Founded: 1920
Location: 11901 Acacia Avenue, Hawthorne
San Pedro Region: Deanery 19

Of the seven parishes in the archdiocese named for the foster father of Jesus, Hawthorne's was the fourth, following Pomona (1886), Los Angeles (1888) and La Puente (1919). The reasons for naming all those parishes for St. Joseph are not recorded, but devotion to the spouse of Mary extends far back in history.

Although Joseph never speaks in the Gospels, he is described as "a just man" and noted for his willingness to get up immediately and do what God told him. A visionary, visited by angels, he was proclaimed Patron of the Universal Church in 1870 by Pope Pius IX. His feast day is March 19.

In 1915, Hawthorne was served by St. John the Evangelist Parish in Hyde Park and St. Joseph's was a mission. That year a pioneering priest, Father Jeremiah Burke, celebrated Mass for some 11 Catholic families in a meat market (an event Auxiliary Bishop Carl Fisher commemorated 75 years later at a special liturgy). Soon, a dedicated group hired a carpenter for $2.50 a day and volunteered their help to construct a building that measured 60 by 30 feet as a place of worship for 16 Catholic families.

By 1920, St. Joseph's was a parish that included Lawndale and El Segundo. Father Paul de Munck was named the first pastor, succeeded in 1924 by Father John Ford. How long he headed the parish is unknown, though in a 1928 Tidings article he is noted as the pastor who greeted 45 priests at the dedication of the new school and welcomed Bishop John Cantwell who preached the sermon. The bishop "congratulated the people for their cooperation and the sacrifices they were making to take proper care of their children."

The Sisters of Providence were in charge of the school, their first west of Chicago, and they promised the bishop to help him realize his desire: "in every parish a sisters' school." Other documents indicate Father Thomas Dowling from County Kerry, Ireland, who had headed eight parishes in the diocese before his death in 1960 at age 66, served as pastor of St. Joseph.

It was Father Louis Mulvihill, a native Angeleno, who continued expansion of the parish by enlarging the school from seven to 16 rooms and erecting a new rectory and convent. His term (1939-55) witnessed the impact of World War II, new housing projects and the nearby installation of three major aircraft plants --- Northrop, North American and Douglas. In 1955 he died of a heart attack at age 56.

The longest serving pastor was Msgr. Patrick Redahan, from County Longford, who spent 29 years ministering at St. Joseph. He'd served pastorates at St. John the Evangelist, enabling him to know the area, and at St. Albert the Great, where he built a new church --- an accomplishment that won an architectural award for design. A similar challenge awaited in Hawthorne, with the parish having grown to more than 4,000 families and a school with inadequate classrooms for 1,000 pupils. Msgr. Redahan, known as being "always available," called his years as pastor "the happiest of my life." He died in 1998 at age 88.

Cardinal James Francis McIntyre dedicated the new church in 1959, located at 119th and Acacia Streets. It contained 43 stained glass windows, a 98-foot carillon tower and, over the main altar, a heroic-sized painting of the Risen Christ.

For 10 years beginning in 1988, St. Joseph pioneered team ministry, with two or more priests sharing administrative authority --- Fathers Eugene Buhr and Joseph Moniz. A native of Los Angeles, Father Buhr attended Mount Carmel High School and served two years in the Navy before entering St. John's Seminary. He also taught at archdiocesan high schools for several years and is now in residence at St. Joseph. Father Moniz, from India, received a master's degree in education from LMU and served at several parishes before his 1988 appointment. He is now pastor at St. Philip the Apostle, Pasadena.

The current pastor, Father Perry Leiker, a native Angeleno, attended St. Charles School and was ordained in 1976. He was the pastor at Mother of Sorrows Church for 12 years before his appointment in Hawthorne. The town was named for the novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose daughter Rose became a Dominican nun and founded the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne to care for cancer victims.