St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church

St. Gregory’s began on February 9, 1951, when Archbishop James Francis McIntyre officially established the parish. Shortly after, the Los Angeles Archdiocese acquired 9 acres of land for $18,000 to build a church.   Situated at the corner of Telegraph Road and Victoria Avenue, the property was adjacent to a 1,165-acre parcel owned in 1879 by oil pioneer Marius Meyer, which would become the cornerstone of a much-needed new Catholic parish in the Whittier area to address the burgeoning population growth following World War II and ease the burden on the old Uptown Whittier parish, St. Mary of the Assumption.

Before a church was built, the first Sunday Mass was celebrated on April 22, 1951, and attended by between 40 and 50 persons. These initial parishioners knelt on concrete floors in the “Clock Lounge” clubhouse of Hugheston Meadows (today known as the Candlewood Country Club), across the street from the current location of St. Gregory’s Church. Masses were later celebrated for a short period of time in a machine shop not far from Telegraph Road and Mills Avenue.

Years of steady growth defined and transformed the parish. Major developments included the opening of the church in 1952, subsequently enlarging it in 1963 to double the size from 600 to 1,200 worshipers; adding a rectory in 1953, a convent in 1956, an eight-room school in 1953, and enlarging the school to 16 rooms in 1956; adding a second larger rectory in 1968, an auditorium in 1958, a multi-purpose building in 1996, a permanent 24-hour Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel in 2003, and the renovation of the old convent into the Faith Formation Center in 2011.

During its early years, the parish grew so rapidly that it was subdivided four times in 1955, 1956, 1961, and 1964 to create new surrounding parishes. In seven decades, seven pastors guided the spiritual needs of the community, including;

• Father Michael Galvan (February 1951 - November 1952)
• Father Leo Mackey (December 1952- May 1976)
• Monsignor Donald Ruddy (May 1976 - July 1998)
• Father John Schiavone (July 1998-June 2010)
• Father Ikechukwu Ikeocha (July 2010 - July 2013)
• Fr. Brian Castaneda  July 2015 - July 2020
• Fr. Jeffrey Baker July 2022 to present

Today, we have nearly 5,000 registered families, and over the course of seven decades, thousands of baptisms, First Communions, over 5,000 weddings, and north of 4,000 funeral services have been performed. 

Saint Gregory the Great Parish remains a mainstay in the greater Whittier community for its Catholic beliefs, principles, and service.