St. Basil Catholic Church
St. Basil Catholic Church
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St. Basil Catholic Church

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St. Basil Catholic Church

34°03′42″N 118°18′11″W / 34.06167°N 118.30306°W / 34.06167; -118.30306

St. Basil Catholic Church is a Catholic Church parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Serving the archdiocese's Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region, the Roman Rite parish is located at 3611 Wilshire Boulevard in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles, California. The parish church building was built from 1967 to 1969 and dedicated in 1969. In 1969 and 1970, the parish was the site of pickets and demonstrations by Chicano Movement protesters who objected to the archdiocese's expenditure of substantial funds on construction of the new parish rather than on the poor and social justice programs.

With the growth of Los Angeles to the west from downtown along Wilshire Boulevard, Bishop John Cantwell announced the creation of a new parish to be named after St. Basil of Caesarea. The parish was created on 26 November 1919. Father William McDermott Hughes (1880–1939) was named as the pastor of St. Basil.

The first permanent church building for the St. Basil parish was built at 7th Street and South Catalina Street and was dedicated on 21 November 1920. In 1922, Father Edward Kirk (1884–1949) became St. Basil's second pastor and remained so for 27 years until his death in 1949.

In June 1923, Bishop Cantwell divided the parish creating the Precious Blood parish in the eastern section of the parish. With the shift in boundaries, the parish acquired a new site at Wilshire Boulevard and South Harvard Boulevard and the existing parish building was cut into three parts and moved to the new site.

In October 1943, the church parish was badly damaged by a fire and subsequently rebuilt. In 1949, Monsignor Henry W. Gross (1891‐1973) became the third pastor of St. Basil and served as the parish pastor for 20 years until his retirement in 1969.

In August 1965, Msgr. Gross announced preliminary plans to build a new 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) complex at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Kingsley Drive. The new structure was designed by the A.C. Martin architectural firm which had also designed the original parish structure in 1920. Construction was handled by the Pozzo Construction Company between 1967 and 1969.

The new church parish was dedicated on 29 June 1969 in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal James Francis McIntyre and Archbishop Timothy Manning. On 15 December 1969, Monsignor Benjamin Hawkes (1919‐1985) was appointed as the fourth pastor of St. Basil and served as pastor for 16 years until his death in 1985.

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