Bishop John Harvey Taylor (center, top row) addresses clergy pictured on one of four Zoom screens during Jan. 9 diocese-wide check-in on fire disaster response. Lura Steele (second from right, top row) of Episcopal Relief & Development described best practices, also repeating her presentation during Diocesan Council’s Zoom meeting later that afternoon. Episcopal News photo
Underscoring pastoral support “in the midst of an existential crisis about the future of two whole communities,” Bishop John Harvey Taylor invited Diocesan Council’s Jan. 9 meeting to suspend regular business in favor of conversation and consultation, noting the diocese still will come together to celebrate the Jan. 11 ordinations of four new priests despite out-of-control wildfires, high winds, mass evacuations and power outages.
“We’re a diocese that is on fire,” Taylor told Council members gathered, many of whom had received texted evacuation warnings as the online meeting began. “We’re walking the Anglican middle way” between the tug of business as usual and facing the ongoing crisis, he said.
“Many of you are yourselves at risk or have loved ones at risk. Hence, the idea of taking away the business, but keeping time with one another,” Taylor told Council, which unanimously affirmed the agenda change. “Right now, the urgency is safety and survival, and care of those at risk and who have been left without their homes, churches, and schools.”
Taylor welcomed two representatives of Episcopal Relief and Development, Lura Steele and Katie Mears, who offered advice and resources to foster “community, information, and agency,’ also having done so at a Zoom meeting of diocesan clergy earlier in the day. Links to those resources, including an outline of the “emotional life cycle of a disaster” in English and Spanish, are here.
Although St. Mark’s Church in Altadena was destroyed by the blaze, members said they intended still to come together to celebrate the ordination of their own parish deacon, Michael Mischler, at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. John’s Cathedral in Los Angeles, along with three others: Hart Roussel; Margaret Stivers and Karen James, Taylor said.
The communities of Altadena and Pacific Palisades were particularly devastated, although the combined wind and fire storms have affected the entire diocese. The Palisades fire has burned more than 20,000 acres while the Eaton blaze has scorched 14,000, together leaving 10 dead, officials have reported.
Taylor estimated that about 75% or more of the members of St. Matthew’s Church in Pacific Palisades had lost homes and at least 5,000 structures were believed burned.
“The same is likely true for the parent community for the parish school,” he said. The combined challenges of the widespread devastation, and future risk of wildfire, and the availability of fire insurance could affect decisions to rebuild. While the church was still standing, several campus school buildings were damaged by the blaze.
Similarly, as many as 40 families from St. Mark’s Church in Altadena lost homes, Taylor said. The church was destroyed, but a preschool building was untouched.
At St. Barnabas Church in Pasadena as many as 25% of congregants lost homes, he said. All Saints Church in Pasadena was housing about two hundred people, many of whom had also lost homes.
“This is to underscore that something of enormous import has occurred among us and will have an impact on decisions leaders at those churches and others are able to make,” he said.
Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy noted that power outages continued across the diocese, where more than 200,000 people have followed mandatory evacuation orders.
“We’ve been fortunate to have Episcopal Relief and Development on board with us, from the moment everything started looking pretty scary on Tuesday,” McCarthy said.
ERD awarded the diocese a $20,000 emergency relief grant and, earlier in the day, representatives held an online meeting with clergy to offer resources for aiding parishioners coping with the disaster.
Pastoral and other resources are available through the diocesan website.
Cash donations are most effective at this time – offering recipients flexibility in using funds for emergency priorities – and may be made through the diocesan One Body, One Spirit annual fund. Several Council members concurred with ERD’s reminder that gathering of such items as clothes, blankets, and household goods is impractical and not advisable at this time.
Bishop Taylor reiterated advice shared by the Rev. Canon Michael Bamberger, longtime rector of Ascension, Sierra Madre – also located in the Eaton fire evacuation zone. A retired veteran officer with the local volunteer fire department, Bamberger underscored realities of the fatigue created by such crises, and the spiritual and social importance of “doing church as normal” whether online or in person.
Diocesan Council’s next meeting is set for 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, via Zoom.