Friday, March 12, 2004

St. Stephen Church: A history

By Hermine Lees

..."St. Stephen Church's intriguing and unusual history began rather by coincidence in 1925 when a Sister of Social Service, Fredericka Horvath, came to California for health reasons and found a number of Hungarian families who wanted to pray in their native tongue. Luckily she met a Jesuit missionary on his way to China who delayed his trip to conduct the first Hungarian mission here."...

..."By 1927 the St. Stephen Society was founded. The following year, again by coincidence, Bishop John Cantwell accepted the recommendation of another Jesuit to contact a Hungarian priest visiting the U.S. in Connecticut but on his way back to his native land."...

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Friday, March 12, 2004

The life-giving spirit of Father Lani

By Sister Nancy Munro, CSJ

..."Father Lani was an amazing man," says Norbertine Father Hermann-Joseph Rettig, St. Stephen's current pastor. "He saw people in misery, the terrible conditions in European refugee camps, and wanted to do something. So he went to Washington and got the law and quotas changed so they could come over. He sponsored thousands of people. He found them jobs and housing."...

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Friday, March 12, 2004

The village church in South Los Angeles

By Sister Nancy Munro, CSJ

..."St. Stephen Church developed its unique spirit as a Hungarian parish under founding pastor, Father Mathias Lani, and it continues today with the present pastor, Father Hermann-Joseph Rettig. Father Lani, as a young boy, lived in Modosch in what was then Hungary and later became Yugoslavia. His education was Hungarian and his mother tongue was the German dialect."...

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