Our Partner Parish:
Blessed Sacrament Church, Hollywood
It may take you 5 minutes to drive to Blessed Sacrament Church on Sunset Boulevard just east of Highland Avenue, but it is a world away from St. Brendan.
Blessed Sacrament is a lively, vibrant community of people seeking to live the gospel, just like St. Brendan. We share the same Catholic faith, and we are both historic churches of the city, Blessed Sacrament being founded in 1904. Both parishes benefit from the Jesuit tradition; Blessed Sacrament has been pastored by the Jesuits from its founding. But the income disparity between the two parishes is enormous. The parishioners of Blessed Sacrament tend to be poor; many of them are immigrants whose faith sustained them through trials we cannot even imagine.
In 2002, St. Brendan and Blessed Sacrament entered into a partnership relationship to undertake joint projects in service to the poor, religious education and worship. St. Brendan parishioners have enthusiastically welcomed this relationship. We have held a Christmas toy drive for the people of Blessed Sacrament, cooked and served meals for their Social Services Center, cleaned out our closets to provide clothing for the homeless who rely on Blessed Sacrament, and volunteered many hours of service to the poor at Blessed Sacrament.
Blessed Sacrament offers many services to the poor and homeless. Each day, they provide breakfast and lunch to dozens of homeless men and women. They give out clothing every day, and Blessed Sacrament is one of the few places in the city where the homeless can take a shower or get a haircut. St. Brendan parishioners have helped to provide showers and clothing, performed basic office tasks and responded to urgent appeals for help in many other ways.
There is also a need for qualified religious education volunteers to help pass on the Catholic tradition to the children of Blessed Sacrament.
What, you may ask, does St. Brendan get out of the partnership? A place to minister to the poor and outcast, a sense of connection to the larger church, participation by Blessed Sacrament priests in our liturgies, an extended family that makes us look beyond our own comfortable lives and confront the reality of injustice and poverty in our own area.
Some may say that the community of St. Brendan gets more out of the partnership than Blessed Sacrament, because we are enriched when we give.
If you would like to find out how you can be involved in this partnership, call the parish office.
Donations of clothing
The Social Services Center at Blessed Sacrament is in constant need of clothing.
Do you have closets bulging with clothes you no longer wear? St. John Chrysostom, a fourth-century bishop of Constantinople, once said "If I have two coats and my neighbor has none, I am a thief."
Why not do yourself a favor and help others by cleaning out your closets and giving the clothes to Blessed Sacrament? You can drop off clothing donations at Blessed Sacrament Social Services Center from 9 to 2 p.m. every day except Wednesday and Sunday. Blessed Sacrament is located at 6657 Sunset Boulevard, one block east of Highland, and the Social Services Center is located at the northeast corner of the parking lot, at the corner of Selma and Cassel Place. We prefer that you deliver your gifts directly to Blessed Sacrament; if are unable to do so you may leave them at St. Brendan.
