St. Francis of Assisi School in Silver Lake now houses the L.A. Archdiocese Office of Vocations and the Metropolitan Marriage Tribunal, It’s also home to the St. Francis of Assisi religious education office.
Photo by Monica Rodriguez
Silver Lake—Gloria E. Morales looks at the former St. Francis of Assisi School building on Maltman Avenue near Sunset Boulevard and sees stillness.
“It’s empty. It’s dormant,” she said.
Morales, a long-time parishioner, would like to see the school reopen or the building repurposed to benefit the community.
St. Francis is one of a handful of Eastside Catholic schools that have closed in recent years because of declining enrollment. Across the country, plans have emerged to turn former Catholic schools into everything from apartments in Chicago to a boutique hotel in Denver. But there are no such plans in the works for any of the shuttered Eastside campuses.
In fact, the former Catholic school and other shuttered Eastside campuses continue to support parish life and education.
“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles determines the future use of former school properties through a careful, case-by-case evaluation that considers parish needs, financial sustainability, and alignment with its mission of education and community service,” the L.A. Archdiocese said in a statement. “The Archdiocese prioritizes keeping these properties active and beneficial to the communities they serve.”
While St. Francis may appear unused, the L.A. Archdiocese says the site remains active as the home for the Archdiocese Office of Vocations, which helps men discern a calling to the priesthood, and the Metropolitan Marriage Tribunal, which handles canonical marriage matters such as annulments.
In East Los Angeles, Our Lady of Soledad Catholic School, which closed in 2005, later became home to Esperanza College Prep, which is part of the Ednovate charter schools network. The building is currently occupied by Encore Arts & Media College Prep, also part of Ednovate.
Our Lady of Guadalupe School in El Sereno, which is set to close at the end of the current school year due to shrinking enrollment, will be used for parish programs and ministries, according to the archdiocese.
In Cypress Park, the building once occupied by Divine Saviour School, which shuttered in 2023 after efforts to boost enrollment failed, is already used for religious education.
The Archdiocese says it will continue exploring “adaptive reuse strategies that sustain community benefit while preserving the longstanding educational and pastoral presence of these properties.”
School Closures
Five Eastside Catholic schools have closed in the past five years:
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