Los Angeles Catholic reveals stories of faith and hope

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

The Editor-in-Chief of Angelus News in Los Angeles, Pablo Kay, is grateful for Pope Francis' closeness to the fire-devastated US city, and describes himself as "very fortunate."

"The fires didn't affect me or my family directly as we were at a safe distance from where the fires happened," he noted.

However, as he recounts the dramatic situation in an interview with Vatican News, as a sort of 'humanitarian disaster,' he recognizes how it has affected his work dramatically to provide around-the-clock coverage, and not only of what is going on in terms of the destruction, but also of countless stories and initiatives, especially of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest US Archdiocese with about 300 parishes.

During this conversation, Mr. Kay demonstrates that despite the dramatic destruction, lives lost, and looming 'insurance crisis,' that he manages to maintain hope this Jubilee, especially after having seen almost-seemingly-miraculous episodes in the midst of the suffering, driven by faith and hope. 

Q: Could you describe to us, being in Los Angeles, the situation? We know of the intense suffering and Pope Francis repeats that the people of Los Angeles are in his heart. What is the situation? What are the greatest challenges, and what is needed?

Well, we are a city that's suffered a lot the last few weeks. Right now, there's kind of hope in the air because there's rain on the way in a few days. It's not a ton of rain, but they say it's enough that would keep us out of fire danger for at least a couple of weeks. But the situation right now is is still one of shock. The city has been on edge, even though the two major fires are under control. Several other small ones have popped up and the conditions have not been favorable, with strong winds, very low humidity, and this ongoing lack of rain.

The biggest challenge I think right now is that it's still a humanitarian disaster in many ways, not just people who have lost their homes, but families that in some ways have been separated by these fires. Livelihoods completely lost, jobs, places of work and so forth, and the institutions that they belong to, as well, have been affected. Of course, there has been the loss of churches, of schools.

What is needed right now? I don't know where to start. I do know, even from some personal friends that have been affected by the fires that it looks like there's going to be a huge insurance crisis in which insurers, for example, are now reluctant or backing out out of the property that they insured because there has been so much that has been lost that there may not be ways for them to cover it.

So then the state has to step in with its own kind of support. But is that enough? It's just another layer of bureaucracy. So even people who you would think are financially stable, who have some sense of financial security, for example, may find themselves with a very difficult not just weeks or months, but years ahead of them.

Q: Having followed all of this so closely, have there been stories that you have seen or learned of that have moved you?

So many stories of faith and of hope have come out. I think, for example, of Deacon Jose Luis Diaz who belongs to Sacred Heart Church in Altadena, who was evacuated in the middle of the night due to the Eaton Fire, went to a nearby shelter that had been set up and, in the middle of the night, and just a couple of hours after he got there and fell asleep, was awoken to the news that his church was on fire.

He rushed there with his son in law and found a few other parishioners there, trying to put out a fire on the roof of the church. Somehow with a with an iron pipe, he was able to break the roof tiles and use a low pressure water hose to put out the flames before they could spread to the rest of the church. Almost all the houses around the church were burning.

I think of most of the parishioners at Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades, which many people have heard of, that was destroyed the first night of the fires. The parishioners, two days later went to the site, almost all of them had lost their homes, and were there. But they weren't anxious, but they were still shocked. But in speaking to them, I could see they were genuinely interested in how the others were doing first, before themselves.

Q: There was a story related to the Corpus Christi Church, I believe as well...

Of course, the story that made its way around the world, right? The fire captain stationed across the street from Corpus Christi Church, who went into the rubble of the church and called the pastor and said, "hey, I found this gold box. What do you want me to do with it?" And of course, it was the tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament inside. And you know, that was such a such a sign.

It was more than a symbol, but such a strong sign for so many Catholics here. I think the next day [the tabernacle] was brought to a nearby parish, where Corpus Christi parishioners gathered for a special Sunday Mass.

They had lost their homes. They lost their church, but the tabernacle that they had come to know of all the years and that they prayed before, was there, hadn't left. I think that was a very visible sign.

I think also, for example, of a family, which I think typical of so many working families in the Los Angeles area, which becomes so hard to raise a family. They had four children and with a fifth on the way, living in a two bedroom apartment there in Altadena, who lost their home almost instantly. To hear their testimony of faith, was very moving. They saw this moment as an opportunity to pass faith to their children, to really tell their children, 'look, God will provide.' 'God has something better for us.'

It was great to see the support they receive from their parish and from their community of the Neocatechumenal Way. Also, another family belonging to the Charismatic Renewal, started a donation drive on their front yard, where so many people who had lost their homes, were walking, to and fro, to go see the wreckage. There are numerous stories like that, that I could go on and on.

Q: Turning to the reality for the Church, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, on the ground, could you shed light on the Church's activities at this time?

Well, we're the biggest Archdiocese in the country, almost 300 parishes and almost as many schools. So it seems that every parish, every school is doing something. A donation drive, a fundraiser, a rally, and volunteers accepting students from parish schools that are closed due to the fires. The Archdiocese itself set up a special wildfire relief fund and you can learn more about it at LACatholics.org, which has really been a fund through which victims of the fires can receive a dollar amount, or some aid through a parish.

And I think that that fund is being supported by donors and Dioceses all over the country, and of course, here, all over California. So the response has been overwhelming, as has been the response to different drives for donated goods to, to make available to people who lost everything in these fires. I was in one parish in Santa Monica, kind of an upscale, trendy neighborhood, where they showed me racks of clothes, not only new and donated, but donated by designers in the area who decided to offload some of their inventory or send in samples.

So it has been really amazing to see how people have really sprung into action. And I think these fires, at least here in Los Angeles, I would say, have brought out the best in so many people.

Q: And how did the disaster happen?

I think it's actually very simple. We had a very rainy winter last year, so there was more vegetation than normal. And then it was followed by what is now one of the driest winters on record. So any little spark, especially this time of the year when we get these dry winds from the desert, kind of fan any kind of spark, any kind of flame. It was really kind of a perfect storm.

So really, until we get some serious rain, we're not out of the woods. You know, one can also talk about the political issues that have been raised and the management of vegetation, of the fire resources.. But really, I think it was those two ingredients that just set up a terrible set of circumstances.

Q: Pablo, we are in the Jubilee of Hope. As a journalist covering a tragedy that makes it hard to keep hope despite these incredibly moving stories of faith and initiatives. What does the Jubilee mean to you right now?

Well, it's made me think, what do I put my hope in? What is this Jubilee of Hope about? Is my hope in in material security? Is it in my health? Is it in having a stable career, a home, a car, and being comfortable in having leisure time? I think many times that's where I put my hope in. And I suspect many, many others do as well.

But the faith that I received through the Church says something different, right? It says that that our hope is in Christ, and Christ is the only one who who has who has conquered death. And I think that's at the end of the day, as Saint Paul suggests, I think in the Letter to the Ephesians, that we're all slaves to this, this fear of death. And so I'm realizing more than ever, I need this.

I need this Jubilee of hope to really wake me up and to re-center, to invite me to see where, where is my hope, and to discover that the only one I can really put my hope in is God is His Son, Jesus Christ.

Maybe things that we we hear, we understand even intellectually, but we need something like a fire, a series of fires to, at least in my case, to wake me up and help me see my reality and see whether I really, really believe what the what the Church announces in this Jubilee Year.