A HISTORY OF THE PARISH OF CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR
The edifice housing Church of Our Saviour has had an interesting history that pre-dates the Our Saviour parish. The combined histories make for interesting reading as we hope you will find.
When the area known as Carthay Center in Los Angeles was subdivided around 1922, it was discovered that the triangular area between Stearns Drive, Country Club Drive (later named Olympic Boulevard for the 1932 Olympics) and Carrillo Drive was too small for a residence lot and was outside of the commercial zoning area. So Mr. J. Harvey McCarthay and his development company decided to build a community chapel and call it the Amanda Chapel in memory of McCarthay's mother, Amanda Anderson McCarthy. Salesmen at the time told prospective buyers that the company would maintain the church for the benefit of the lot buyers. The church was completed and opened in the fall of 1923. The dedication of Amanda Chapel was planned by Herman C. Lichtenberger, Past President of the Native Sons of the Golden West. The Native Sons' Ritual was used and adapted to the occasion, so that divines of many denominations could participate. William Jennings Bryan, four times the Democrat nominee for President of the United States, delivered the principal address.
Among the dignitaries were Rabbis Ernest R. Trattner of Temple Emmanuel and Edgar F. Magnin of Temple B'nai B'rith, and the Reverend Joseph McQuade of San Francisco, a Roman Catholic priest who was the donor of the chapel bell. There were representatives of 30 Protestant creeds and representatives of the city, including Boyle Workman, President of the City Council and Acting Mayor. Among the other city dignitaries were Col. John A Griffin (City Engineer), Senator R. F. Del Valle (President of the Board of Public Commissioners) and G. Gordon Whitnall of the City Planning Commission. Other prominent citizens included W. G. McAdoo, L.C. Brand, E. W. Sargent, John T. Cooper, William F. Hunsaker, Judge Benjamin F. Bledsoe and Marco and Irving Helman.
The ceremony began with the ringing of the Chapel bell thirty one times, once for each State in the Union at the time California was admitted to the Union in 1850. The bell had formerly hung in the Mission Dolores in San Francisco, but disappeared after the great fire. It was recovered by Fr. McQuade who presented it to Ramona Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West, Los Angeles Chapter. And because of their interest in Amanda Chapel, Ramona Parlor gave the bell to J. Harvey McCarthy for the new Chapel.
The first minister was the Rev. Mr. Isett, a Presbyterian who had been a missionary to China and the services were nonsectarian. It was said that he could tell many interesting tales about his missionary days, and he began the first church school. In these early days the Carthay Public School (still across the street) used the Church for two of its classes in 1923/4. By 1928, however, the Carthay Company was in financial trouble and Episcopal Bishop William Bertrand Stevens
bought the property for $16,500 and established an Episcopal Mission at Amanda Chapel. At first the diocese tried to conciliate the Amanda Chapel parishioners, very few of whom were Episcopalians and Episcopal services were irregular and under the care of the Reverend Mr. Balcom, a travelling vicar for the Bishop. Soon however the Reverend Charles T. Murphy was appointed vicar and the church continued on as an Episcopal Mission. Murphy's wife died early in his vicariate and his tenure was difficult with much unfair criticism, so that by 1936 he was transferred to Burbank. The Parish Hall did not exist at that time--its future location was a garden with concrete or stucco walls along Country Club Drive (Olympic) and contained a huge canvas awning under which the church school and social functions were held.
It was noted in a 1959 history of the parish (which is the primary source for most of our information before 1970) that those depression years were tough and that the church could barely pay the vicar $100 a month, but that the parishioners, especially the women, gave generously of their time, labor and money. Tribute must be paid to the pioneering vestrymen and other lay leaders of those early years, among whom were Wilfred Howard, the mission's first (and only) lay reader; Mr. Taft and Mr. Gibbs, each of whom acted as treasurer and spent a lot of time writing to delinquent subscribers; Smith Swords, leader of the Sunday School and Young People's work; William Glenn, Ernest May and Mrs. Ralston. Some of these (and others not recorded) did not hesitate to borrow money on their own signatures when the Church was in need.
