Archdiocese Of Los Angeles to Administer
St. Mary of the Assumption

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Redemptorist missionaries of the Denver Province today announced that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will assume leadership at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Whittier in July of 2023. Both the Congregation and the Archdiocese decided on a year transition period to ensure a smooth transition and minimal impact on the parish community and its thriving outreach programs.

In 1922, Bishop John Joseph Cantwell of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles asked the Redemptorists to leave Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Downey and succeed the Vincentians at St. Mary of the Assumption Church. The Redemptorists celebrated a century of service to the faithful at the parish and the surrounding Whittier community last month.

“St. Mary of the Assumption was the first Catholic church to open its doors in Whittier in 1893,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez. “We are grateful to the Redemptorists for all their years of dedicated care and service, and we ask for their prayers as we continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serve this community through St. Mary’s school and its many ministries.”

“We are grateful for the Redemptorist vocations that were nurtured here and for the tremendous love and support of this parish family during the past 100 years,” said Very Rev. Stephen Rehrauer, C.Ss.R., Provincial Superior of the Denver Province. “An aging membership and a shortage of new vocations require us to continually reassess how we can best respond to meet the needs of the poor and abandoned. As part of a major worldwide restructuring of the entire Congregation, the Denver Province is merging with other Redemptorist Provinces in North American and Mexico. Leadership has discerned a call to focus more specifically on evangelical outreach to young adults, immigrants, and those who do not participate in a church.

“We will work diligently with Archbishop Gomez to assure a smooth transition, and are confident that the spirit of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish that we have nourished and sustained these many years will continue to flourish under new leadership. We are grateful to have served with a faith community committed to loving and serving the People of God.”

The Redemptorists are a religious congregation of Catholic priests and Brothers founded in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Liguori in Naples, Italy. Approximately 4,200 Redemptorists are currently working for the poor and most abandoned in nearly every part of the world. More than 130 Redemptorist priests, Brothers and students represent the Denver Province in the United States.