[3] The Coptic population of Los Angeles had been growing since the late 1960s, when Father Bishoy Kamel was commissioned to serve the neighboring Church of St. Mark in 1969,[4] during Pope Cyril VI's papacy.

Bishoy was a prominent Copt, being considered a modern-day saint within the Church, having helped found St. Mark's as well as several other parishes and buildings throughout Egypt, the United States, Europe, and Australia.

[5] St. Mary's Church, on the other hand, was founded in the Highland Park community within the City of Los Angeles, near Pasadena.

An additional church, chapel bearing the name of St. Bishoy, was completed in January 2004 in the lower-level of the building, built specifically for serving the English-speaking congregation.

Several years after St. Mary's Church was incorporated, in 1995, the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii was founded.