Activists Rip Mahony at Catholic Meeting : Religion: Supporters of abortion and AIDS rights sneak into a Knights of Columbus gathering and denounce the archbishop as a hypocrite for church’s stands on abortion, safe sex and condoms.

A group of AIDS and abortion rights activists posing as Knights of Columbus infiltrated a Catholic breakfast meeting Saturday in Hollywood and shouted down Archbishop Roger Mahony from a back table as he began the keynote address.

“You’re a liar, Mahony! Hypocrite! Murderer!” the four demonstrators screamed, as several members of the religious fraternal group leaped from their breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs to drag the protesters from the Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Paul Sbrizzi, 29, of Highland Park said he had organized the disruption with two other men and a woman to protest the Roman Catholic Church’s stands against abortion and the use of condoms for safe sex. Sbrizzi said the four had acted as individuals, although all are members of ACT-UP LA, the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power.

The protesters, who were not arrested and later joined a picket line outside the hotel, had just come from an early morning demonstration outside a women’s health clinic in Pacoima where about 600 supporters of abortion confronted about 250 abortion foes. The peaceful action was one of a number of rallies held nationwide to mark the 17th anniversary on Monday of Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Mahony, who has been the target of protests by AIDS activists, took the disruption of his speech in stride.

“Now that we’re all awake . . .,” he joked to the 150 or so men and women who had gathered for a seminar on pornography sponsored by the Southern California Chapter of the Knights of Columbus.

Then, as the laughter subsided, Mahony told the group that they should “have the spirit of compassion and forgiveness for those who see things differently than we do.”

“At the same time, I think it’s important for us to stand by our convictions and beliefs. A few shouts and voices are not about to deter me from the great work which is ours still to do,” the archbishop said.

Mahony has been the focus of several demonstrations protesting his stand that chastity, rather than the use of condoms, is the only “morally correct and medically secure way” to prevent the spread of AIDS.

On Dec. 3, four Roman Catholic churches in the Los Angeles area were spattered with red paint, and posters of Mahony with the word “murderer” printed in large letters were left at the church sites.

On Dec. 25, a group of about 10 demonstrators disrupted Mahony’s sermon during the midnight Christmas Mass at St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, marching silently to the altar in black T-shirts bearing a pink triangle and the slogan “Silence Equals Death.”

Saturday’s action came as Mahony took the dais with Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich to present an award on behalf of the Knights of Columbus to the Blockbuster Video chain for “its pro-family policies.”

The chain, which has about 1,100 video stores nationwide, advertises itself as “America’s Family Video Store,” and allows cardholders to restrict the kinds of videos their minor children can check out. The store does not offer X-rated videos and did not stock “The Last Temptation of Christ,” the controversial Oscar-nominated film depicting the life of Jesus Christ.

However, John Fall, another member of ACT-UP LA who led the picketing outside the hotel, said the protest was unrelated to the award.

“We’re not here on that,” Fall said. “We’re here to protest the church’s condemnation of safe sex and condoms, and its position on Operation Rescue,” a group opposing abortions that staged the Pacoima rally outside Her Clinic, a women’s health center on Van Nuys Boulevard.

Before the breakfast address, Fall broke into an informal press conference Mahony was giving in the hotel lobby, shouting “You’re a murderer, Mahony! Safe sex saves lives!”

The action prompted hotel security officers to eject him from the hotel. But afterward, Sbrizzi, dressed in a coat and tie, slipped into the meeting room with Stuart Timmons of Silver Lake, Margie Eduardo of Valencia and Peter Siegel of West Hollywood.

The four discreetly seated themselves at a back table with the editor of the Knights’ newsletter and his wife.

“We had no idea what they were going to do,” said the editor, Charles Lyons, a West Los Angeles Knight. “But I could tell they were pretty nervous, because they were quiet and didn’t talk to the rest of us.

Times staff writers Rose Ellen O’Connor, Amy Kazmin and Kristina Lindgren contributed to this story.