Corpus Christi will be rebuilt someday, promises the church\u2019s pastor, Msgr. Liam Kidney. But permits, funding and architectural designs will need to be figured out first.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee that white house over there? That\u2019s one of our parishioners homes\u2019 being rebuilt,\u201d\u00a0 Msgr. Kidney called out from the sidewalk in front of the Corpus Christi lot, with a touch of pride. \u201cHe\u2019s a builder.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/usethistoo20260113T1844-ONE-YEAR-PALISADES-FIRE-1811120.jpg\")
The altar is seen inside the destroyed Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades on the west side of Los Angeles Jan. 15, 2025, in the aftermath of the wildfires. (OSV News photo\/Bob Roller)<\/p>\n
\u00a0Msgr. Kidney and most of Corpus Christi\u2019s parishioners lost their homes in the Palisades Fire. Some have relocated to places as close as Brentwood and Manhattan Beach, or as far away as Japan. Others are determined to rebuild and return, despite a backlog of unresolved fire insurance claims and permits to be cleared.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re building for the future\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re not building for what\u2019s here now,\u201d the priest told Angelus, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing here now. We\u2019re building for the future. We have no idea what the future is, but whatever we build has to be for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what will the future look like? That\u2019s still hard to say for the parishes directly affected by the LA wildfires of Jan. 7-31, 2025<\/a>. Most of the damage was from the two largest fires: the Eaton Fire in Altadena and the Palisades Fire.\n <\/p>\n Sacred Heart Church in Altadena caught fire, suffering $350,000 worth of wind and fire damage during the Eaton Fire, but was spared thanks to a quick-thinking deacon\u2019s early morning heroics<\/a>. Most parishioners were at least temporarily displaced, and at least half lost their homes, estimates Sacred Heart pastor Father Gilbert Guzman.<\/p>\n Some were homeowners, including older Black families who\u2019d lived in Altadena all their lives and were hoping to retire comfortably. Father Guzman fears that many simply \u201cdon\u2019t have it in them\u201d to rebuild.<\/p>\n Costs of rebuilding homes<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t see how those who had purchased their homes decades ago could go through this process of rebuilding and affording what it would cost to live here again,\u201d said the priest.<\/p>\n Some of the hardest hit were single young people renting \u201cgranny flats\u201d or ADUs \u2014 accessory dwelling units, which are secondary, smaller housing units on a single-family lot. Most young people have been priced out of renting nearby and were displaced further inland to cities like San Bernardino and Monrovia, said Father Guzman.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are those people who lost their homes, there are people who were out of their homes for nine months,\u201d the priest said. \u201cEveryone had different experiences. So how do you minister to a community with so many different experiences, but yet so similar?\u201d<\/p>\n Altadena\u2019s other Catholic church, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, was also spared by the Eaton Fire, which got within four blocks. Mass attendance dropped but has steadied since new pastor Father John Kyebasuuta arrived last July. But its school isn\u2019t expected to reopen: A majority of students were permanently displaced<\/a> by the fire, and only a tiny minority of parents surveyed last year said they\u2019d be able to reenroll.<\/p>\n How to afford Catholic school tuition? <\/p>\n \u201cSome parents have told me they have a mortgage to pay on the house that they lost, and they are paying rent where they are right now,\u201d said Father Kyebasuuta. \u201cHow can they afford to put a kid in Catholic school?\u201d<\/p>\n A slightly different narrative is emerging at Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n Paola Sessarego was six months into her new job as the parochial elementary school\u2019s principal when the Palisades Fire struck. While her students were forced to enroll in new schools around Southern California, she has learned to become a principal without a school.<\/p>\n But enough displaced parents are vowing to return to the Palisades and send their children back to Corpus Christi School, which unlike the church, escaped destruction in the fire. Benefactors want to help, and even teachers who\u2019ve gotten new jobs have told Sessarego they want to be hired back.