On April 5, 1936--Palm Sunday--a new vicar, The Reverend John Christfield Donnell, conducted his first services at Church of Our Saviour. He was a native of Southern California and had been the Chaplain of the Seamen's Institute in San Pedro and the Burbank Church to which the Reverend Murphy was transferred. Reverend Donnell was a mover and a shaker. He saw to it that the property was repaired and maintained, purchased new hymnals and surprised the entire congregation by purchasing an electric organ for $1,400 (yes, the one we still use). Many were sure he would go broke but he, in the words of a historian, "taught the vestry and the congregation that people will contribute much more money for a definite objective, one that they can see, feel and enjoy the use of." Some human traits never change as he added, “Unfortunately this does not include our obligation to the diocese." (Nihil sub sole novum!) His pastoral attitude can be found in what he printed on the front of an early newsletter: "Our Church, A HOME where the stranger shall find a friend; the erring, a refuge; the weak, a helping hand; and all men brothers be...A SCHOOL, where we shall learn to gain success without loss of soul; to carry our burden without complaint; to taste defeat without despair; to face tomorrow without fear...A TEMPLE where one shall hear a Voice, Dream a Dream, Pray his Prayer and meet his Comrade on the way." In 1938 the Parish Hall was begun and completed in 1940. In 1944 the Amanda Chapel Mission became a parish with the name of Church of Our Saviour and by 1946 the parish had erased its indebtedness. In 1947 the City of Los Angeles was persuaded to vacate the sidewalk on Stearns and in 1951 a cross was placed atop the bell tower. The large stained glass window behind the altar and the first four stained glass windows were installed in the early 1950s. The bronze plaques either side of the altar commemorate persons from the congregation who served in World War II, or who were felt worthy of commemoration or had donated to the Altar Window. In 1957, past the age of 73, The Rev. Mr. Donnell retired and was granted the status of Rector Emeritus. A farewell party and sizeable check were given to him at the annual Christmas dinner in December, 1956.
After several months, the Reverend Rollo Boas was elected the second Rector. Fr. Boas was a Canadian who came to Our Saviour from Newport Beach, where he had been headmaster of the parish's day school. He had previously served 10 years as a missionary priest along the British Columbia coast, with a gasoline-powered houseboat. He worked hard to build up church membership, keep the diocesan pledge up to date and to "make the Church of Our Saviour a power for right living in the area." It was about this time that the Frank Randall Memorial group of Alcoholics Anonymous began to meet in the Parish Hall on Monday nights with the strong support of the rector. One of their early supporters was Fr. Enoch Jones, who also served as a supply priest for the Church in subsequent years. Fr. Boas was much loved in his 10 years at Church of Our Saviour.
In 1967 the Reverend F. Ogden Miller was called to be the 3rd Rector of Church of Our Saviour. Marcia Jackson Taglioretti remembers him as a strong supporter of the youth group and the Church School. Even though population patterns were shifting away from the area, Fr. Miller continued the work of Fr. Boas to make Our Saviour center of church life for the Carthay Circle area. Fr. Miller was a strong Christian who fiercely resisted the neo-paganism tormenting the Episcopal Church and he had the courage to lead Church of Our Saviour out of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in 1977. The Church was immediately sued by the Episcopal Diocese. A year later, Father Miller accepted a call to a Continuing Church in Texas. Tough years followed! Four laymen--Appeline Cooper, William Jackson, Betty Jones and Jan Libourel--and a PIC priest, Fr. Dario Polintan, along with Fr. Enoch Jones held the Church together through four terrible years of litigation and persecution, during which the congregation dwindled terribly. During this time Fr. Enoch Jones would celebrate the 8:00 a.m. Eucharist and a lay reader, usually Dr. Libourel would read Morning Prayer before Fr. Polintan celebrated the 10:00 a.m. Eucharist for both Church of Our Saviour and the Filippine Church of the Holy Child. But in January, 1981 the Church won its property and later that year called Fr. George Clendenin to be its 4th rector. The following year saw organic merger with the Holy Apostles congregation (in Glendale, CA) and the dawn of a new era. A highlight of the new era was affiliation with the The Anglican Province of Christ the King.
