Los Angeles Community And Government Helped By Local Church - By: Matthew Paolini

St Patrick's Catholic Church is a church in Los Angeles, CA. It is located just east of downtown L.A. and is one of the longest-existing parishes in Los Angeles, having been established in 1903. The parish has serviced a variety of communities over its more than hundred years. St. Patrick's has always been a parish for welcoming immigrants, beginning with Irish and Germans in the 1900s, African-Americans in the 1920s and 1930s, Mexican-Americans in the 1950s and currently Central Americans since the 1980s.

The original church structure was damaged and reconstructed after a 1933 earthquake destroyed the famous towers. A second earthquake in 1971 completely collapsed the church. The parishioners, not able to afford the cost of rebuilding, had been worshiping in the converted parish hall for the past 35 years. With an average attendance of more than 600 but a maximum capacity of only 400, many parishioners were forced to stand outside the door to the parish hall in order to attend Mass.

Due to the inspiration of Bishop Stephen Blaire and others, the idea was hatched of building a church for St. Patrick's Parish with the assistance of all the nearby parishes and donors within Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region. Under the direction of Bishop Edward William Clark, the construction of the church commenced in April 2005 and was completed in December 2006. Dedication of the new church was held March 17.

It had been a long time since the St. Patrick Parish had a permanent location. One thousand worshipers are now able to celebrate Mass in the new St. Patrick's. This is more than twice the previous capacity of the worship space in the parish hall. The unique funding campaign to construct the new church involved contributions from the seventy-seven parishes within the Our Lady of the Angels regions, as well as donations from outside donors and foundations.

In the parish, the number of known households is about 1,500, with regular parishioners: at greater than 5,000. Annually, over 450 baptisms are performed in the church. The number of students in weekly religious education classes is more than 700.

About the Author

Matt Paolini is a community writer for CityBook, the family-safe Los Angeles Yellow Pages, which carries an extensive directory on Los Angeles centers and organizations.

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