Through the Years: Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

Since 2004, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a religious community founded in Europe, has worked on renovating the church at 6415 S. Woodlawn Ave. and developing a growing community of worshippers, many of whom come a great distance for Mass and other devotions. The church, which was built for the Carmelite-run St. Clara Parish in 1923, burned once before, in 1976. It later became St. Gelasius Parish, after St. Clara merged first with St. Cyril and then Holy Cross Parish in 1990. St. Gelasius closed in 2002, and the building was slated for demolition when the archdiocese determined that it could not afford the work necessary to make the building safe.