Two months ago, Auxiliary Bishop Carl Fisher...

Two months ago, Auxiliary Bishop Carl Fisher of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese decided on a title for his baccalaureate address at USC’s commencement exercises, held Wednesday. It was: “Struggle Is the Shovel That God Often Uses to Dig Deeper Foundations of Joy.”

“Little did I realize that the title, which I had envisioned for students struggling to achieve academic achievement, would take on a deeper meaning in my own life,” Fisher said.

The 45-year-old bishop learned recently during minor surgery that he has colon cancer, which has spread to other areas of his body. In good physical shape, Fisher was out of the hospital in days, but he will have to undergo chemotherapy in a few weeks to help contain the spread of the cancer, he said.

“Obviously, cancer is life-threatening and I am very much aware of that, but I feel I am open and trusting to God’s will in my life,” Fisher said. Saying that he has lived a “happy, fruitful life” while serving the church, Fisher said, “it is only fitting that I would turn now to that same church for consolation and strength.”

Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, in a letter to 1,285 priests in the archdiocese, said Fisher “will gradually assume as much of his pastoral ministry as his treatment program and his health allows.”

Fisher heads the San Pedro region, one of five divisions in the nation’s most populous archdiocese. The region includes 70 parishes and 63 Catholic schools from the southern fringe of South-Central Los Angeles to all of the South Bay and southeast Los Angeles area.

A native of Mississippi, Fisher was a pastor in a Baltimore parish when he was named in 1986 to become a bishop in Los Angeles. In February, 1987, he became the 12th black priest to be ordained a bishop in the U.S. church.

NEW RELIGIONS

An all-day public symposium on cults and new religious movements, led by national and international experts, will be held next Saturday at the Solvang Holiday Inn in Buellton. The symposium is geared to answer questions about New Age beliefs, the alleged spread of satanism, whether certain sects practice “brainwashing” and other concerns. It is sponsored by the Institute for the Study of American Religions in Santa Barbara, headed by J. Gordon Melton. The public meeting follows an academic conference co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of New Religions in Turin, Italy. The sponsors, reachable at (805) 967-7721, ask a $30 donation for attending.

PEOPLE

Msgr. Royale Vadakin, the Los Angeles priest who endures kidding that his name sounds more like a place, is leaving his archdiocesan post as director of ecumenical and interreligious affairs on June 1 after 22 years. But first he will receive one more honor for his talent of making friends for the Catholic Church. Hebrew Union College will confer an honorary doctor of humane letters degree to Vadakin at 3:30 p.m. Monday during the Reform Jewish campus’s commencement exercises. He is being honored for “building bridges between Southern California’s diverse religious communities,” according to the college’s announcement.

MEDIA

The Episcopal News, the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese newspaper edited by Ruth Nicastro, won the top award for religious newspapers at the recent Associated Church Press national awards ceremonies. It also received awards for its front-page design and newswriting.

Dennis Prager of Culver City, host of KABC’s “Religion on the Line” talk show, will be handed a first-prize check of $10,000 on Tuesday in Lansing, Mich., during the Amy Foundation’s annual award presentations to writers who apply a conservative biblical interpretation to current events. Prager was cited for an article critical of liberalizing trends in Judaism on homosexual issues.