The three new auxiliary bishops for the...

The three new auxiliary bishops for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will be ordained in a ceremony Monday night at the Los Angeles Sports Arena--the first time that such rites have not been held in St. Vibiana’s Cathedral.

Officials hope that at least 10,000 Catholics will attend the 7 p.m. ceremony for Bishops-elect Carl Fisher, 41, Armando Ochoa, 43, and G. Patrick Ziemann, 45. Archbishop Pio Laghi, apostolic pro-nuncio to the United States, will take part in the ceremony along with nearly 40 U.S. bishops. Nine languages will be used in the liturgy to reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the region.

Most of the 10 black Catholic bishops in the country are expected to participate. Fisher, a Josephite priest who was serving in New Jersey when named a bishop, will be the first black bishop appointed to the Los Angeles archdiocese.

When Archbishop Roger Mahony ordains the three new bishops, it will mark the first time the nation’s most populous archdiocese has had five auxiliary bishops at one time. The other two are the Most Revs. John J. Ward, 66, and Juan A. Arzube, 68, ordained in 1963 and 1971, respectively.

The next day, Bishop Norman F. McFarland will be installed by Laghi as the second bishop of the Diocese of Orange in rites at 6 p.m. at Bren Center on the University of California at Irvine campus. McFarland succeeds Bishop William R. Johnson, a former Los Angeles auxiliary bishop who served the diocese, based in the city of Orange, for 10 years before his death last July.

DATES

“A Christian Defense of the Just War” will be presented by Richard Mouw, professor of philosophy and ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and “A Case for Christian Pacifism” will be articulated by John Howard Yoder, professor of theology and ethics at the University of Notre Dame, starting at 7 p.m. today at Knox Presbyterian Church in Pasadena. The dialogue was arranged by the Pasadena Mennonite Church.

Four noted biblical archeologists will present illustrated talks on their findings during a gathering at the University of California, San Diego, Sunday to honor the appointment there of David Noel Freedman to an endowed chair in Hebrew biblical studies. Freedman is editor-in-chief of the 40-volume Anchor Bible commentary series and former editor of Biblical Archeologist. The daylong event at Peterson Hall includes a talk by Freedman at 5:15 p.m. on the interplay of archeology and biblical studies.

LOOKING AHEAD

Pepperdine University announced that a new master of science degree in ministry will be introduced in September.

Thomas H. Olbricht, religion division chairman, added in an interview that the Malibu campus plans to offer masters of divinity degrees in two years. Pepperdine is related to the churches of Christ, which prefer to have “churches” not capitalized.

Most churches of Christ pastors with the three-year masters of divinity degree now earn them at Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tenn., and Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Tex.

“This move by Pepperdine is very appropriate since it is already into professional education in law, psychology and business management,” Olbricht said.