Two parishes in Los Angeles are among the several donation centers around Southern California being set up to help victims of the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24.
Father Alexander Hernandez, CSsR, administrator of Our Lady of Victory and Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe parishes in East Los Angeles, is a native of Venezuela who served in a parish in Caracas for seven years before emigrating to the United States.
Hernandez has been in touch with relief agencies and local Venezuelans to collect clothes and supplies at Our Lady of Victory in the coming weeks.
“Right now, Venezuela is going to be receiving a lot of help from around the world,” Hernandez said he was told by Caritas Venezuela, the equivalent of Catholic Charities there. “The problem is going to be in two or three months.”
As a result, Hernandez is organizing his parish’s donation drive later in the summer, once the quakes fade from the daily news headlines.
Several locations around Southern California have already opened donation centers, including a Venezuelan restaurant near downtown LA. St. Paul Catholic Church in Mid-City Los Angeles – where the administrator, Father Miguel Acevedo, is also Venezuelan – announced its parish school will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to collect hygiene items, diapers, and nonperishable food to send to victims.
Meanwhile, parishes in the Archdiocese of LA have been asked to pray and hold a special weekend collection during weekend masses in July to help victims.
In a June 30 memo to all parishes and schools in the archdiocese, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia Father James Anguiano asked that they consider taking up a special emergency collection. Funds collected will be sent to and distributed by Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
“As members of the Body of Christ, we are called to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are suffering,” wrote Anguiano. “Along with our financial support, we ask that every parish, school, and ministry remember the people of Venezuela in your prayers.”
Parishes can schedule their collection on “any convenient weekend during July” except for July 18-19, which is already reserved for the annual Peter’s Pence collection, a papal fund used to support the Holy See’s charity outreach and the operations of the Roman Curia and Vatican embassies around the world.
The morning of Sunday, June 28, Hernandez celebrated a special “Mass for Venezuela” at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
“People who had lost family and friends [in the earthquakes] started calling me, asking if I could celebrate a Mass for them, where we Venezuelans could all be together to pray,” said Hernandez.
But Hernandez was surprised when more than 200 people showed up, and the small church was so full that some had to sit outside. Among the attendees was a young woman whose 17-year-old brother was found dead under the rubble of a collapsed building. In the days since the quakes, Hernandez himself has learned of several former parishioners from Caracas who have died.
“On a personal level, it’s been tough, because on the inside you’re grieving, there’s a silence there,” said Hernandez. “But I’m going through it with God, and He is giving us the strength to organize ourselves to help out.”
Thousands of miles away from home, Hernandez said he struggles with a sense of “impotence” every time he sees news reports of the destruction.
“I wish I were there right now,” admitted the Redemptorist priest. “But God has me here, and also from here so much can be done to help.”
