The television situation comedy “Frasier,” Steven Spielberg’s...

The television situation comedy “Frasier,” Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning movie “Schindler’s List” and “Chant,” the surprising best-selling recording by monks at a Spanish monastery, will be honored by Catholics in Media Associates at its annual Communion and award brunch in October.

The awards by Catholics in Media, founded by the writer-director team of Patt and Jack Shea of Studio City, are designed to recognize entertainment industry projects and people whose work “made clearer the Word of God and affirmed the highest ethical standards of the Judeo-Christian tradition,” a representative said.

Although Amblin Entertainment’s “Schindler’s List,” about the saving of Jewish lives during the Holocaust, appeared to be an obvious choice for film honors by the Catholic group’s board of directors, the NBC comedy show starring Kelsey Grammer as “Frasier” was not.

However, the series from Paramount Network Television was cited not only for its laughs, “but for treating age and physical limitation with dignity, for celebrating family loyalty in an age when ‘self-sacrifice’ is a dirty word,” and for conscientious characters who struggle with temptation yet wind up gaining the respect of the audience for their actions.”

“Frasier” also is one of five contenders for best comedy series in the 46th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards Sept. 11.

“Chant,” a double platinum album distributed by Angel Records, has led a revival of interest in Gregorian chanting and other monastery music. “The success of ‘Chant’ reminds us that music has a healing power,” noted a Catholics in Media spokesman.

The Catholics in Media event is Oct. 9 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. that day and the brunch will follow.

Last year, Catholics in Media gave awards to the MGM feature film “Benny and Joon,” Disney Channel’s remake of the classic “Heidi” and the CBS television series “Picket Fences.”

The Communion and awards brunch is the archdiocesan-backed successor to an annual Communion breakfast for Catholics in the entertainment industry.

Tickets for the October event are $45. For information, call (818) 907-2734.

PEOPLE

* Film director David Zucker (“Naked Gun,” “Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear”) will be awarded the Micah Center for Ethical Monotheism’s first Award for Goodness in a ceremony Thursday night at the Academy Plaza Theatre, 5237 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Zucker is being honored for donating his time to direct and help write “For Goodness Sake,” the first film produced by the Los Angeles-based center founded by writer-radio talk show host Dennis Prager. The film, shown on KCET on June 25, features actors Florence Henderson, Jason Alexander and TV host Bob Saget of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” portraying situations with moral choices. A vignette acted by O.J. Simpson, soon to go on trial on double murder charges, was omitted when KCET aired the film and will also be missing Thursday night.

* Rabbi Stephen M. Passamaneck, professor of rabbinics at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, was recently honored by the International Conference of Police Chaplains for his work with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Passamaneck joined the chaplaincy corps of the Sheriff’s Department in 1976 and has served as supervising chaplain there since 1986. The professor-chaplain said that his involvement has led him to research what traditional Jewish law has said concerning civil and criminal law enforcement, which he said had been a neglected area of Jewish studies.

BOOKS

* In honor of the publication of a novel, “The Gospel of Joseph” (Crossroad) by Gabriel Meyer, a reception will be held for the author at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Andrew Russian Greek-Catholic Church, 538 Concord St., El Segundo. The fictional work by Meyer, who is associate editor of the Encino-based National Catholic Register, centers on the discovery of letters and other writings attributed to the father of Jesus.

* David Ellenson, who holds an endowed chair in Jewish religious thought at Hebrew Union College, has written “Between Tradition and Culture: The Dialectics of Modern Jewish Religion and Identity” (Scholars Press). The book focuses on how Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist leaders in Judaism have responded to modern life.

CONFERENCE

* The annual international convocation of Self-Realization Fellowship will close today at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. More than 3,000 participants from 42 countries were expected to attend.

India-born Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) founded the yoga-centered religious movement, establishing it in 1925 on Mt. Washington. Its Lake Shrine and Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial in Pacific Palisades are a familiar site to Los Angeles residents, as are the organization’s temple and India Hall in Hollywood. The religious body has nearly 400 affiliated ashrams and centers worldwide.

LITURGY

* A Divine Liturgy will be offered at 11 a.m. Sunday in Los Angeles for Cardinal Anthony Peter Koraiche, the retired Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East who died on Aug. 19 in Lebanon. Bishop John Chedid, who will lead the service at Mt. Lebanon-St. Peter Cathedral, 333 S. San Vicente Blvd., said the patriarch “shepherded his people during the most difficult of times in Lebanon.” Koraiche was elected Maronite Patriarch in 1975 and was elevated to cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1983. Due to failing health, Koraiche resigned in 1986 and was succeeded by Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfeir.

EVENTS

* The all-Danish Kefas Choir of Copenhagen, a group of 55 singers and musicians, will present a concert of gospel music at 4 p.m. Sunday at the predominantly black Trinity Baptist Church in South-Central Los Angeles. “Although we are of many races and creeds, gospel music is the universal proclamation of the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ,” said Andre David Brooks, director of Trinity Baptist’s Young Adult Praise Choir, which will present its own concert Sept. 11 at the church, 2040 W. Jefferson Blvd. For information, call the church at (213) 735-0044.

* Carol Holst, who will be attending the United Nations Population Conference in Cairo next month, will talk on “Redefining Population and World Justice from a Religious Perspective” at the 10:30 a.m. service Sunday at Pacific Unitarian Church, 5621 Montemalaga Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes. Holst is project director of Ministry for Justice in Population Concerns at Cornell University. Call (310) 378-9449 for information.

* Young Nak Presbyterian Church will celebrate the fifth anniversary of its English-speaking ministry with a reception after its regular Sunday service at 1200 S. San Pedro St. Average attendance is more than 400 people, mostly second-generation Korean Americans, said a spokesman. As such, the ministry is reputed to be the largest of its type in Korean churches on the West Coast.

* Members of Westside Unity Church in Culver City will join fellow participants in the worldwide metaphysical movement for a day of prayer Thursday. The Missouri-based Unity School of Christianity is coordinating the special day. “We believe prayer can raise the consciousness of the world,” said the Rev. John Coolidge of the Culver City church, 10724 Barman Ave., where prayer services will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. and 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. For information, call (310) 838-4761.

* The shelter, food pantry and housing programs of the interfaith Wilshire district program called Hope Net will benefit from the “Taste of Larchmont Village” program on Larchmont Boulevard on Monday, featuring samples from the area’s restaurants and hosted by KCET’s Huell Howser. The event is sponsored by the Larchmont Chronicle. Fourteen Christian and Jewish congregations are a part of Hope Net. For information, call Hope Net at (213) 389-9949.

Notices may be sent to Southern California File by mail c/o Religion Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or by fax to (213) 237-4712. Items must be brief and arrive at least three weeks in advance. Include a phone number, date, time and full address.