Religious Leaders to Mark King Event

An array of religious speakers will highlight the sixth annual Valleywide Interfaith Service honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 17 at a Woodland Hills synagogue.

Two well-known speakers will be Catholic Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, who is Cardinal Roger Mahony’s chief administrator in the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, and the Rev. George Regas, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

In addition, two people who were present at events in the life of the slain civil rights leader will talk about King at the 7 p.m. service at Congregation Kol Tikvah. They are Rabbi Jerrold Goldstein, the Hillel director at Cal State Northridge who was arrested with King and others in 1964, and Gloria Haithman-Ali, a member of the Baha’i faith in Los Angeles, who marched at a King-led rally in Washington.

Other participants will include Ahmed El-Gabalawy, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Northridge; the Rev. Allyn Axelton, president of the event’s sponsor, the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council; Cantor Fran Lawson of Temple Judea in Tarzana, and the Rev. Zedar Broadous, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, San Fernando Valley region.

Music will be performed by the Pacoima Mass Choir, the combined Granada Hills Chorale/Interfaith Choir and Marsha Stevens of Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles singing “I Still Have a Dream” from her album of the same name.