A historian of Los Angeles says that...

A historian of Los Angeles says that this week’s outbreak of violence in the aftermath of the Rodney G. King beating trial, and efforts of religious leaders to avert it, have parallels in the city’s history.

“Racial tolerance is a fragile commodity that every generation must teach itself,” said Michael Engh, a Jesuit priest and author of a newly published book, “Frontier Faiths: Church, Temple and Synagogue in Los Angeles, 1846-1888.”

Racism has been a persistent problem in Los Angeles since before the Civil War. Yet, of the many pioneer communities formed during that time, this city enjoyed a unique spirit of cooperation among its ethnic and religious communities, Engh said.

“You can’t say people were free of prejudice, but they really tried to work together,” Engh said. “In spite of religious prejudice and racial violence, Protestants, Catholics and Jews developed an unparalleled religious cooperation based on civic boosterism and the desire to attract newcomers to the city and its churches.”

When Angelenos decided they needed a college, they joined forces to build St. Vincent’s College in 1865. Although it was to be operated by Catholics, Engh said, a Jewish woman named Rosa Newmark organized its first fund-raising event. Newmark’s role in establishing the college was indicative of the camaraderie among the religious groups in Los Angeles during that period, he said.

While Los Angeles’ Christians and Jews struggled to overcome the prejudices of their age, the Civil War inflamed attitudes about race. Many early white settlers in the city were Southerners who favored the Confederacy. When a Congregational minister tried to integrate an interdenominational Sunday school in 1867, there was an uproar in the community, which led to his dismissal.

A more dramatic incidence of racism was an 1871 massacre of 19 Chinese workers by a white mob, just two blocks from the present-day location of City Hall. Prominent among those who tried to stop the riot were church leaders. Until the mid-1800s, about 99% of Los Angeles residents were Catholic. But with the influx of Chinese Confucians and Buddhists, European Jewish immigrants and Protestant settlers from the Midwest by the end of the century, the majority religion changed. Los Angeles mushroomed from a Latino pueblo of 1,500 in 1850 to an Anglo city of nearly 50,000 in 1890, of whom about 80% were Protestant.

Such rapid growth coupled with ethnic diversity could have sparked even more conflict, but instead it prompted cooperation among religious groups during the period between 1850 and the 1880s, said Engh, an assistant professor of history at Loyola Marymount University. But interfaith cooperation could not surmount continuing racial problems.

“Prominent Roman Catholics, Jews and Protestants shared a desire for progress,” Engh said of the pioneers of Los Angeles. “They all feared violence and a lack of law and order.” Their fear prompted them to make common cause, he said. But as the churches became stronger, and no longer needed each other’s help, interfaith cooperation waned, he added. It dropped dramatically at the turn of the century only to increase in the 1950s and ‘60s, with the rise of ecumenism.

Engh’s book, “1846-1888,” published by the University of New Mexico Press, will reach bookstores in Los Angeles in mid-May.

PRAYER

Thursday marks the 41st consecutive National Day of Prayer. President and Mrs. Bush are honorary chairmen of this year’s observance, whose theme is “Let Us Pray: Bringing America Together in Prayer.” People across the United States will gather at city halls and other locations to pray for guidance for the country’s leaders and for reconciliation and moral renewal among its people.

In Santa Monica, a prayer breakfast will be held on the City Hall lawn from 7 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. Fourteen religious and community leaders from Santa Monica, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Culver City, Westchester and West Los Angeles will gather to lead prayers. Santa Monica City Hall is at 1685 Main St. There is a $5 suggested donation for continental breakfast.

Bell Gardens City Hall will be the site of a meeting from 12:20-12:40 p.m. More than 10 churches will participate. The address is 7100 Garfield Blvd. At the Whittier Area Baptist Fellowship, a prayer meeting will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m at 8175 Villa Verde Drive.

For information, phone the National Day of Prayer Task Force, (719) 531-3379.

HONORS

Virginia Anast Daly will be honored as Mother of the Year by the Philoptohos Society of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral at a luncheon and fashion show next Saturday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Deidre Hall, star of “Days of Our Lives,” will appear, and fashions by David Hayes will be shown. Tickets are $55. Proceeds benefit the Pediatric AIDS Center at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, the Good Shepherd Shelter for Abused Women in Los Angeles and the St. Sophia Camp in San Bernardino. For information, phone (818) 981-6088 or (213) 465-9664.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the appointment of Joseph J. Grigg of La Canada Flintridge as president of the church’s mission headquartered in Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea. Grigg, 65, is vice president of a Los Angeles marine and aviation company. He will begin his three-year assignment this summer, overseeing 30 missionaries.

Lisa Babulal of Van Nuys, a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Tex., received the school’s New Testament Greek Award at a banquet April 28. The annual award--which includes a cash stipend--is designed to encourage and recognize one outstanding student of elementary Greek and to encourage study of the New Testament in its original language.

CELEBRATIONS

Buddha’s birthday will be celebrated Sunday at Ardmore Park in Los Angeles with an inter-ethnic event sponsored by the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California. The program begins at 2:30 p.m. and will feature music and dance from several countries, religious services for all major traditions of Buddhism, speakers and a Korean lantern procession at dusk. Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Burmese, Korean, Sri Lankan, Tibetan and American Buddhists will be represented. Ethnic dress is encouraged.

This is the 12th annual celebration sponsored by the council, and its first in a public park. Admission is free; the public is invited. Ardmore Park is one block northeast of the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Normandie Avenue. For information, phone (213)739-1270.

Wesley United Methodist Church celebrates its 104th birthday at 10:40 a.m. Sunday. The Rev. Robert Habersham will deliver a meditation entitled “A Ministry for You.” A meal will follow, during which special members will be honored. Wesley UMC has been involved in the establishment of African-American Methodist churches on the West Coast and was one of the first churches to provide housing for the homeless. It recently housed 200 people at Rakestraw Community Center for 60 days. The church is at 112 W. 52nd. St., Los Angeles. (213) 231-9321.

Biola University in La Mirada recently celebrated 70 years in Christian broadcasting. Biola has used radio since March 22, 1922. It now syndicates a program called “The Biola Hour,” heard in 39 cities in North America.

Israel Independence Day will be celebrated by Temple Israel of Hollywood with a talk by Uriel Massad, West Coast director of Americans for Peace Now, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at 7300 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 876-8330.

Editor’s note: All events were planned before this week’s rioting broke out. Readers are advised that some events may be canceled.

Please address notices to: Southern California File, c/o Religion Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. To receive consideration, an item must be brief and arrive at least three weeks prior to the event announced.