Local News in Brief : El Toro : New Marine Chapel Will Be Dedicated
A new Marine chapel that replaces one destroyed three years ago in the crash of a stunt plane will be dedicated at 2 p.m. Sunday at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
The new chapel, across the street from the base’s theater, is 25,000 square feet and can seat 250 people, with overflow seating for another 100. The building also includes a smaller chapel for weekday services and small weddings, a large kitchen, a fellowship room, a meeting room, an office, a large sacristy and a baptistery, base officials said.
The old chapel was destroyed after a vintage airplane doing stunts in a 1985 air show crashed into it starting a fire. Both the pilot and his passenger were killed in the accident.
Services in the intervening years have been held in the station theater and other smaller chapels on the base.
The new building is of traditional Spanish design, acknowledging the cultural heritage of Southern California and the missionaries from Spain and Mexico who first settled much of the area.
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