Seeking Solace Through Prayer

With solemn words and heavy hearts, parishioners across Ventura County offered prayers Sunday for the passengers and crew killed last week aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

They prayed to heal the pain felt by victims’ families.

They prayed to support the recovery workers who face the grim task of sifting through aircraft wreckage and human remains scattered on the ocean floor.

And they prayed for a community that in the last week has witnessed the most devastating ocean disaster in its history.

“As we come to mourn the dead, we come to help the living,” said the Rev. Dan Green of First Assembly of God Church in Port Hueneme.

“This is not over,” Green told his small congregation. “We will reel from this for months to come. But we will learn from it as well.”

It was a message echoed through churches large and small, Catholic and Protestant, throughout the weekend.

Outside the county, Cardinal Roger Mahony officiated Sunday at a Mass attended by victims’ relatives at Church of the Visitation in Westchester. At least three dozen relatives and airline staffers were in the packed church.

“When that tragedy hit, we all became members of your family,” he told relatives of the crash victims. “We became part of your lives and your loss.

“You are surrounded today by hundreds of friends who do not know you personally,” he said.

He consoled the bereaved relatives with the message that God is present on the journey through life, through death and into everlasting life.

After taking communion, several relatives sobbed silently as they knelt during prayer, their shoulders heaving in grief. Many of them exchanged embraces outside the church where Mahony spoke to them personally as they boarded two chartered buses.

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In Ventura County, many parishioners said that they didn’t know any of the 88 people aboard the ill-fated plane, but that Monday’s crash a few miles off the coast affected them just the same.

Jewish congregations around the county also took a moment to remember the victims of Flight 261 during worship services Saturday.

“We offered a memorial prayer during our regular Sabbath service,” said Rabbi Shimon Paskow of Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks. “We plan to offer another prayer at [Monday’s] service.”

At San Buenaventura Mission, 300 people bowed their heads during the 9 a.m. Sunday Mass as lay minister James Antonioli prayed that the crash victims’ relatives “find peace and solace in this difficult time.”

After the service, several in attendance reflected on the tragedy.

Leland Hoffman, 67, a retired aeronautical engineer, used to work at the Point Mugu naval base. He said that as he took his daily walk to the beach in Ventura last week, he looked out over the water and prayed for those who had lost their lives.

“I’ve flown in that particular type of airplane many times,” Hoffman said. “I can imagine what actually went on inside at the end.”

Across town at tiny Olivet Baptist Church in Ventura, the congregation of 50 listened to a reading from the book of Lamentations, which teaches that faith in God can provide consolation even in times of crisis.

Later, the Rev. John L. Baylor dimmed the lights and led a prayer for those affected by the tragedy.

“It’s very sad that we’re put on the map by disaster,” he said. “I’m going to ask you to remember those families, although we don’t even know their names. . . . God knows who they are.”

For Pastor Green in Port Hueneme, Sunday’s service was also a time to shed tears after a long and emotional week.

Green, a police and fire department chaplain, has been on call since his pager went off Monday evening about an hour after Flight 261 plummeted into the Pacific.

The 53-year-old minister was among several local pastors who set aside their own parishes and families to comfort the victims’ relatives, not to mention the countless workers who have participated in search and recovery efforts.

For Green, the week has taken its toll.

“You are my release,” the pastor told his congregants Sunday. “You are my comfort.”

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Wilson is a Times staff writer. Davis is a Times Community News reporter. Times staff writer Carlos Lozano also contributed to this story.