Our Lady de Cobra
St. Ita underwent a transition in the demographic of its parishioners during the 1950s-60s. During this time, Lakeshore Drive began construction to extend to Hollywood. This construction replaced many of the vintage mansions and coach houses along Sheridan Road with highrises, allowing the population of the neighborhood to increase by 10,000 people. Due to this sudden influx of people, many of the old parish families relocated to the suburbs.
This trend increased into the 1960s, with the parish seeing enough of a change in their demographic that they added a Spanish mass in 1966 to accommodate the large influx of Cuban families in the neighborhood.
In the 1970s, the Shrine to Our Lady de Cobra was created in the back of the church as a part of St. Ita's redecoration for its 75th anniversary.
The following texts are exerpts from transcripts of interviews done with parishaners of St. Ita. The first transcript is from an interview with Leroy Blommaert, who is a parishaner of the church who has been heavily involved with the church's community. The second transcript is from an interview with Daniel Lagacy, who has worked as the director of music at the church for over 20 years. In these interviews, both parishaners briefly discuss the diversity within the church, and how it has changed over time.
Leroy Blommaert:
Isaiah: And so how has the church changed over the course of your time here?
Leroy: Well, I mean, the demographics have changed. I mean, I just looking at the list of associate pastors, too, when there there were predominantly Irish named, you know, in the beginning when I first came here, some German and now now it's not that way. It's it's more predominantly Hispanic. I'd say German, too, but it's the Irish dominance is no longer there in the demographics has changed for the parishioners, too, as well. You know, it's much more diverse than it was before.
Daniel Lagacy:
Victoria: No you're all good. uh... [pause] Like, what would be, let me think, what is one thing you would never forget about like the beginning of your career here or the beginning of like your first impression?
Daniel: um .. [pause] Well, one of the things that has um always amazed me about the um parish is just the diverse number of people who worship here on any given Sunday. So, I mean, in many ways, it really does feel like an experience of heaven. I mean, because it's so inclusive of people from all over the world uh and also from all the spectrums of ,you know, society, too. So there are people who have means, but some who don't, and also some uh who struggle in their journeys with whatever issues it is that they're dealing with um, and so I think that's probably one of the things that uh... I just find most have found most enjoyable in being a minister here and also just, um, it's been spiritually edifying for me to, to be able to work in that way and to bring people together, praising God with music and that great gift you know that, that God has given us and so... [pause].
V: So you mentioned the demographic of the church and how it's very diverse. Can you talk a little more about uh how the demographic of the church has changed from the beginning of the time you're here to now?
D: Well, I would say, actually, the remarkable thing is even though, I mean, even though people have come and go and there always has been, like, a transient element um with the parish and even in the neighborhood, just because of the type of housing, you know like with the apartments and condos on Sheridan Road, you know, who. And that's primarily where a lot of the parishioners have come, or, I mean, there are some in the local neighborhood here, but not as many as we get from other places um closer to the lake. And so really, as far as the demographic shifts, um there hasn't been a, like a change in the diversity, which is also somewhat surprising, although, uh you know, again, people come and go, uh but by and large, there's still that diversity. And even with the uh the parish becoming Mary, mother of God and the unification of the three churches, St. Thomas and St. Gregory, um still that diversity um remains uh and actually increased a little bit with some of the, um some of the diversity at St. Thomas. Uh So...
If you are interested in reading or hearing either of these interviews in full, you can access them below.
St. Ita still holds its mass in both English and Spanish to this day. A link to a recording of the Spanish mass and Ita's English and Spanish mass schedule have been provided below.
