A Catholic church in the town of Tala, state of Jalisco (Mexico), collapsed on Saturday, June 29, at the exact moment when a priest was preparing to enter the temple. There were no deaths or injuries at the scene.
The San José Obrero parish had been affected by an earthquake in 2022, and Civil Protection had cordoned off the temple to prevent the entry of people, due to the appearance of cracks and structural damage in the place.
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#Jalisco | God’s favorite!
This priest narrowly escaped the roof of the church collapsing on him.
Hours before, the inhabitants of Tala had reported cracks in the church of San José Obrero, so the place was evacuated and protected.… pic.twitter.com/wXJ4VQFp1M
— Azteca Information Force (@AztecaNoticias) June 30, 2024
“Yesterday afternoon the parish of San José Obrero collapsed, in Tala, where hours before its inhabitants had reported the appearance of cracks to municipal civil protection,” he wrote this Sunday, June 30 in Facebook Enrique Alfaro Ramírezgovernor of the state of Jalisco.
“Thanks to the prompt reaction, the building was evacuated, the perimeter was protected and there were no human losses,” Alfaro said.
The governor also explained that, before the collapse, benches and various objects were removed from the church. “There was also no damage to the surrounding properties. At this time, work continues on debris removal,” he added.
Alfaro then expressed his most “sincere solidarity for the loss of one of his most beloved buildings” and thanked the Civil Protection workers “for their quick and effective response that saved lives in the face of this tragedy.”
The parish priest of San José Obrero speaks
Father Francisco Javier Montes Castillo, parish priest of San José Obreroreported that yesterday, at 9:00 am (local time), the demolition work on the temple began, in coordination with local authorities.
“The material damage to the temple was total and thank God there were no victims to regret, due to the preventive actions that were taken in good time, such as the cordoning off and closing of the place before the roof of our temple fell off,” said the priest. .
After thanking the expressions of solidarity, the parish priest reported that “notification has been given to our authorities in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, through the Episcopal Vicariate of Señor Grande de Ameca, who are also aware of what happened and these work of demolition of the temple.”
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.