“By God’s grace, no one was harmed, and the damage, though widespread, was not serious,” Weinkopf said in an email to CNA.
“A beloved statue of the college’s patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, came down in the dining hall, St. Joseph Commons. Extensive plaster repairs will be needed in most if not all campus buildings. And in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel — the crown jewel of the California campus — a bell became misaligned on its carriage in the 135-foot-high belltower.”
An initial examination of the belltower did not appear to show signs of structural damage, but college authorities postponed the start-of-the-year Mass of the Holy Spirit, scheduled for Monday morning. The morning’s Matriculation Ceremony, when members of the Class of 2027 are formally welcomed, took place as originally planned in the school’s auditorium. Around the same time, the County Building Department declared the chapel safe to use, allowing the Mass to take place that afternoon.
“The chapel is a relatively new building, having been completed in 2009, and it was designed to stand the test of time, even in an earthquake zone,” said Mark Kretschmer, the college’s vice president for operations.
The edifice is “built to withstand Southern California’s seismic uncertainties, at least to the extent that modern technology allows. We’re grateful to God and to the building’s engineers that it held up so well,” he continued.
The only concern that emerged from the chapel’s inspection, Kretschmer said, regarded the stability of the facade itself, and as such the college has cordoned off the chapel plaza out of an abundance of caution until the building’s engineer of record can examine the facade more closely.