Meet Brother Henry Perez of Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood

Whoever said, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” never met Brother Henry Perez from Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood.

Brother Henry just arrived to Blessed Sacrament right after COVID19 and yet he’s done so much. The church itself is a well-known fixture of Hollywood, mostly due to its unique location and classic architecture, but its real claim to fame is being the home parish to Hollywood actors like Ricardo Montalban, Bing Crosby and Irene Dunne. It’s tucked neatly into the business district of Old Hollywood in the center of the lights, camera an action- close to movie and TV studios and feet from The Walk of Fame.

Blessed Sacrament is a Jesuit parish of the Catholic Church with a focus on ministry and like most Jesuit parishes is strategically located - in the heart of major cities because their focus has always been to help the poor and needy. So, the church is no stranger to the city’s homeless and displaced. Most resident know of the church because they’ve seen homeless people sleeping on its steps.

“That’s what I used to see too, all these tents have been there since I was a kid working for my dad.” says Brother Henry. “I’d drive by and think ‘Someone should do something.’” And like the rest of us, he’d go on with his day, forget about the problem and carry on with his life.

After living a fairly traditional life as a husband and father, in 2016, Henry made the decision to join the order of the Jesuits and embark on a nearly 12 year journey and make a sharp turn on a new road to becoming Brother Henry. “My son was all grown up and for the first time I got to focus on what I wanted to do.” He thought back to working for his dad and driving past those tents, and how his desire to help homeless youth was still very much alive. Brother Henry realized then what he wanted to do, instead of just saying “Someone has to do something” he wanted to be the one to do it.

In addition to focusing heavily on outreach and ministry The Jesuit order of the Catholic church is heavily focused on higher education among its clergy, and Henry finished his Psychology degree at Loyola Marymount choosing to focus the bulk of his research on homeless youth spurred by his own experiences in LA .

Brother Henry wasted no time at all and arrived with his feet hitting the ground. Locating the needy was easy, the hard part was implementing the plan. Despite the pandemic, Genevieve’s Garden Lunch Program was born and now Monday thru Friday from 12- 2pm, the new program provides generously donated food from parishioners, community members and already existing food programs with surplus food. “I named it Genevieve’s Garden because my gramma always had a soft spot in her heart for feeding hungry people,” says brother Henry.

And feeding the hungry he does, because since his arrival thousands of hungry people have found a socially-distanced seat and a meal waiting for them along with a smile from Brother Henry and a team of his dedicated volunteers. There’s no proselytizing, and there’s no invitations to mass – they only serve food and conversation. In fact, the only requirement for admission is a temperature check and an empty stomach. They’ll even give you a mask.

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles located on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood, California. Genevieve’s Garden, the Food Program founded by Brother Henry operates Monday through Friday from Noon to 2pm and is open to anyone who’s hungry. COVID19 rules require a mask be worn while not eating and guests are required to maintain social-distance guidelines.