Prayer Vigil Held in Hopes of Saving Cathedral

Exercising faith in the power of prayer, about 40 supporters of the historic St. Vibiana’s Cathedral held a vigil Saturday outside the downtown landmark in hopes of sparing it from the wrecking ball.

The Los Angeles archdiocese wants to raze the 120-year-old earthquake-damaged building, erecting a new spiritual headquarters in its place.

But parishioners and preservationists argued Saturday that the historic structure is too important--to Roman Catholics and to the city’s downtown core--to reduce to rubble.

“There is a lot of support for preserving the cathedral, and that support runs very broad and very deep,” said Lourdes Brent, who joined fellow members of Friends of St. Vibiana’s outside the church at 2nd and Main streets.

They whispered prayers and thumbed rosary beads. They held signs, in English and Spanish, that read “Just Say No to Demolition” and “Save the Cathedral.”

They urged motorists to pull over and join them, passing out petitions in favor of saving the old church on the edge of skid row. “We say, how can you build for the future if you turn your back on the past?” Brent said.

Preservationists have long pushed to save the cathedral, or at least a significant part of it.

Negotiations had gone on for months but collapsed this month when workers began tearing down the church’s bell tower.

While the Los Angeles Conservancy got an emergency court order temporarily halting demolition, Los Angeles city inspectors last week widened their seismic safety warnings by forbidding entry to the entire cathedral.