Parish History: 2004 Centennial Edition
Blessed Sacrament Parish History - 2004 Centennial Edition
The Parish School
By the time Bishop Conaty turned Blessed Sacrament over to the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus was already in charge of St. Vincent's College and Loyola College, the precursors of Loyola Marymount University and Loyola High School respectively.
The first Jesuit pastor was Fr. William Deeney, who took over on August 13, 1914. Deeney, who had just previously presided as president of Loyola College, met with parishioners to discuss the church and community's needs and set a list of priorities. His first directive was to make improvements to the rectory by adding on new rooms and acquiring new furniture. When Fr. Hugh Gallagher came to the parish in November, he was put in charge of launching a parish school - but was given no budget. The church was cash poor so as a stop gap measure the parishioners suggested temporarily using the church hall to hold classes until enough money could be raised to build a proper schoolhouse.
The church hall had been a surprise anniversary gift to Fr. Murphy before his death. Parishioners had pooled their resources and purchased the old Christian Church building adjacent to Blessed Sacrament while the pastor had been away on one of his recuperative vacations. They moved the building into the garden, reframed it and added a stage. The hall was used to organize a benefit concert that raised enough money to buy chairs and desks and materials to build partitions that created make-shift classrooms for the children.
The school opened to much fanfare on February 1, 1915. Although it was a cold, rainy winter day, it was an exciting moment for the parishioners who showed up to welcome the first students, an enrollment that consisted of seventeen children spread among four elementary grades. The school was affectionately referred to "Gallagher's University," in honor of their pastor and as a nod to his career as an educator.
In cooperation with the Jesuits, the school was under the direction of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, with Mother De Sales, IHM, named the school's principal. The sisters' first day on the job, however, was a bit of an adventure. Mother de Sales, along with Sister Anna, went to start their new assignment but missed their stop in the misty morning and passed right by Blessed Sacrament. When they came to the end of the car line's route, they had to turn around and find their way back to the church, which they eventually located.
For many years, the nuns would continue to commute between their convent and the school. Parishioner Dr. J. Howard Cremin, a former Blessed Sacrament student who calls the Sisters' service to the parish "heroic," says, "I can remember the days when a little red trolley, in contrast to the Big P. E. cars seen elsewhere, carried the nuns from Western, down Franklin Avenue to Hollywood Boulevard at Cherokee whence they walked to the school."
In August 1915, Father George B. Butler took over as pastor at Blessed Sacrament. A month later, the parish was jolted by the unexpected death of Bishop Conaty while he was visiting Coronado Beach. Conaty's passing left the diocese temporarily without a head Administrator and left Father Butler to work out the immediate needs of the Blessed Sacrament parish without much guidance. It was pastoral baptism by fire - or to be more exact, by flood.
During an extended period of heavy winter rains the property's storm drain collapsed, flooding the entire area including the church hall. Not only did Father Butler have to spend money the parish didn't have to replace the drain, he also needed to find a place to move the school children. His only option was to turn once again to the parish and the Hollywood community at large. He sent out five hundred solicitation letters asking for the much needed funds and the response brought in over $1,200. With that money, Father Butler was able to build a three room, open air school that became known as Hollywood's "little bungalow school." As its reputation for providing quality education grew so did the enrollment and before long the Blessed Sacrament parish would find it had outgrown both the church and school.
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