www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Just moved to Los Angeles and we're looking for a parish!

Hello all! It's been a long time since I've posted here. My wife and I are at long last moving in together for the first time in our ten months of marriage (our priest friends joke about the fact that thankfully we did it backwards compared to most people our age in secular society)!

We're in central-west Los Angeles, and are looking for a parish to call home. I'm an organist employed at a protestant church on Sundays, so we're looking for an Eastern Catholic parish that offers the Divine Liturgy on Saturday evenings. A poster at another forum pointed out that the cathedral in Sherman Oaks offers liturgy on Saturday mornings, but because we're canonical Romans we are obligated to attend the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the evening.

I know that the concept isn't strictly Byzantine, but the parish in Spokane WA offered liturgy on Saturday evenings with Great Vespers. Even though my wife and I were usually the only people there aside from the priest and reader, it was one of the most wonderful parts of living there.

The parish websites here are mostly pretty awful, and some parishes don't even have one (that's one thing I'd be willing to help out with at the parish we do end up in), so I thought I'd ask here.

I hope I'm not sounding like some "Roman refugee." My wife and I are painfully aware of the crisis of faith afflicting some of the Latin parishes here in Los Angeles (probably the most painful effect has been that nobody is looking for, much less wants, an organist), but we don't just want to run away from the problems and become passive observers in an Eastern parish.

If such a liturgy doesn't exist and there are other Byzcaths in the area who are interested in having access to one, perhaps we can form some sort of "stable group," to use a Roman term being thrown around a lot lately.

Thanks for your help!

Catholic Nerd welcome to California. There is a wonderful parish that has two liturgies one arabic melkite and the other russian (but in English) the priest there is Fr Alexi Schmidt.
Ive been several times while in LA rather than suffer the other liturgies. I think you will like it but dont know if there is a Saturday DL.
Again Welcome.
PS The Churh's name is St Andrew and it is in El Segundo not too far from LAX

I have been there.

Nice little church.

You can get easily lost. We did.

Do ask for directions.

Hi and welcome to L.A.,

If neither St. Mary's nor St. Andrew's work, you still have one more option in St. Anne (Melkite) in North Hollywood, but I do not think they have a Saturday PM Divine Liturgy either.

Here is a link:

http://www.st-anne-church.org

For a full listing of the Eastern Catholic parishes in or near L.A., you can go here:

http://www.la-archdiocese.org/directories/parishes/eastern.html

If your options include the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, you can see what's available here:

http://www.la-archdiocese.org/directories/parishes/indult.html

I am not sure I agree with your asessment that the worst thing that's happening with the Latin Church is that organ music is not as popular as it used to be.

However, if I was in West-LA, I'd sure give St. Monica a try. Great parish. I'd say one of the top 5 in the archdiocese.

If you are willing to travel a little more towards the North West, we are in St. Jude, in Westlake Village (take the 405 North, to the 101 North, exit Lindero Canyon to the south). We are not a traditionalist parish, but we do like to think of ourselves as orthodox (with a lower-case "o").

We do have an organ (and a superb organist) and a Saturday Vigil Mass at 5:00pm.

Shalom,
Memo

Actually, Archimandrite Alexei's last name is Smith.
There are no Divine Liturgies on Saturday evening, although Vespers is celebrated on the last Saturday of each month at 6:30PM.

Don't forget Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in LA.

Los Angeles
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
5154 DeLongpre Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Telephone: (323) 663-6307
Fax: (323) 663-6307
E-Mail: Lysmykytala@Yahoo.com

Divine Liturgy is at 10.00 am on Sundays.

Rev.Myron Mykyta

I know this may not work for you but if you ever get the chance to go, then go!