(RNS) — Final Friday (Jan. 3), Najeeba Syeed attended Jummah prayers on the Masjid Al-Taqwa, a congregation she’d prayed for years at whereas residing in Southern California.
Lower than every week later, Syeed, a theology professor and interfaith chief, realized that Al-Taqwa, a traditionally African American mosque in Altadena, California, had burned to the bottom — considered one of a minimum of a dozen homes of worship broken or destroyed within the wildfires which have raged in and round Los Angeles this week.
Whilst native religion leaders mourned the lack of their sacred areas, they’ve been banding collectively, providing phrases of consolation and sensible assist to these affected by the wildfires.
Syeed, who holds the El-Hibri Endowed Chair of Interfaith Research at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, stated Altadena has a protracted historical past of interfaith cooperation, and native religion leaders have been calling each other, providing help and in search of methods to work collectively.
“They’re serving to their very own communities, however they’re additionally stepping up and stepping past and serving to one another,” stated Syeed, who splits her time between Los Angeles and Minnesota. “That’s a part of the story — religion communities, even when they’re broken, nonetheless present up for the broader neighborhood.”
She stated a lot of Muslim-owned and Black-owned companies that had lengthy surrounded the mosque had been additionally broken within the hearth. Worshippers who attended Jummah prayers would typically go to these companies to get espresso or halal meals afterward. And the mosque additionally provided academic courses and different neighborhood actions.
“It was a hub for neighborhood, and God prepared, will probably be a hub going ahead,” she stated.
Lower than 1 / 4 mile from the Masjid Al-Taqwa, a bell tower is all that continues to be of Altadena Baptist Church, based by a Swedish congregation within the Nineteen Twenties and now a racially various religion neighborhood. About 15 households from the congregation additionally misplaced properties to the wildfires, stated the Rev. George Van Alstine, 88, who has been on employees on the church for greater than 50 years. Van Alstine stated a vault containing the church’s historical past was doubtless misplaced within the hearth, together with data from the church’s earliest days.
He stated congregations in the neighborhood — each Christian and non-Christian — have typically labored collectively to serve their neighbors, together with working the Altadena Congregations Serving Collectively meals pantry, which had been housed throughout the road at Altadena Neighborhood Church and was additionally destroyed by wildfires.
Van Alstine stated church members had been gathering on-line Friday evening to examine in and to speak about the way to assist their neighbors and plan for the long run. For proper now, he stated, they’re taking issues sooner or later at a time.
“We’re surviving,” he stated.
No less than 4 wildfires are at present raging in Southern California, in line with the Los Angeles Occasions. Eleven folks have been reported lifeless and greater than 12,000 buildings burned, together with a minimum of a dozen homes of worship. Amongst them are Pasadena Jewish Temple, Corpus Christi Catholic Church and a minimum of 10 Protestant church buildings.
Different congregations suffered hearth harm however weren’t fully misplaced, together with Calvary Chapel in Pacific Palisades, the place the sanctuary was broken however not the complete campus.
“We most likely misplaced the sanctuary and should rebuild it,” Justin Anderson, who began because the church’s pastor this week, posted on X. “However miraculously the remainder of the property is almost untouched.”
A hermitage and different buildings on the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Middle had been additionally misplaced to the hearth, in line with an replace on the retreat heart’s web site.
“It makes full sense to know that our religion is examined on hearth!” the middle’s director wrote in an replace. “However we’re pilgrims of hope as Pope Francis exhorted us this yr. Hope won’t disappoint us. We are going to get well and be again serving you once more.”
The Wild Hunt, a web site that covers pagan information, reported that the Theosophical Society Library Middle in Altadena was additionally misplaced to the wildfires. The middle housed a serious archive of the Theosophical Society, a motion based within the 1800s and “devoted to the uplifting of humanity by means of a greater understanding of the oneness of life.”
Van Alstine stated Altadena religion communities affected by the hearth will proceed to assist their neighbors and can start planning for the long run within the days to return. For now, he stated, the church workplace for Altadena Baptist will doubtless be based mostly in his home. And he hopes church members will quickly be capable of get a have a look at the constructing firsthand.
He additionally stated the bell within the church’s tower was from a former church in Pasadena and was used for summoning volunteer firefighters within the late 1800s and early 1900s. The bell tower nonetheless standing symbolizes that the church is just not gone, Van Alstine stated, even when the constructing has burned down.
“Possibly we should always have anyone go up there Sunday and ring it,” he stated.
