Megan Trembley was in the middle of taking OCIA classes at Corpus Christi Church when the Palisades Fire broke out, completely destroying the condo she lived in with her daughter.
“Just overnight, my whole life, everything that I knew, was gone,” she said.
But the months of Christian formation she’d received made a difference in the ordeal.
“It helped me so much in getting through,” Trembley said. “When we lost our home, our belongings and things, during a time of uncertainty and grief, having everything I learned became a foundation of strength and guidance.”
When she asked Corpus Christi associate pastor Father Valerian Menezes about resuming her OCIA process with the parish having burned down, he mentioned that classes were being held at St. Martin of Tours Church in Brentwood — coincidentally down the street from where she was now living.
Now, nearly two years after she first signed up for OCIA classes, Trembley will fully enter into the Catholic Church.
“This whole experience, it’s really transformed how I can walk through difficult things and be there for my family, for the community, and just have somebody to ask and get guidance from,” she said. “In times where I feel like, how am I going to get through this, there’s unexpected moments where I can just sort of feel that presence. If I’m feeling lost, I know that I’m not truly alone.”
For Jessica Rogers, losing her home in the Palisades Fire was the thing that jump-started her conversion to Catholicism.
After her home burned down, she later returned to the remnants of her Pacific Palisades property and found herself bawling in the driveway. It was then that she had a moment that she couldn’t explain, but she knew it to be true: she felt the presence of Jesus.
“I was a little scared,” Rogers said. “I was like, oh, this feels weird. Am I crazy? Am I losing my mind?
“But I kind of just breathed into it, and I said, no, this is you, Jessica. You are feeling this. You are believing this. You are inviting Jesus into your life right here, right now.”
After that experience, she had a desire to read the Bible and go to church. Her friend, John, invited her to Mass and later Father Paul Fitzpatrick, the pastor at St. Martin of Tours, invited her to join the parish’s OCIA program.
Now, for Easter, she’ll finally be a full-fledged Catholic.
“It just feels right,” Rogers said. “This is why I’m in this class. Where I can actually, truly understand, one, what happened on that day, and two, where is home for me in my faith, and where I’m going to be the most supported and where I’m going to be the most in alignment with God’s will for me in my life.”
Rogers said she spends long hours and many days involved as the executive director of the Palisades Long Term Recovery Group and in other ways to help her fire-ravaged community recover.
But she’s also trying to figure out her own situation. Because she said her home insurance dropped her before the Palisades Fire, she’s not sure if she’s going to be able to rebuild.
Thanks to her newfound faith, she benefits, no matter what.
“In a way, I was blessed with the ability to lose all my attachments to things because once they get taken away, it’s just like it’s gone. So you can dwell on it, or you can accept it.
“I lost everything, but I gained so much. If the only gift I got from losing absolutely everything, this connection with God, it is so worth it. I got no regrets.”
