Denver Newsroom, Aug 22, 2020 / 03:34 am (CNA).- As wildfires rage across California, scorching more than 700,000 acres of land in multiple dioceses and killing at least four people, Catholics are asking for prayers and offering resources to the displaced.
“In our diocese alone the CZU, River, Carmel Valley and Dolan fires have already caused profound damage to property, persons and the environment,” Bishop Daniel Garcia of the Diocese of Monterey said in a message to Catholics on Thursday, Aug. 20.
“Hundreds of people have already fled their homes fearful of the unknown. Likewise, several of our parish sites have been evacuated due to the close proximity of the fires,” he added.
Over the past several days, a heat wave coupled with excessive lightning strikes sparked most of the blazes now raging in the state. At least 60,000 people in the state have evacuated their homes to escape the path of the blazes. Two of the fires, the SCU Lightning Complex fire located to the east of San Jose, and the LNU Lightning Complex, located to the northeast of San Francisco, have already burned roughly 220,000 acres each, placing them in the top 10 fires ever recorded in the state, CNN reported.
“Although it may not be clear to us, it is at times like these that we are called to not lose sight that the Lord is with us even amidst the uncertainty of the moment,” Garcia said in his message. “You and I are called to come together as the Body of Christ, to pray for each other, even if we cannot physically gather in each other’s presence.”
Erika Yanez, director of media relations with the Diocese of Monterey, told CNA that a number of their parishes had already been evacuated.
“All of Dalton, Boulder Creek, Davenport,…the entire community of Scotts Valley has been evacuated,” she said. “There’s a huge portion of Carmel Valley that’s been evacuated, we have a parish there.”
A photo of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic parish in Davenport, taken by a community member, shows the air around the church glowing bright orange as the flames encroached.
Yanez said there is a retreat center in San Juan Bautista, Calif., that has opened up to shelter families – though in a slightly restricted way, because of COVID-19 – and that the diocese will be coordinating with Catholic Charities to offer further assistance.
“I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that our prayers are with the families that are being impacted right now. It’s just so difficult,” Yanez said.
Fr. Blaise Berg is the pastor of St. Mary Parish in Vacaville in the Diocese of Sacramento, which evacuated on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some residents of the town told CNN that screams woke them up in the middle of the night – a jarring alert that the fires were near.
“Presently, we are reaching out by phone to our parishioners who live in the fire’s burn zone. A number of homes were spared, but a few of our parishioners’ homes were not,” Berg said. By Friday, he noted, many people had been allowed to return.
“Our parochial vicar, Fr. Steven Wood, visited a nearby evacuation center and many evacuees were grateful to see the presence of the Church,” Berg said.
The priest asked for prayers, noting that the community was expecting more possible lightning storms this weekend, and that they had to be prepared to evacuate again.
“At a time like this, we see the importance of prayer, and so we ask all our brothers and sisters to keep in their daily prayers those affected by these fires across the entire state of California,” he said.
Cynthia Shaw, director of communications for the Diocese of San Jose, said the diocese was surrounded by the wildfires.
Some parishioners were located in evacuation zones, and more could be evacuating in the coming days. Shaw said the diocese, in cooperation with Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul, and local food banks, will continue to monitor the situation and will work to provide food and shelter and to keep people updated on evacuation zones and other resources.
She added that people are being asked to stay inside and wear masks now not only because of the coronavirus pandemic, but because of the poor air quality caused by smoke, which could also disrupt plans for outdoor Masses this weekend.
“We’re just praying mightily also for the firefighters and the first responders. They have a great amount of work to do and we just pray that no one else loses their lives or gets injured in all of the fires,” Shaw said.
Poor air quality was one of the biggest concerns for the Diocese of Stockton as well, Chandler Marquez, the director of communications for the diocese, told CNA.
“There’s a lot of migrant farm workers and those farm workers are already heavily impacted by COVID-19,” Marquez said. “So on top of that…it’s harvest season for a lot of the crops out here and they’re taking in these conditions (and) it’s only going to make matters worse for them,” he said.
