Countywide

The congregations of 214 churches--about half a million people--will hear a joint pastoral letter on drug abuse from three San Diego bishops on Nov. 30.

The letter was signed by the Most Rev. Leo T. Maher, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego; the Right Rev. C. Brinkley Morton, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, and the Rev. George D. McKinney, pastor of St. Stephen’s Church of God in Christ and bishop of the church’s Second Jurisdiction in Southern California.

The bishops agreed on a joint letter because the drug problem is nondenominational.

“We’ve never done this before,” Maher said, “but we’ve never been faced with a problem like this before. We are hoping all San Diegans, regardless of their faith, will join us.”

In the pastoral letter, the bishops say people must do more than say “no” to drugs. “Simply to say ‘no’ leaves one in a moral void” that can only be filled through an education in values, faith, prayer and support for measures to combat drug dealers.

“The time has come to join hands and come to grips with this thing,” Morton said. “All of us need to become involved, and we’re hoping this message will help us achieve that goal.”