the Sisters of St. Louis. 

Sister of St. Louis Michele Harnett, who taught at Corpus Christi, was shocked at the devastation.

“I watched in horror as the church and whole neighborhoods were wiped out by the ferocious Palisades fire,” she told the Register. “These were families that our sisters knew and loved, parishioners who supported us for over 60 years and who found a special place in our hearts.” 

“We felt helpless as we watched this inferno destroy everything that the families possessed and wondered how they could rebuild their lives,” Sister Michele said.

Some displaced students are transferring to other nearby schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in the nation.

Among them is St. Monica. The two priests assigned to Corpus Christi were taken in at the St. Monica rectory, noted Father Guffey, who also lives at the rectory and serves at the parish.

An Mass celebrated by Corpus Christi’s pastor, Msgr. Liam Kidney, was added to St. Monica’s weekly schedule. Its parishioners have been flung across the area, looking for housing. 

“People seem to welcome the chance to gather from all the varied places they have spread across Southern California,” Father Guffey said. “People have been generous with donations and support services. Some St. Monica parishioners have even taken people into their homes.” 

Like Corpus Christi, St. Monica has an adjacent grade school. School administrators from both schools organized a play day at St. Monica’s school for children and their parents to gather, Father Guffey said. “The sound from the schoolyard was full of joy. People have a desire to gather; and since the church is not available, they have found an alternative for now.”

In a pastoral reflection on the fires, Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles wrote, “Every crisis is a crossroads. And in every crisis we have a decision to make.  “We can respond with anger and despair, and that’s a natural temptation. Or we can decide to accept our sufferings as somehow sharing in the sufferings of Jesus, who suffers for us and with us and who will never abandon us no matter how dark the path may seem.”

“Even when we have been left with little, we still have love to give,” the archbishop added.

The devastation has rallied the Catholic community to action, with appeals from the archdiocese, resources provided by Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, and Providence Saint John’s Health Center’s new Disaster Relief Pulmonary Clinic, located a few miles from Corpus Christi in Santa Monica, designed to support west L.A.’s respiratory needs from smoke and air quality. 

A reassuring sign of unity and strength amid the disaster has been the rescued Corpus Christi tabernacle. According to Father Guffey, it has been placed, charred but intact, in St. Monica’s sanctuary.

“After Mass, people came forward to reverence the tabernacle. Some knelt. Many prayed,” Father Guffey said. “The tabernacle stands as a symbol of hope that Christ’s presence endures, despite the great destruction,” he added.

“In time, this vibrant, faith-filled, generous community will come together to support one another, as they have in the past, and the spirit of Corpus Christi will rise again,” Sister Michele said. “We pray for that rebirth of a beloved parish.”