Greg Kidder knows a little too well what it’s like to survive a large wildfire – his home in Paradise, California was destroyed in the massive 2018 Camp Fire, which caused at least 85 deaths and destroyed most of his hometown. Kidder’s parish, St. Thomas More in Paradise, also burned down – except for the sanctuary.
“Our sanctuary survived. But we did lose 50% of our buildings, mainly our social hall and rectory, and youth house,” Kidder told CNA.
“But more importantly, we lost two-thirds of our parish. We had 733 families here. And then after the fire, we were down to about 150 people,” he said.
Most of those were evacuees who lost their homes and left the community, but four parishioners died due to the fires. Kidder estimated that another 20 to 30 died after the fire, due to the stress it caused, which exacerbated preexisting conditions.
“The church really consists of people, not so much buildings,” Kidder said. “The human loss, in that respect, was pretty high, even for a little parish like ours.”
After the initial fires, Kidder said the parish community was faced with the question: “What do we do now?”
He said recovery efforts first focused on people’s safety and basic needs, like food and shelter. The community thought they’d rebuild within a month, Kidder said. But it’s been a year and a half, and they’re still rebuilding.
Coronavirus has made it harder, he added. Supply chains were disrupted; the cost of building supplies went up due to high demand. Kidder and his wife are planning on moving into their new home in November.
Paradise so far is not being burned by the current wildfires, but they can smell the smoke from a fire nearby, and the thought of another fire can trigger traumatic memories for some people, Kidder said.
“It gets discouraging for a lot of people,” he said.
“You have the fire. Then you have the corona(virus), and now you have the escalating costs. You have this real discouragement. And then also being a political year, everything gets politicized. And so that whole level of discouragement kind of settles in,” he said.
Kidder, who has worked for his parish for more than 25 years, was assigned as the parish steward after the Camp Fire – their previous pastor suffered from PTSD after the fire and had to be transferred. They are still waiting on getting another full-time pastor.
“So the mission for us as a parish is to keep that light, keep that sign of hope, that we will get through this. It won’t be on our time, but we will. And we’ve stayed together. We’ve managed to gather about 300 families that are still attached to St. Thomas More. Some are living in various areas with the intent of moving back. And so, there’s hope there,” he said.
Even through the loss of his home, Kidder said he tried to remain hopeful and trusting in the plan of God.
“I trust in God in everything else in my life. And so even with my home being destroyed and going through that, my wife went through a lot of grief over that,” he said.
“But I’m a very hopeful person, and I knew that things would get better. And that’s what I preach. That’s what I teach. That’s what I believe in.”
He encouraged those going through similar disasters now with the current wildfires to maintain hope, by relying on God, by staying together as a community, and by “putting one foot in front of the other.”
“We’re not the first person, the first group of people that have experienced this, and we won’t be the last,” he said.
“There will always be another disaster. We just have to recognize it for what it is and not let that discourage us.”
[…]
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
A ‘Captain Obvious’ award for the Archbishop!!
Cardinal Gregory should spend more time increasing enrollment in his Church instead of expecting a man-made government to define what is right and wrong. God created His Church to define morality and He gave us the Word of God to change people’s hearts. We are not one with a man-made government—we stand alone.
Yes, I agree with you completely; but it becomes complicated and messy when we engage in the very secular and amoral (at best) political process, and hope to effect moral change. Lines become blurred as democracy expects, even demands compromises. The separation of Church and State has never been easy whenever the Church has been able to have a voice. Things are much clearer and, paradoxically easier during times of persecution.
On the most sacred day of Christians, Easter Day, after having declared Easter Day TRANSGENDER VISIBILITY DAY, On Sunday afternoon, Biden’s X account tweeted: “Today, on Transgender Day of Visibility, I have a simple message to all trans Americans: I see you. You are made in the image of God.” By contrast, DT is asking Americans to buy and read The Bible, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights… in the God Bless America Bible. He does not get a penny from the bying of this Bible. God bless DT for promoting such good things. Let God judge the other guy…
God will judge both on the same scale and I fear will find both severely lacking, and we can only hope for equal mercy.
