Located at 7th and California Streets, it was erected in 1925 and served as the inspiration for the 1944 film classic Going My Way with Bing Crosby. The Duval Center, one of several buildings on the St. Monica campus, was designed by Frank Gehry and built in 1998. There are two schools associated with St. Monica Catholic Church: St. Monica Catholic Elementary School for grades TK-8 and St. Monica Catholic High School for grades 9-12, both of which are located on the same site as the church.
History
The parish was established in 1886. Prior to the formation of St. Monica, the nearest Catholic church was at Olvera Street in Downtown Los Angeles.[1] The current church opened for Christmas in 1925. At the time, the Los Angeles Times reported: "The opening of St. Monica's Church, ranked in the cathedral class and probably the finest Catholic Church of its kind on the Pacific Coast, will be celebrated with solemn high mass at 5 o'clock Christmas morning. For the first time the interior splendors of this remarkably beautiful and dignified religious edifice will be revealed to St. Monica' parish, and many out-of-town visitors are expected."[2] The church was not officially dedicated until July 1926, at which time the Los Angeles Times reported: "A crowd numbering many thousands surrounded the handsome limestone structure on California avenue and Seventh street, the overflow standing under the towering eucalipti of the city park opposite the church. ... Strains from the great pipe organ of St. Monica's floated to the overflow crowd outside to give at least a hint of the sacred services within."[3]
In 1994, the church itself was damaged in the Northridge earthquake and Mass was held in the gymnasium until repairs could be made.[4]
Frank Gehry, a Santa Monica resident, designed an adjoining hospitality center, the Duval Center, which was built in 1998.[4] In 2002, the New York Times wrote that the Gehry-designed building "contributes to the outreach efforts that, along with good liturgies and preaching, are parish hallmarks."[4]
In 2007, St. Monica embarked on an aggressive $27 million capital campaign to meet the needs of the growing community and aging buildings. The Pastoral Center was demolished in late 2011 to make room for a new Community Center and Reception Pavilion. Groundbreaking took place in January 2012. Construction was completed in August 2013, with the grand opening celebration on November 3, 2013.
Since 2002, St. Monica Catholic Community has enjoyed a sister relationship with the Holy Cross Parish in Dandora, Kenya.
Monsignor Conneally and Going My Way
Interior of dome at St. Monica's
Academy AwardBest Picture winner Going My Way, the 1944 film in which Father O'Malley (played by Bing Crosby) saved his struggling St. Dominic's in New York, was partly inspired by Msgr. Nicholas Conneally, former pastor of St. Monica.[5] The role of the irascible old Irish priest, Father Fitzgibbon (for which Barry Fitzgerald won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar), was based on Msgr. Conneally.[1] Msgr. Conneally was the pastor of St. Monica for 26 years from 1923 to 1949, when he died at St. John's Hospital after a brief illness.[6] The film's director and writer Leo McCarey was a parishioner and friend of Msgr. Conneally.[7] McCarey recalled that Msgr. Conneally had approached him seeking funds for a new loudspeaker. McCarey made the donation and asked the older priest how he got along with his young priests. "They're nice fellows," the priest replied, "who are figuring on how they can change things around when I die." McCarey recalled, "I didn't know it then, but I was meeting the Barry Fitzgerald character in Going My Way."[7]
When Msgr. Conneally died in 1949, a newspaper wrote: "Mr. McCarey said that the monsignor was a frequent visitor at his home. The priest's many anecdotes about his work in the parish and St. Monica's School gave the director the idea it would make a good film story. It did."[7]Going My Way won seven Academy Awards including best picture, director, original story, original screenplay, song ("Swinging on a Star"), actor (Bing Crosby) and supporting actor (Fitzgerald in the role of the older priest).
Going My Way is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran. Crosby sings five songs with other songs performed onscreen by Metropolitan Opera's star mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir. Going My Way was the highest-grossing picture of 1944, and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture. Its success helped to make movie exhibitors choose Crosby as the biggest box-office draw of the year, a record he would hold for the remainder of the 1940s. After World War II, Crosby and McCarey presented a copy of the film to Pope Pius XII at the Vatican. Going My Way was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's.
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) is an American musical comedy-drama film, produced and directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a priest and a nun who, despite their good-natured rivalry, try to save their school from being shut down. The character Father O'Malley had been previously portrayed by Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was produced by Leo McCarey's production company, Rainbow Productions.
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