3 Generations, 8 Families: What the Condo Collapse Took From a Church

“They were people who you had prayed with.” A congregation and its priest, their faith tested, focus on healing and remembering their lost parishioners.

MIAMI BEACH — The Rev. Juan J. Sosa was on his early-morning walk not far from the beach when he heard the wail of sirens. He assumed there had been a traffic accident. But when he walked toward what had been a familiar landmark on his route, he saw only a great void, a gutted tower and a pile of mangled steel and concrete. A terrifying reality set in. The Champlain Towers South, just blocks from the parish Father Sosa has overseen for almost 11 years, was home to a number of his parishioners. The Guaras, whose oldest daughter he had helped with the sacrament of first communion; the Moras, whom he had dined with in their high-rise condo; the Velasquez and Torres families. As Americans awoke to news of one of the deadliest structural collapses in the nation’s history, Father Sosa rushed back to the church to check registration records. He and the parish’s secretary began calling those they knew inside the building. No one answered.