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LOS ANGELES: Fire recovery funds established; photos posted of monastery site
Diocesan Bishop J. Jon Bruno has established two funds for fire relief. A General Fire Recovery Fund will serve local clergy in assisting those displaced and most severely affected by the fires, and a Montecito Fire Recovery Fund will address specifically the loss of the Mount Calvary Retreat House destroyed by the Santa Barbara-area Tea Fire.
Contributions, with checks earmarked for either of the funds, may be sent to the Bishop’s Office, 840 Echo Park Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90026.
“It is important for us to do all we can to assist those who are suffering the greatest losses from the fires,” Bruno told The News. “We in this diocese are one church, and we are united in our service to the Christ, to one another, and to our neighbors, especially at this time.”
Photographs of the retreat house fire scene have been posted on the website of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura by webmaster Don Anderson. St. Paul’s parishioner Bradford Smith, a sherrif’s deputy who had access to the area, took the photographs. Smith was also able to place in his patrol car artifacts and books that would otherwise have been lost to the fire, according to reports. (The link to the photos is provided with permission of St. Paul’s Church.)
Five counties – Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara – within the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles suffered effects of the three fires. The Freeway Complex Fire brought evacuations and devastation in communities including Anaheim Hills, Brea, Corona, Diamond Bar and Yorba Linda. The Sylmar fire, which destroyed some 510 homes largely in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, also caused evacuations in the Granada Hills and Porter Ranch sections of Los Angeles. An additional smaller fire touched parts of the Palos Verdes peninsula.
The bishop continues to be in regular telephone communication with clergy and laity in these regions who continue in local ministry to those displaced by the fires.
Aside from Mount Calvary Retreat House, no other Episcopal Church structures were damaged in the fire
The retreat house, a facility of the Order of the Holy Cross, was founded in 1947. The resident brothers and staff, who evacuated to safety on Nov. 13, are now living at St. Mary’s Retreat House, operated by the Episcopal Sisters of the Holy Nativity and located near the Santa Barbara Mission.
Led by its prior, the Rev. Nicholas Radelmiller OHC, the Mount Calvary staff continues to work with staff members of St. Mary’s Retreat House and other facilities to reschedule individual and group retreats that now must be relocated following the fire.
Brother Joseph of Mount Calvary phoned the Cathedral Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 17 to thank the diocesan community for its prayers and support., and to clarify what is most needed – and not needed – at this time.
He said that letters, cards and financial contributions are welcome and can be mailed directly to the Mount Calvary Fire Fund, P.O. Box 1296, Santa Barbara, CA 93102, or online through Facebook (click on “causes,” and then “Mount Calvary”).
He added that short e-mail messages may be sent care of iconguy@yahoo.com.
Brother Joseph also confirmed that the monastery at this time has no need of books, clothes, artwork or religious memorabilia – or assistance with recovery. “There is nothing to recover,” he said. “We are not allowed back into the site at this time.”
“We understand people wanting to come and visit the site,” he added, “We appreciate this, but we need time and space at this time.”
--Abigail Urquidi and Bob Williams of the staff of the Diocese of Los Angeles and Janet Kawamoto, associate editor of Episcopal Life Online, contributed to this report.
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