St. Vitus
FSSP, Los Angeles
FSSP in Los Angeles:
A Timeline & Our Vision
In Los Angeles, the Fraternity did not have their own church until 2018, but Mass attendance over the past year doubled from 250 per Sunday to 500. The parish’s pastor, Fr. James Fryar, commented for the Fraternity’s website that, after his parish added a fourth Mass on Sunday, “another 200 people came.”
Nov. 2, 2019
Summer, 2015 - FSSP arrives in Los Angeles
In response to a large petition, Archbishop Gomez welcomed the FSSP to find a church and establish a parish that will become the first full Extraordinary Form parish for the city. Fr. Solis invited the FSSP of LA to use the little chapel of San Felipe in East Los Angeles. Here it all began.
Building Community
Msgr. Murphy invited the FSSP of LA to offer Mass at St. Victor's in West Hollywood. For a little more than two years we grew as a community and began a campaign known as the Founders' Campaign to save money for our future church.
The Stepping-Stone Church
Churches, even used churches, are very expensive in Los Angeles. Rather than over-extending our welcome at St. Victor's, we used the money raised and a loan from the Archdiocese to purchase and renovate a small church that we could use to start until we raise enough money for a larger church.
St. Vitus Parish
In 2018, Archbishop Gomez comes to bless the new church and establish the new parish of St. Vitus, patron of actors.
The parish of the Extraordinary Form has been born for the city of Los Angeles!
Repay the Debt
We have repaid the ~$450,000 we owed to the Archdiocese for the purchase of our church property.
Rectory for Our Priests
Currently, our FSSP priests live in a rented house. The cost of purchasing a house in the area is roughly $750,000. By purchasing a house as a rectory, we will no longer have to pay the steep rent and we will have greater stability for our FSSP priests.
Want to help?
A Larger Church
We are crowding in our little church for each of our four Sunday Masses each week - in about a year, we grew to a community of ~500 people and now exceed ~1,000 people. We need to raise money for a larger church, which would be near the location where we currently are established. This church will be seen throughout the world as how the Extraordinary Form is celebrated in Los Angeles.
A Future School
Our mission is not only to preserve the Traditional Liturgy, but the entire Catholic Heritage of our Tradition. Essential to this is the formation of our children. A school will help form them in the virtues and teachings of our Faith and prepare them for the modern society.