Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church & School is a

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and elementary school located in Encino, Los Angeles, California, at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and White Oak. The parish operates the Our Lady of Grace Elementary School.

Crespi Carmelite High School Crespi Carmelite High School, shortly known as Crespi, is a private Catholic all-male four-year college preparatory high school located in Encino District, Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The ...

is also adjacent to the parish.

History

Our Lady of Grace Parish and Our Lady of Grace Elementary School were developed in the years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as the population of the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

boomed. The parish celebrated its first

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

on December 16, 1945, in the packing room of Canoga Farms, owned by Frank Flowers, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. In the 1990s the Church served 2,400 families. It began holding mass in Spanish in 1991, as the neighborhood's population of Mexican immigrants burgeoned. The Church grounds feature a garden and fountain sculpture erected in memory of Nicole Parker, a child who was the victim of a notorious 1993 child kidnapping and murder. In 1965 a solid gold chalice usually stored in the church's safe, was reported stolen. In January 2018, a priest, Father Juan Cano, was removed from the church "on suspicion of having inappropriate conduct with multiple female parishioners - one of whom is an underage girl."

Schools

The parish's elementary school opened in September 1947. As of 1998, the elementary school had 336 pupils. Notable former students include author Barry Lopez. In February 1959, the Los Angeles Archdiocese announced plans to build a high school for 600 boys, staffed by Carmelite fathers, adjacent to Our Lady of Grace. The high school opened in the fall of 1959 as

. Crespi has produced numerous notable athletes, including All-Pro football player

Randy Cross Randall Laureat Cross (born April 25, 1954) is an American football analyst and former player. He was a right guard and center in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and was inducted into the Colle ...

, Major League Baseball player and World Series MVP Rick Dempsey, NBA player

Paul Mokeski Paul Mokeski (born January 3, 1957) is an American former basketball player and coach. Standing 7 ft 0 in, he played the center position. He played for five NBA teams, including six seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks. Mokeski's last coaching ...

, and Major League Baseball pitcher and NLCS MVP Jeff Suppan. Singers

Gunnar Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin (''Gunnarr'' in Old Norse). The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier, and attacker, but mostly is referred to by the Viking saying which means Brave and Bold warrior (''gunnr'' "war" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

and Matthew Nelson attended the school in the 1980s. Actors

Martin Donovan Martin Donovan (born Martin Paul Smith; August 19, 1957) is an American actor. He has had a long collaboration with director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, such as ''Trust'' (1990), '' Surviving Desire'' (1991), '' Simple Men'' (199 ...

and Michael Angarano are also Crespi alumni.

Pastors

The parish has been served by several pastors over its history: * Father Ignatius McDonnell was the pastor in the mid to late 1950s. * Monsignor Francis M. Osborne was the pastor for 26 years from 1959 to 1985. Osborne oversaw the construction of the current, 1,300-seat church from 1960 to 1961. * Gerald Wilkerson was the pastor from 1985 to 1998. In 1998, Wilkerson was ordained as a bishop by Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles. His ordination took place at Our Lady of Grace. Bishop Wilkerson, who grew up in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

and was ordained in 1965, came to Our Lady of Grace as pastor in 1982. * Father Austin Doran became pastor in May 1998. * Msgr. Jarlath (Jay) Cunnane, a native of Ireland, is the current pastor, and has served in that role since at least 2013. Cunnane was profiled by the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 2001 and by ''The New York Times'' in 2006 for his work with immigrant families at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Pico-Union.

References

{{authority control Roman Catholic churches in California Education in Los Angeles Elementary schools in California Catholic elementary schools in California Roman Catholic churches in Los Angeles Christian organizations established in 1945 1945 establishments in California

History

Schools

Pastors

See also

References