Indian reservation's church destroyed in California wildfires

Published: 2007-10-24

SAN DIEGO (CNS) -- A Catholic church on an Indian reservation was one of the casualties of the ongoing wildfires that have hit Southern California. St. Bartholomew Church, a mission church on the Rincon Reservation, and several homes on the reservation were destroyed in one of the fires, according to Bo Mazzetti, a councilman for the Luiseno tribe on the reservation. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune daily newspaper the loss of the church was a spiritual blow to the tribe. "That's something we've all attended, that church. It's devastating to see that," Mazzetti said. The St. Bartholomew Church property is owned by the Luiseno tribe, not by the Diocese of San Diego, although a deacon or priest from a nearby parish regularly ministers to reservation residents. A representative of Catholic Mutual, the San Diego Diocese's insurance company, said Oct. 24 no harm had come to any church properties owned by the diocese. As of Oct. 23, more than 900,000 people had been evacuated from their homes, and an estimated 1,500 houses had been lost to the flames.

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