Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral seems to be safe for now from the raging wildfires in Santa Barbara north of Los Angeles and from Orange County which is south of Los Angeles, both approximately 30 miles away. Sadly two 
firefighters have lost their lives in service to Angelinos.
Maps of the wildfires are temporarily out of service as servers have been overloaded for the Los Angeles Times, Google Maps, and Associated Content.
From the pictures it looks like all hell has broken loose. Smoke continues to envelope major sections of Los Angeles and the fluorescent red light from said wildfires give an eery glow to the landscape.
The beautiful architecture of Our Lady of Angels is at risk of destruction from these wildfires. The Cathedral’s exterior echoes the Famsa Warehouse District with its soaring brownish brick buildings and rectangular gray-stained windows. The Plaze of the Cathedral resembles that of your local community college with directionless paths and no shading.
The treasure trove of art that this Cathedral holds is breath-taking. Where else can you find non-Christian imagery than that on the giant bronze doors depicting images from pre-Christian Europe. These giant bronze doors are conveniently located away from the 
narthex. Neo-post-Christian artists such as Robert Graham decorated the door with an unveiled Mary showing her bare arms welcoming people to come in for happy-clappy Masses and liturgical dances.
Once your inside and find your way to the “church” you can marvel at the hand-crafted tabernacle sculptured by Max DeMoss. Mr. DeMoss designed the tabernacle to blend with the the rest of the architectural style of the cathedral which is delightfully tacky, yet unrefined.
As you turn around from those three deteriorating pipes sticking out of the ground called the tabernacle you can view 
the complete interior of the Cathedral of the Angels. Imagine one of those special liturgical celebrations as a Chinese dragon parades up and down the kneelerless rows with Cardinal Mahony waiting in the wings with pitchers of Jesus waiting to be distributed among the faithful.
What priceless treasures that this Cathedral holds that may well be burned to the ground along with the post-neo-Christian architecture.
One can only pray.
_._
All information for this posting was done entirely from the Our Lady of Angels Cathedral website.
Pictures courtesy of Quintero from L.A. Catholic.
Do I detect w wee bit of sarcasm, or a whole symphony????
“kneelerless rows”?
I can assure you that there are indeed kneelers there, and they are used, or at least they were when I was there and Cardinal Mahony instructed everyone to kneel for the Eucharistic prayer.
Alan,
The first few rows have no kneelers.
First few rows? Maybe the very first row. There are some pews on the sides of the sanctuary area that do not have kneelers, but the pews throughout the nave have kneelers.
Alan,
Next time I will be more specific how many rows are missing kneelers.
The point is that the Cathedral contains kneelerless rows, among many other disturbing things that it contains, as representative of how off the rails Cardinal Mahony has guided the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
http://www.catholicmil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1018&catid=68
Monday, 08 May 2006 00:00
My daily Masses, when I am not traveling, are held in a very small Blessed Sacrament Chapel, which is off to one wing of the large chapel/theater we have here in Fallujah. The place can accomidate 10-11 people.
It has benches along three sides, a field altar in the center, and a tabernacle on the fourth wall, mounted on a wooden platform. Nothing fancy, but it is more than most places have, so I am more than satisfied.
The floor is stone tile.
One day I commented during my homily that maybe we should get foam rolls from Supply to kneel on.
After Mass my collection of one enlisted sailor, two Navy officers (doctors both), one enlisted Marine, and four Marine officers had a quick huddle.
As one of the officers was bringing in some of the gear from the Mass back to the sacristry/confessional/storage area (we make the best use of our spaces over here), he remarked that the group had decided that the pads were not needed.
When I asked why not, he replied:
“Real men kneel on stone.”
This is my parish.
Excellent story!
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Could the aisles without kneelers be specifically for the handicapped?
If I remember correctly, the side pews along the sanctuary are somewhat more elevated and awkward, so I’m not sure that would be ideal for the handicapped. There is room for the handicapped in the general nave area, which is the general seating (and kneeling) area.
When I was stationed in Spain I would go to the base chapel for daily Mass. Plenty of kneelers there. But on Saturday went in town at a chapel that was probably 200+ years old. Lots of old ladies and me. No kneelers. Stone floors. Good to see the Navy and Marines haven’t changed.