Diana Butler Bass
Noted author and church historian Diana Butler Bass will be the featured speaker at the gala Nov. 3 Bishop’s Dinner at St. John’s Cathedral, 514 W. Adams, Los Angeles.Proceeds will be earmarked to benefit a variety of diocesan ministries, according to the Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, diocesan development officer.
The dinner is sponsored by Campbell Hall Episcopal School; St. Cross Church, Hermosa Beach, is sponsoring the speaker.
The event is both a fundraiser and an opportunity for the diocesan community to come together and celebrate ministry with one another and to meet and greet Bishop Diocesan John Harvey Taylor and Bishop Suffragan Diane Bruce, said Lebrija.
The event will honor Andrew Leeka, president and CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital “for more than two decades of the work he has done for the hospital and the community,” Lebrija said.
Good Samaritan — an institution of the Diocese of Los Angeles — was founded in 1885 by an Episcopal nun. A year later St. Paul’s Episcopal Church entered into an agreement with the California Diocese to assume control of what was then called The Los Angeles Hospital and Home for Invalids.
Andrew Leeka
The hospital moved to its current location in 1911; the current facility was built in 1976. Good Samaritan is a world-class academic medical center affiliated with USC School of Medicine. Each year, the 408-bed hospital admits about 12,500 patients and handles more than 74,000 outpatient visits. More than 3,400 deliveries and 6,500 surgeries are performed annually in 18 surgical suites.
Lebrija said that the Bishop’s Dinner honoring Leeka is expected to draw about 240 people. He said the bishops will decide how to allocate proceeds from the fundraiser and that additional details will be provided as they become available. Tickets are priced at $150, with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m.
For information and sponsorship opportunities and to purchase tickets, visit www.edlagives.org or www.bishopsdinner.org.
