Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Lebanon and Saint Peter [Maronite]

Maronite Catholics had settled in California even before the turn of the 20th century, but it was Monsignor Joseph Daher who in 1923 organized the community into its first formal parish, gathering forty-five families who purchased a house at Warren and Brooklyn Avenues in East Los Angeles and celebrated Mass there as 'Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon.' In 1925 a young priest named Paul Meouchi was sent to Los Angeles. He is credited as the real founder of the parish: by 1926 the community had grown to more than eighty families, and Father Meouchi oversaw the construction of a church, hall, and rectory on the site of the old Warren and Brooklyn house. In 1934 Father Meouchi was elected Maronite Bishop of Tyre; he later became Patriarch of Antioch (1955) and was created a Cardinal of the Universal Church in February 1965. After years of growth, by the late 1950s and 1960s a larger church building was needed. Father John Chedid, who had become pastor in 1956, dedicated himself to finding a new location. On August 2, 1966, after meeting with thirty-five men of the parish, the community unanimously accepted an offer from His Eminence Cardinal James Francis McIntyre of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to take over the former St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church on San Vicente Boulevard, on the boundary line between Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and West Hollywood. As part of the agreement, the parish kept 'St. Peter' in its formal name and continued to celebrate Latin-Rite Masses alongside the Maronite liturgy. A new parish hall was completed in June 1969, opening what the parish calls 'a new era for the Maronites of Los Angeles.' Father Chedid was named Honorary Chaplain to His Holiness (with the title Monsignor) in 1969, was ordained a Chorbishop of the Maronite Church on November 12, 1978, and on October 28, 1980 was appointed Auxiliary Bishop to Bishop Francis M. Zayek of the Diocese (later Eparchy) of St. Maron of Brooklyn. On February 19, 1994, Pope John Paul II issued the papal bull Omnium Catholicorum establishing the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, carving its territory out of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn. On June 23, 1994, Bishop Chedid was enthroned as the first bishop of the new eparchy at Saint Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, and Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon–St. Peter was elevated to cathedral status. Chorbishop Gregory Mansour was appointed Protosyncellus/Chancellor, and Father Abdallah Zaidan, M.L.M., took office as Rector on September 1, 1994. On January 6, 1996, the cathedral suffered a devastating fire that caused extensive damage. The building was subsequently remodeled and refurbished — 'more beautiful than before,' in the parish's words — and during the same year the Chancery building was added. In 1997 the quarterly parish magazine Outreach was inaugurated; from February 1998 to February 1999 the parish celebrated a yearlong Diamond Jubilee marking 75 years; in 1998 the Children's Summer Camp became an annual tradition; and the first parish directory was published in 1999. On December 5, 2000, Bishop Robert Shaheen was appointed second bishop of the eparchy, enthroned in St. Louis on February 15, 2001. From February 23–25, 2001, Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir made his official visit — the fourth patriarchal visit in the parish's history — and drew a record crowd. In June 2001 Chorbishop Mansour transferred to St. Louis as Vicar General and Rector of St. Raymond's Cathedral; Father Zaidan was reassigned as Rector of Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon, and on October 15, 2001, Father Elias Sleiman was officially assigned as Associate Rector. In 2003 the parish inaugurated two signature community events, the Spring Fest and the American Lebanese Cultural Festival, which later drew more than 7,000 attendees in a single year. On March 21, 2012, Bishop John Chedid — longtime pastor and shepherd of the local community — passed away in Lebanon at the age of 88; a 40-day memorial Mass was celebrated on April 29 with Bishop Robert Shaheen and Cardinal Roger Mahony in attendance. On July 10, 2013, Father Abdallah Zaidan was elected the third Bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon; he was ordained bishop on September 28, 2013 by Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai at the Basilica of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, Lebanon, and enthroned October 23, 2013 at St. Raymond Co-Cathedral in St. Louis. On the same day, Father Elias Sleiman was appointed Rector and Father Albert Constantine as Associate Rector. In the years that followed, two mission parishes branched out from the cathedral to serve Maronite faithful living farther away: St. Jude Mission (serving the San Gabriel Valley, including West Covina/San Dimas) and Saints Peter and Paul Mission (serving the San Fernando Valley). The cathedral today has over 900 registered families with weekly Sunday attendance of more than 300 families, and a Children's Program of about 115 children with religious classes, Arabic classes, dabke instruction, and the annual summer camp. A major capital redevelopment project filed with the City of Los Angeles envisions a deconstruction-and-rehabilitation of the cathedral (preserving the front façade), removal of three ancillary parish buildings, and construction of a new three-story ancillary building of about 23,649 square feet alongside a 19-story, 153-unit residential building on the San Vicente/Burton Way site.