<\/p>\n Opportunity to make school \u2018better\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m surprised at the opportunity that we have to make this better,\u201d said Sessarego, who is working with architects, construction companies, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to plan the school\u2019s reopening for the 2026-2027 school year.<\/p>\n Sessarego knows many families will not be returning, but expects new ones will replace them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can see a light at the end of the tunnel, it\u2019s that this is an opportunity \u2026 to upgrade the school,\u201d said Sessarego. \u201cTo make all the classrooms modern, to really upgrade everything, and to make it a really top-notch school.\u201d<\/p>\n One factor working in Corpus Christi\u2019s favor is that it belongs to an abnormally tight-knit community, by Southern California standards. Unlike most LA neighborhoods, almost everything in Pacific Palisades was within walking distance of most people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n \u2018Kind of like Small Town USA\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of the Palisades is no matter where you went, people were saying \u2018Hi\u2019 to you and you were saying \u2018Hi\u2019 to people because it\u2019s kind of like Small Town USA,\u201d said Sue Kohl, a local real estate agent.<\/p>\n Kohl had lived in her house on one of Pacific Palisades\u2019 \u201cAlphabet Streets\u201d near Corpus Christi for 32 years before it burned. One year later, her new home is almost completed. She considers herself lucky, knowing that for many fellow Palisades residents, the decision to rebuild depends on things like insurance coverage and age. But she\u2019s seen another important factor at work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who are deciding to stay and build back, for one thing, are people that have faith that the community will come back,\u201d said Kohl, a Corpus Christi parishioner and the president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council.<\/p>\n Hoping everyone will come back<\/p>\n \u201cThere are families who I know want to come back, and many of them will, even if they\u2019ve taken their children to other neighborhoods, and are in different school systems for two or three more years,\u201d said Kohl. \u201cI have to hope that at the end of that, they\u2019re going to want to come back. I think a lot of them will, but it\u2019s going to take some time.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, the real building project ahead for Catholics in burn areas is the personal one.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to really start building a community again,\u201d said Sessarego.<\/p>\n In the weeks after the fires, the parishes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades used social media and email to help people stay connected. The Sunday after the fires, Father Marcos Gonzalez, pastor of St. Andrew\u2019s in Pasadena, opened his church for Father Guzman and Sacred Heart parishioners to celebrate an afternoon Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Brian Nunes.<\/p>\n Mass such a \u2018healing\u2019 experience<\/p>\n Father Guzman said the Mass was \u201cone of the most healing experiences I\u2019ve ever witnessed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfterwards, everybody stayed around for about an hour-and-a-half just hugging and sharing stories, crying together. It was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/useinmiddle20260113T1844-ONE-YEAR-PALISADES-FIRE-1811196.jpg\")
Nineteen candles with the names of each of the victims of the Eaton Fire are lit and placed near the altar at Sacred Heart Church in Altadena during a Jan. 7, 2026 healing Mass on the one year anniversary of the fires. (OSV News photo\/John Rueda, courtesy Archdiocese of Los Angeles)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/useinmiddle20260113T1844-ONE-YEAR-PALISADES-FIRE-1811155.jpg\")
Father Gilbert Guzman, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Altadena, Calif., is pictured Dec. 19, 2025, pointing to the subroof that caught fire during the devastating wildfires. Tens of thousands of people were impacted after the Pacific Palisades and Eaton blazes began Jan. 7, 2025. (OSV News photo\/Reese Cuevas, Angelus)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/useinmiddle220260113T1844-ONE-YEAR-PALISADES-FIRE-1811153.jpg\")
Sue Kohl, Msgr. Liam Kidney and Paola Sessarego during a visit to the site of Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades, Calif., in Dec. 2025. Behind them are multiple rebuilt homes under construction following the devastating fires. Tens of thousands of people were impacted after the Pacific Palisades and Eaton blazes began Jan. 7, 2025. (OSV News photo\/Reese Cuevas, Angelus)<\/p>\n