Even in a liberal news source that I would not classify as “Catholic friendly,” they have noted that 80 priests have been killed in Ukraine, by Putin’s bombs or soldiers. 80 priests seems a bit disproportionate, as if there may be some targeted killings going on. If remotely true (80 priests killed, targeted or not) why is the church not making more noise about this? And if it’s “American Christian Culture” — why are Putin’s DT Stooges in congress withholding aid to Ukraine — with “Christian DT’s” encouragement. DT doesn’t think Catholics are Christian, or what?
Cardinal Gregory is a master politician. He appears to be trying to “manage” Biden, without confrontation, so now what? Refusal of Communion? Excommunication? Or perhaps sternly worded missives that really do not lead to anything?
Cardinal Gregory will admonish Biden, without any real disciplinary action. He did not get that red hat for nothing.
Is Cardinal Gregory a Cafeteria Cardinal?
My understanding is that the Episcopalian church has pretty much fallen off the cliff. Shoddy reasoning, on display here in the words of Episcopalian bishop Mariann Budde, may have something to do with that.
That’s mostly true Cleo.
The mainline US Episcopal denomination’s following a similar path to extinction as the CE. There are individual exceptions & more orthodox Anglican alternatives but as a whole it’s a bleak picture.
We had a sad situation with an historic Episcopal church. The congregation was mostly traditionally minded & after things like women clergy & SS “marriage” were okayed by their bishops they voted to align under an African Anglican diocese instead. Following that, all you know what broke out. After a lengthy legal battle the beautiful, historic church building was awarded back to the US diocese & the orthodox congregation moved out to an obscure building elsewhere.
The historic church is fairly empty on Sundays & will likely continue to see a shrinking & ageing congregation, while those old fashioned Episcopalians who were forced out are having families & attracting new members. Maybe one day they’ll return home to their old church. Who knows?
“Gregory said he would not be at all surprised to learn that Pope Francis has engaged Biden on the President’s embrace of pro-abortion ideology”.
I would – I would be VERY surprised.
I am bowled over by the depth of Wilton Gregory! He noticed this subtle aspect of the President’s approach to Catholicism? Wow! Let’s be honest: Wilton is a “cafeteria cleric” — he knows what he should be doing as Archbishop of Washington with the myriad of “Catholics” in his diocese who promote what Vatican II called an “unspeakable crime” but he won’t. He knows what he ought to do with regard to admission to the Eucharist of these “Catholics” — but he won’t. So, I guess if he’s going to lecture on cafeteria Catholicism (which, by the way, I didn’t know was out of style as a term), takes one to know one.
Maybe Wilton Gregory could tell us what Donald Wuerl has been up to these days.
I confess to a certain astonishment upon the conclusion of the interview with Cardinal Gregory. My own premonitions of Gregory had caused me to anticipate a rather more liberal position. I had entertained an anxious apprehension that His Eminence might, through a misplaced sympathy with certain contemporary currents of thought, be disinclined to offer a forthright critique of the current administration.
Thankfully, these anxieties proved unfounded. The Cardinal’s pronouncements were, I daresay, precisely what one would expect from a man of his stature, utterances seasoned with wisdom and a commendable frankness.
Now, with respect to Episcopalian Budde, her pronouncements, alas, were entirely predictable. They echoed the tenets of a theological system demonstrably at odds with the core tenets of the Christian faith. A system that diminishes the centrality and need of Christ’s sacrifice, a sacrifice freely offered for the salvation of mankind. The modern theology of “I’m okay and you’re okay.”
