Saint Patrick Catholic Church is a

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church in

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California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, US, just east of

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. It is one of the oldest

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es in Los Angeles.

History

St. Patrick's was established in 1907. The parish has served a variety of communities over its more than hundred years. St. Patrick's has always been a parish for welcoming immigrants - starting with Irish and

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in the 1900s,

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in the 1920s and 1930s,

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in the 1950s and now

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ns since the 1980s.

Destruction and reconstructions

The original church building had to be reconstructed, of un-reinforced masonry, after an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

in 1933 destroyed its famous towers. The

1971 San Fernando earthquake The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude o ...

then completely destroyed the rebuilt church. The parish, unable to afford the cost of rebuilding, worshipped in the converted parish hall for thirty-five years. With an average attendance of over 600 worshippers, but a maximum capacity of only 402, many parishioners had to stand outside the door to the parish hall in order to attend

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Stephen Blaire and

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Lloyd Torgerson (pastor at St. Monica Catholic Church, Santa Monica, California), planned to build a church for St. Patrick's Parish with the help of all the parishes and Catholic donors within

Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region is a pastoral region of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the Roman Catholic Church. It covers downtown and central Los Angeles west to the Malibu, California, City ...

. The campaign involved donations from the 77 parishes within the Our Lady of the Angels regions, and contributions from individual donors and foundations. Under the leadership of Bishop Edward William Clark, the new St. Patrick's Church, with capacity for 1,000, started construction in April 2005, and was dedicated on March 17, 2007,

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

Parish details

* Number of known households: 1,500 * Number of regular parishioners: 5,000 * Average income for a family of six: $31,634 * Annual baptisms: 475 * Number of students in weekly religious education classes: 700 * Present building seating capacity: 402 * Average attendance per Mass: 600 * Projected seating capacity in new church: 1,000 * Percentage increase in the projected five year local Catholic population: 9.6%

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Los Angeles, California African-American history in Los Angeles German-American culture in California Hispanic and Latino American culture in Los Angeles Irish-American culture in California Mexican-American culture in Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles Roman Catholic churches in Los Angeles Christian organizations established in 1903 Roman Catholic churches completed in 2005 21st-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States