The Winter of 1981/2 found Church of Our Saviour with its property intact but with only a handful of parishioners, while the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had lost its property in the same lawsuit in which Our Saviour had won, had a congregation but no property. The Vestry of the Church of Our Saviour voted for merger on March 9, 1982, and the Vestry of the Church of the Holy Apostles voted similarly on July 25, 1982. On August 15, 1982 both parishes called special congregational meetings and the voting members of each parish voted for corporate merger. The new corporation, The Church of Our Saviour and the Holy Apostles, held its first Annual Meeting of the combined parish on January 23, 1983. Although the Church of the Holy Apostles was merged into the Church of Our Saviour it was, from the beginning, the parish goal to build up Church of Our Saviour and its shattered membership while, at the same time, lay the groundwork to reestablish a Church building in the greater Glendale area. To meet the needs of the widespread parish the basic pattern of an 8:00 a.m. Mass in both locations and a 10:00 a.m. Mass in Los Angeles was established. Later that year the Glendale 8:00 a.m. services were moved to Bethany Bible Presbyterian Church where they remain to this date (1998). On July 3rd, 1983 the Reverend Donald M. Ashman was ordained a priest at Church of Our Saviour by Bishop Morse, Archbishop of the Province of Christ the King. Parochial life slowly adjusted to new circumstances and, thanks to a $10,000 grant secured by Bishop Morse, many needed repairs were carried out to Church of Our Saviour. Father Clendenin was increasingly needed at St. Joseph of Arimathea Seminary in Berkeley and spent six weeks in September/October of 1983 assisting Bishop Morse at St. Peter's, Oakland. The parish hosted the January 1984 Diocese of Christ the King Synod, and in March Fr. Clendenin resigned to accept a call to succeed Bishop Morse as Rector of St. Peters. Fr. Ashman became 5th Rector of Church of Our Saviour (the second of the merged corporation) on May 1, the Feast of Saints Philip and James, and was instituted on July 1 by Bishop Morse.
In 1985 Fr. Ashman began his tenure as Episcopal Chaplain at the Hollenbeck Home. 1986 saw the ordination of Fr. Jeffrey Smith who was our curate for two years and now Rector of All Saints' Church in Aiken, S.C. 1987 saw the establishment of our parochial mission in Santa Barbara, also called Church of Our Saviour.
No history of the Church of Our Saviour and the Holy Apostles would be complete without mention of the assisting clergy and our sister congregations. Fr. Darlo Polintan of the Philippine Independent Church and Fr. Anthony F. Rasch have served faithfully making our three locations of worship possible. A particular blessing was the presence of Fr. William Fox VII who served as Associate priest in Santa Barbara from 1990 till his death in May of 1995. Father Fox was a pastoral priest who immediately became involved in as many aspects of the parish as he could. He went on camping trips, rarely missed the Bishop's visits or Tri-parish Evensongs and was constantly tending to the sick, elderly and bereaved. In late 1996 The Reverend Deacon Larry T. Anderson and his wife, Sue, moved into the parish and instantly became an integral part of the parish life. Both the Philippine Congregation (The Church of the Holy Child) and the Romanian Orthodox Congregation (The Church of St. John the Baptist) have been sharing Church of Our Saviour since the early 1980's and all three congregations have shared a yearly Evensong, blessing of the Creche and supper just before Christmas, since 1990.
The historian of the 1959 parish history pointed out the difficulties that changing demographic patterns caused Church of Our Saviour in the 1950's and his personal belief that if the church were willing to serve, if she offered that which a church is supposed to offer, then people would be willing to drive the longer distance. He did not know that he was a prophet because--before and after the merger with our parochial mission, in spite of those continuing negative demographic patterns, new and competing congregations, those inevitable periods of difficulty and challenge (when we learned to taste defeat without despair or gain success without the loss of soul) and those l-o-n-g commutes--the Church of Our Saviour HAS steadily grown into a center of Christian life and had an influence, for God's good, that reaches far beyond the local neighborhood.
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