A North Hollywood church choir will sing...

A North Hollywood church choir will sing Tuesday at the Vatican during a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. group will be the first American choir invited to participate in a papal Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Most Roman Catholic cardinals will be present. The Mass follows by one day ceremonies at which 25 red hats will be given to the Pope’s latest appointees, including Archbishops James Hickey of Washington, D.C., and Edmund Szoka of Detroit.

The 60-voice choir performing Tuesday is from St. Charles Borromeo parish in North Hollywood and is directed by Paul Salamunovich. They will perform the “Mass in G Minor” by Ralph Vaughn Williams.

It will be the third time the church choir, which is composed of non-professional singers, has performed for John Paul II. The most recent occasion was Sept. 15 at St. Vibiana’s Cathedral in Los Angeles, the first stop on the Pope’s two-day visit to Los Angeles on his U.S. tour. The first time was in a private Vatican audience in 1985.

Salamunovich, professor of choral music at Loyola Marymount University, was associate conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale for 24 years. He was honored by the Vatican in 1969 with the citation of “Knight Commander in the Order of St. Gregory.”

The choir will also perform at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome during its 10-day tour of Italy.

PEOPLE

The Rev. Peggy Bassett, senior minister of the Church of Religious Science in Huntington Beach, has been elected the first woman president of the United Church of Religious Science. Bassett, 65, next month will replace Fred Vogt of Denver as ecclesiastical head of the 60,000-member denomination based in Los Angeles. The 1926 book by Ernest S. Holmes, “The Science of Mind” is a foundational work for the metaphysical church, which espouses a “New Thought” philosophy that utilizes positive-thinking approaches.

CONVENTIONS

The Rev. Richard Cain, president of the School of Theology at Claremont, and the Rev. James Lawson, pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, have been nominated by Southern California United Methodists for an upcoming vacancy in the ranks of western bishops. Bishop Leontine T. C. Kelly of the San Francisco area is retiring. Her successor will be elected in San Diego during the Methodists’ 12-state Western Jurisdictional Conference July 12-15 at the University of San Diego. Lawson, a one-time co-worker of the late Martin Luther King Jr., was also nominated by Black Methodists for Church Renewal. Cain, a former Phoenix pastor, was additionally nominated by Arizona United Methodists.

Unitarian-Universalists, in their national convention concluded this week in Palm Springs, urged the White House to ignore the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s plea for a pardon for Oliver North and other principals indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal. Delegates urged that legal proceedings run their full course. The stance was part of a wide-ranging resolution on Nicaragua that also called for a halt to U.S. aid to forces seeking to overthrow that government. Delegates also approved resolutions supporting “death with dignity” laws and housing programs for the homeless and one measure opposing efforts to introduce sectarian beliefs in public school curriculums.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 convention-goers are expected next week at the 57th annual conference of the General Assn. of Regular Baptist Churches in Anaheim. The nationwide fellowship, numbering 1,594 churches, supports 2,000 missionaries through six agencies. The five-day conference at the Anaheim Convention Center opens Monday night.