St. Paul the Apostle Church and School


St. Paul the Apostle Church is a Roman Catholic church established in 1935. It is a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest diocese in the United States. The church's staff, the Paulist Fathers and the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, are also active in the school community and aid in the school's theology program. Both the church and the school are named after St. Paul the Apostle.
St. Paul the Apostle School is a Roman Catholic coeducational K-8 school in Los Angeles, California. It is affiliated with St. Paul the Apostle Church, which is located on the school campus. Colloquially known as "St. Paul's," the school is adjacent to the community of Westwood, Los Angeles, and admits students from the greater Los Angeles area. St. Paul's is also affiliated with the National Catholic Educational Association.

Church

The church traces its beginnings to the 1920s when John Joseph Cantwell, then the Bishop of Los Angeles, requested the Paulist Fathers to establish a new parish to serve the community of Westwood and the new University of California, Los Angeles campus. The parish was organized in 1928 and the priests were specifically charged with ministering to local residents, UCLA faculty and students and "the moving picture people". The current property on which the church and school are co-located on was only obtained during the 1930s. Prior to that, the priests held mass on numerous sites as they searched for a suitable location to build the parish church. The parish school was opened in 1935. The current church building was completed in 1958.
Due to its proximity to Hollywood, the church has been attended by and held the funerals of notable personalities in the entertainment industry. It held the funeral mass of entertainer Bing Crosby, actor and radio personality Bob Crane, pioneering director and producer Hal Roach and actor Carroll O'Connor, who was also a devout parishioner.