Not good! Something more sinister is going on here. The leftist, more accurately neo Marxist, in control are going all out to deemphasize or eliminate the American Christian culture. The Cardinal like so many Catholic hierarchy are either afraid to push back i.e. spineless or unfortunately tacitly agree. As said somewhere else “God will not be mocked”. I fear the consequences.
Curious. What is (or was) the “American Christian Culture” that the left is out to destroy? In 250 words or less?
At times a faithful sentence or two from a considered progressive prelate seems enlightening, even hopeful. Cafeteria Catholics however are the apparent majority of church going Catholics. Does calling Biden’s Catholicism the cafeteria kind have good effect besides feeling enlightened? Like Confucianism black can be white and white black.
Our day is distant, far more in doctrinal observance than chronology from 390 AD when Saint Ambrose ordered emperor Theodosius to publicly repent for excessive cruelty. And he repented! What would we expect if Cardinal Archbishop Gregory were to impose such a sanction on Biden? Perhaps ‘malarkey’ from the president. Although I wager a lot of those cafeteria Catholics would at least spill their caffe lattes. Maybe even driven to reflection.
Fr. Morello;
Your question “does calling Biden’s Catholicism ‘the cafeteria kind’ have good effects besides feeling enlightened?”
To the actual question I would have to say “not really” but I would point out that it IS important to make that point frequently enough so that people – Catholic and non-Catholic, practicing Catholic and non-practicing Catholic – don’t forget it. In addition to that – the fact that Cardinal Gregory is the one who made that point makes it that much more notable.
Archbishop Gregory correctly identified Joe Biden as a “cafeteria Catholic.” However there is a distinction to be made between the mostly anonymous Cafeteria Crowd who may or may not deeply ponder and respond to Church teachings and the highly ranked public officials like President Biden who holds his rosary in his hand while promising to reinstate Roe v. Wade. The President and his kind were blessed with the same free will as the rest of us made in the image and likeness of God.
They may use their free will to choose what is right or wrong. Biden has very publicly and strongly supported abortion. He is free (not right) to do so. However, as a so-called practicing Catholic, he is not in communion with his Church. He knows it; the bishops know it. He does not possess the formation of conscience to recuse himself from Holy Communion and the bishops do not want to suggest he should. We are in a very public stalemate. Why should any Cafeteria Catholic choose the harder road?
Why? Because if you self-excommunicate, you drink damnation! A very good reason, I would think. However we must allow the possibility of the sacrament of confession and the 70 times 70. We can never make a sure judgment of another.
It used to be called apostacy, but because certain people are more high profile than others it is excusable.
Pres. Biden offers a good life lesson and WARNING for those of us who profess and attempt to live our lives under the authority of the Catholic Church (The Church that Jesus founded!). POWER can corrupt! This man, a baptized, practicing Catholic, used to vote pro-life, and this would have “OK” for all Democrats in a not-so-long-ago past. But the opportunity to be Vice-President and eventually President has caused him to turn his back on Holy Mother Church, the Bible, the Blessed Mother and all the saints, and the Triune God–and throw his support to the cause of abortion–the killing of innocent human beings! (In addition, he openly encourages sinful sexual practices by honoring the LGBTQ+ movement, although the actual LGBTQ+ Day has always been March 31, so the President did not purposely try to turn Easter into a perversity.) I do hope Catholics will recognize that the Democratic Party that was once supportive of the Catholic Church and Christianity in general is no longer safe to support. No doubt, in some towns and cities in the U.S., there are Democratic politicians who are still pro-life and pro-Christianity, but eventually they will be forced by their Party to change their attitude or get out of the Democratic Party. Catholics need to abandon this Party no matter how grateful we are for its support of the “Little Man” in the past. I can’t say that the Republican Party is much better, but at least many Republican politicians are fighting against abortion and supporting pro-life activities. God help our nation to repent of our national sins and God help every Catholic to remain true to Holy Mother Church and Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord and Savior!
