What Happened to Our Church? A Study of the Second Vatican Council

Joy & Hope  Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World  (Gaudium et Spes)

Speaker:  Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Purcell

Very Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Purcell, a native of Indio, CA, at- tended St. Francis Seminary on the campus of University of San Di- ego and completed his studies in preparation for the priesthood at the North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 19, 1965 in the basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City. Following his ordina- tion, he served as Associate Pastor at St. Therese, San Diego and as secretary to Auxiliary Bishop John R. Quinn. Fr. Purcell then pur- sued post graduate studies at the North American College and Gre- gorian University, receiving the title Doctor of Sacred Theology in 1974. He served as rector of St. Francis Seminary and the aide to the Vatican Ambassador to the US in Washington. In 1984, he at- tended Instituto de Idiomas and worked with the Maryknoll Mis- sionaries in Bolivia. Shortly thereafter, Pope John Paul II appointed him Rector at the North American College where he served prior to his appointment as Pastor at St. James in Solana Beach in 1990. Fr. Purcell was pastor at All Hallows in La Jolla and Church of the Na- tivity in Rancho Santa Fe until his retirement in 2015.