After Devastating Arson, Los Angeles’ Famed Mission San Gabriel Reopens for Worship

Catholic News Agency ^ | 7/3/23 | Kevin J. Jones

[marshmallow]

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles blesses the newly renovated Mission San Gabriel at a June 27, 2023, ceremony. | Photo courtesy of Mission San Gabriel

Denver, Colo., Jul 3, 2023 / 15:40 pm Mission San Gabriel has reopened to the public for the first time since the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating arson fire in July 2020.

At a June 27 ceremony attended by area Catholics and others, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles blessed the renovated mission more than 250 years after its founding by the Spanish priest St. Junipero Serra. He emphasized the “gift of faith” that Serra and other Franciscans brought, which many indigenous Americans accepted and made their own.

“Mission San Gabriel will always be the true spiritual heart of Los Angeles,” Gomez said in a July 3 essay for the archdiocesan news site Angelus News. “The mission marks the birthplace of the Christian faith here and, 10 years after the mission was established, the city itself was founded by men and women who came from the mission.”

“The mission is a sign of the Christian beginnings, not only of our city, but of our nation,” he said.

The archbishop noted that St. Junipero Serra’s feast day falls on July 1, just before the United States celebrates Independence Day. He sees this as a providential reminder from God “that the missionaries were here first” and “that the people of this country were called Christians long before they were called Americans.”

The mission, founded by St. Junipero Serra in 1771, suffered a devastating fire during the early morning hours of July 11, 2020. The fire destroyed the roof and interior of the mission church, which is today the home of a Catholic parish.

[Captain Compassion]

Another victim of the “Summer of Love” madness in 2020.