TREE-TO-CHURCH: With the Los Angeles Episcopal bishop’s...

TREE-TO-CHURCH: With the Los Angeles Episcopal bishop’s approval, a priest will lead a one-mile religious procession Sunday to his small church in North Hollywood from a tree where believers and the curious gather to see the alleged image of the Virgin Mary.

The Rev. Barry Verdi had been barred from conducting Masses at the tree in the weeks following the March 26 report of the apparition. But Bishop Frederick Borsch suggested that a procession that ended at Holy Family Mission, 11551 Arminta St., would be appropriate.

“The idea is to bring people to the church, rather than take the church to the tree,” Verdi said.

Sap oozing from a diseased spot on the trunk of an elm tree has created a dark, oval spot that has reminded some observers of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a revered painting familiar to Catholics of Mexican heritage.

Verdi said he will begin a Mass at 11 a.m. at the tree on Valerio Street west of Lankershim Boulevard and, after the procession, conclude the service in his church’s courtyard.

“We will have booths with representatives of service agencies that help people with medical needs, tenants rights, registration for citizenship as well as legal and educational assistance,” the priest said.

MOODY-PEROT?: A news release from his church in Porter Ranch says the Rev. Jess Moody has been dubbed the “Ross Perot” of the Southern Baptists’ presidential race. But analysts in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination think that there will be precious little protest votes going Moody’s way Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Moody, 66, senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Church, announced his candidacy last year, saying he was politically unaligned with either the fundamentalists now controlling the denominational machinery or the moderate factions that have drifted away from the 12-year fight for control of Southern Baptist institutions.

Most analysts, however, say the office of president will go to either the Rev. Edwin Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Houston, or the Rev. Nelson Price, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church, Marietta, Ga.

Both are identified with the fundamentalist leadership.

Young “has carried the endorsement of the movement’s top leaders,” said Mark Wyatt, editor of the California Southern Baptist newspaper in Fresno, and thus is widely considered the favorite.

HOLIDAYS: The three faiths that count Abraham as a patriarchal figure will celebrate holidays in coming days.

On Sunday and Monday, Jews will observe the holiday of Shavuot, commemorating God’s gift of the Torah to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai.

The day of Pentecost--the Christian name for the Jewish holiday--will be remembered in churches Sunday as the time when, according to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit descended on disciples and energized them to spread their faith.

Muslims will celebrate the climax of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca on Thursday with Eid al-Adha (“the holiday of sacrifice”), recalling the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son at God’s behest. In the San Fernando Valley, it is expected that thousands of Muslims will gather for prayer at 7 a.m. near Oviatt Library on the Cal State Northridge campus. A lecture will be given by Ahmed El-Gabalawy, president of the Northridge Islamic Center.

News and announcements for this column can be sent to Religion Desk, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311.