Message from our Pastor, Fr. Louis Piran, c.s.
Dear Parishioners and friends,
The summer months are upon us. Some of us have been planning vacations and family gatherings. These will be beautiful opportunities to exercise the Christian mission that we have received on Pentecost day and to be active members of the Church.
Let us reflect: what is the “Church”?
Some people might immediately think of a physical building, (“St. Peter Church”) others the place where they were baptized or married, but he Acts of the Apostles describe better what the church was and must be today:
-A place to be formed and taught.
-A place that inspires and motivates us to go out into the world on a mission.
Like the early church, we gather every Sunday as a family to learn something new about what it means to be a catholic, to experience Christ in the Eucharist, to receive the Holy Spirit, and then, strengthened and nourished by this encounter, we are sent out into the world as His messengers: “Go in peace to love and to serve the Lord and one another”. To be Catholic means being helpful, loving, prayerful, selfless, faithful, obedient, respectful, and forgiving.
The world around us is full of hurting souls as it was in the time of Jesus. Just look around in the community where you live: there are people who are poor, neglected, addicted, with chronic illness, unemployed, old, or in jail. They are our parents, our friends, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, our children. They want to feel loved. They want to feel as if someone in this world actually cares if they live or die.
Summer time will offer us special opportunities to see and do something about these people that God has put on our path.
St. Mother Theresa said: “None of you can do what I am doing, but I can’t do what you can do. Start with the person who is right in front of you!”
Happy summer!
The Parish of St. Peter was founded in the year 1904 to care for the spiritual and social needs of Italian immigrants who came to America in search of religious, social, and economic freedom.
Today, through liturgical, educational and social programs, St. Peter’s Italian Church in Los Angeles continues the mandate given to the Missionaries of St. Charles by their founder Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini to care for all migrants as they journey toward the Kingdom of God. Find out more information on our history: