Churches Worth Driving To

Name of Church: Church of the Good Shepherd
Address: 504 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Phone: (310) 285-5425
Website: www.goodshepherdbh.org
Mass times: Saturday vigil, 5:30 p.m. Sunday, 8:30, 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. & 5:30 p.m. Monday – Friday, 6:30 a.m. & 12:05 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. Holy days: 6:30 a.m., 12:10 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Confessions: Fridays, 11:30 a.m. Mass. Saturdays, 4-5 p.m.
Names of priests: Msgr. Thomas Welbers, pastor. Fr. Colm O’Ryan, pastor emeritus. Fr. George O’Brien, in residence (he’s a teacher at Mount St. Mary’s College in Brentwood).
School: Yes, preschool through grade 8. The school is not located alongside the parish, but is a few blocks away.
Special parish groups Catholic Men’s Fellowship, various prayer and meditation groups, Martha’s Kitchen (feeds the poor), Alcoholics Anonymous, Prayer Shawl Ministry
Devotional activities 1st Fridays, Eucharistic devotion, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.; 1st Saturdays, Fatima devotion after 8 a.m. Mass.
Liturgy/Music: Msgr. Welbers is a liturgist, and it’s reflected when he celebrates Mass. Music depends on the Mass; cantors, choirs, accompanied by organ.
Fellow parishioners: English-speaking, largely Anglo community.
Parking: The church does have a small lot, or you can park on the street. Santa Monica Boulevard is always filled with traffic and has no parking, but you can park on the side streets in front of the nice homes. Check the street signs to see if you can park for only an hour or two.
Acoustics: Fine, the church just upgraded its sound system.
Cry room: No.
Additional observations: Good Shepherd is part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It was founded in 1923. It’s located off busy Santa Monica Boulevard; behind are swanky Beverly Hills homes, across and down the street are high rise hotels and businesses. The famous shopping mecca Rodeo Drive is two blocks away. Inside, the church is quaint and neat. It has a large crucifix, an ideal aid for prayer, and colorful stained glass windows. Its exterior includes twin towers topped by golden crosses, and a nice statue of Jesus holding a lamb. It is a historic church, and has been the site of numerous celebrity weddings (Elizabeth Taylor [her firstwedding], Loretta Young, Rod Stewart, Mark Wahlberg) and funerals (Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Carmen Miranda, Eva Gabor, William Frawley, Alfred Hitchcock, Don Adams, Merv Griffin). Bing Crosby, Bob Newhart, Jimmy Durante, Gene Kelly, Ricardo Montalban and Rudolph Valentino were parishioners. If you’ve seen the 1954 Judy Garland movie A Star is Born, you’ll see it in the funeral scene.