Having read Cardinal Gregory’s comments, I find myself thinking of Rip Van Winkle, waking up after a 20 yr. snooze. With few exceptions the American bishops have been asleep while pro abortion “Catholic” politicians become bolder and bolder in their support of radical abortion “rights”. And, of course, these politicians trumpet their Catholic identities, jingle rosary beads and show up on Communion lines where they are generally cordially received. And when they die, a lavish Catholic funeral awaits them (Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo). And the snoozing goes on.
Cardinal Gregory continues to offer Communion to these politicians in Washington. They are more than cafetria Catholics. They firmly, publicly and consistently reject basic Catholic teaching and energetically promote policies directly contrary to that teaching.
Does the Cardinal or Pope Francis really believe that the solution is an encounter with Biden & Co.? to walk them to help them discern evil? These politicians know very well what they are doing to get votes, to please the hard left, to get money for their campaigns and media approval. They are driven by money, power, ambition. Will our Bishops ever wake up and proclaim to them the teaching of Christ, “Sin No More’?
If Cdl Abp Gregory wished to affirm the Way, the Truth and the Life he would have simply said you cannot be a Catholic and proselytize for murder in the womb. Otherwise he speaks something other than Truth.
Gregory doesn’t get any credit for his milktoast millimouth “cafeteria catholic” line – Call Biden out…you and the rest of the spineless bishops say nothing.
The uncorrected scandal which Biden is giving continues. A ‘cafeteria Catholic’ is no Catholic at all. Gregory participates in Biden’s crime and deviance on every day that goes by and he does not publicly acknowledge Biden’s de-facto excommunication. Isn’t it obvious that Gregory has become complicit in desecration of the Eucharist by not exercising his authority, as Biden, in his old age, draws nearer to his personal judgment. Publicly excommunicate the man, for Heaven’s sake! He may die soon and take others with him! Justice demands it for his sake and the good of others.
Not content with declaring the most important day for Christians as “transgender visibility day” and adding that “transgenders are made in the image of God,” the figure head of the present regime has banned Easter eggs with any religious symbolism from the White House’s Easter eggs event. The regime’s effort to erase Christianity is relentless. By contrast, Dt is urging us to read the Bible, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, The Pledge of Allegiance, in a Bible the sales of which will not go to his pocket but to the creator of the hit song “God Bless the USA “and the makers of this Bible (“The God Bless the USA Bible,” which includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc.). With all his faults, DT is on our side. The other one is against. One is promoting Christianity and patriotism; the other is trying to destroy both.
The figure head of the present regime has banned Easter eggs with any religious symbolism from the White House’s Easter eggs event. The regime’s effort to erase Christianity is relentless. He had earlier declared the most important day for Christians as “transgender visibility day” and added that “transgenders are made in the image of God,” By contrast, Dt is urging us to read the Bible, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, The Pledge of Allegiance, in a Bible the sales of which will not go to his pocket but to the creator of the hit song “God Bless the USA “and the makers of this Bible (“The God Bless the USA Bible,” which includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc.). With all his faults, DT is on our side. The other one is against. One is promoting Christianity and patriotism; the other is trying to destroy both.
Although I think greater public condemnation of Biden’s anti Catholic actions are warranted by Cardinal Gregory, publicly calling Biden a “cafeteria Catholic” is a good start, something no one wants to be called. I think Gregory has met with Biden several times, and has been told not to approach the altar for communion. The incident in 2019 when Biden was denied the Eucharist in South Carolina I think is not a one-off anomaly. And since then the liberal press has reported “Biden goes to Mass”, but might be giving him air over and he’s not receiving. My guess is there are many priests in DC that have told the Cardinal they are not comfortable giving Biden Communion. Also, after Biden was denied in South Carolina, shouldn’t that have been a lightning strike wake-up call to any Catholic to repent? Since then however Biden has only tripled. Down on his pro abortion, gay trans rhetoric. I do believe however he’s not receiving at Mass.
Why is the head of this demonic regime not being excommunicated?
Another “Prefect” example of why the state of the State is in that state!