Wildfires in Los Angeles area level church, force school closures

Firefighters run as a brush fire burns in Pacific Palisades, California, on Jan. 7, 2025. A fast-moving brushfire in a Los Angeles suburb burned buildings and sparked evacuations as “life-threatening” winds whipped the region. / Credit: David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images

Seattle, Wash., Jan 8, 2025 / 21:58 pm (CNA).

A raging wildfire in the Pacific Palisades sector of Los Angeles has destroyed Corpus Christi Catholic Church and forced the closure of 65 Catholic schools, archdiocesan officials said. 

An image shared by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles shows the church reduced to a steel frame. Announcing the “terrible sad news of our Church” on Corpus Christi’s website, Father Liam Kidney indicated that “the priests are safe with family and friends.”

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez urged prayers on social media, writing, “Please keep praying for all those suffering in the wildfires sweeping through Southern California. My heart goes out to our neighbors who have lost their homes and livelihoods.”

In addition to Corpus Christi, there may be about four more parishes that are threatened and are either under an evacuation order or warning, Fr. Andrew Hedstrom, associate pastor at St. Linus Catholic Church in Norwalk, California, wrote on X.

Paul Escala, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese, attributed the string of school closures to evacuation orders, power outages, poor air quality, and staff displacement. “We are in nearly every neighborhood across all three counties,” he told CNA. 

“Some neighborhoods have been completely wiped out, and yet we have really only one parish church that has reported catastrophic loss.” Escala identified that site as Corpus Christi, a 1950s-era church in an affluent neighborhood between Santa Monica and Malibu.

The status of the parish school remains unclear. “Buildings, including the library and gymnasium, have been reported to have suffered significant damage,” Escala said. “But the school itself, we have not verified that it has been a complete loss.” 

Access is restricted to first responders and select media. “It’s too early to know,” Escala added. “Law enforcement has restricted entry, and once it’s declared safe, we’ll be able to assess the extent of the damage.”

Escala stressed that the archdiocese is working to support displaced families. “Our focus is on our families and our parishioners,” he said. “We’re going to work very closely with those families of students and our staff to identify alternative schools if the area is not deemed safe for use and/or the buildings are no longer functional.”

Pablo Kay, editor in chief of Angelus, the official news outlet of the Archdiocese, said the neighborhood “has been close to being wiped out” according to fire crews and local news reports. 

“So what we know is that the church burned,” he noted. “Whether anything was spared in the sanctuary—we probably won’t know for several days.” Kay added that reports of damage to a classroom or other parts of the school remain unconfirmed.

The Los Angeles Fire Department estimates the blaze at nearly 16,000 acres, with around 300 structures destroyed. As of Wednesday evening, the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, and Hurst Fire were at zero percent containment.