Los Angeles Catholic Archbishop Roger M. Mahony...

Los Angeles Catholic Archbishop Roger M. Mahony has banned a Filipino devotional movement from using archdiocesan facilities after a study committee said the sectarian group, led by a woman who says God speaks through her, had refused to conform to Catholic teachings.

The Banal na Pag-Aaral (BNP) movement--already banned in Manila by CardinalJaime Sin and in San Francisco by Archbishop John Quinn--is believed to have at least 5,000 members within the Filipino Catholic population of 425,000 in the Los Angeles archdiocese.

A study committee headed by Bishop-elect Stephen E. Blaire, moderator of the archdiocesan curia, issued a statement that Catholics “should be warned that the BNP is not a Roman Catholic organization in any sense of the word,” but that it had given “the false impression” that it was.

Some priests in the archdiocese had heard confessions and celebrated Masses at the movement’s intensive weekend retreats, but they now have been ordered to disassociate themselves from the BNP.

Blaire said in an interview that the group is led by Salve Carreon, who founded the group in the Philippines and later moved to the San Gabriel Valley. Attempts to reach a spokesman for reaction from the group were unsuccessful.

Blaire said that in re-enactments of the Last Supper during the retreats, Carreon has dressed as Christ and blessed bread and wine served to candidates for membership.

The study committee said that claims by BNP members to have witnessed levitation, the ability to “read hearts” and other supernatural phenomena can be attributed to the atmosphere created at the retreats. “Music, lighting, lack of sleep and endless hours of lectures create a mixture of expectation and terror in the participants,” the committee said.

The Filipino Catholic community, second in size among immigrant ethnic groups in the archdiocese only to the Mexican Catholic immigrant population, has a high proportion of educated, multilingual believers, according to a report last year to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council by Rose Valencia, an official of the Filipino Catholic ministry.

But she also cautioned, without singling out BNP or other groups, that many Filipino Catholics may remain on the periphery of parish life in this country. “If Filipinos are not affirmed in their own unique faith expressions, they tend to form home-based churches outside the parishes,” Valencia said. “Usually these groups are under the influence of very charismatic leaders.”

LITHUANIA

Bishop Jack M. Tuell of Los Angeles, writing April 6 as president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, commended President Bush for his “sensitive restraint” dealing with Lithuania’s March 11 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. Tuell wrote: “We recognize with you the legitimate desire of the Lithuanian people for independence, and are grateful for your support of that principle. But we also recognize how dangerous the situation is in the Soviet Union, and that adopting confrontational tactics or laying down ultimatums could severely damage the emerging possibilities of peace in the world.” Bush announced Tuesday after consultation with Congress and U.S. allies that he would not impose sanctions on the Soviet Union, which has imposed some economic blockades on the republic.

CONVENTION

The National Federation of Priests’ Councils, once a feisty challenger to U.S. Catholic bishops that preferred to run their dioceses without unsolicited advice, will convene next week at Universal City in a much more mellow frame of mind. Twenty years ago, the fledgling organization of priests’ senates and unauthorized associations held their national meeting in San Diego to discuss the then-provocative theme of “shared responsibility.” The idea of priests’ advisory councils gradually gained favor in the Roman Catholic Church, however, and is now mandated by canon law for every diocese. At last year’s convention, delegates voted not to pass resolutions in future conventions. The five-day convention at the Sheraton Universal opens Monday night.

NOMINEES

The six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles announced this week that it will present seven nominees at a special convention to elect a suffragan, or auxiliary bishop, to succeed Bishop Oliver B. Garver Jr., who retires this summer. The only local nominee is the Rev. Canon D. Bruce MacPherson, an assistant to Bishop Frederick H. Borsch. The election will be held June 9 at St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles.

DATES

Actor Walter Matthau will host a musical program at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church at 4 p.m. Sunday that includes “Study for Strings,” written by Pavel Haas during World War II in Theresienstadt, Adolf Hitler’s “model” concentration camp for Jewish musicians and composers. Conductor Nick Strimple said the piece was first performed as part of a propaganda film featuring the camp’s string orchestra. Just after the first live performance of the work in the summer of 1944, transports took away most of the orchestra members to Auschwitz, where only a handful survived. Strimple said the piece has been performed five other times but never in the United States.