Attorney Bryan Hance, executive director of the...

Attorney Bryan Hance, executive director of the Center for Conflict Resolution in Los Angeles, remembers the day well. He received a call asking him to bring the Rev. Cecil Murray face to face with a group of skinheads whose members had been arrested for attempting to assassinate the pastor and blow up his First African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The meeting, in December, 1993, was dramatic and emotional--and made front-page headlines.

Although such a high-profile event is rare among the 1,400 cases that the center mediates each year, the principle of mediation is the same: to dig beneath the surface of a conflict to reach understanding, agreement and, ideally, reconciliation.

The vast majority of his clients, Hance says, are simply looking for a better way to resolve civil disputes involving family members, business partners, landlords and tenants, and merchants and consumers.

“When I was in law school at Pepperdine, I saw the pain caused by the courts,” Hance said. “Then I heard the center’s former director speak at a Christian Legal Society meeting on campus. I knew working here would be a great way to incorporate my faith into my desire to help people.”

Founded on principles of conciliation set forth in the New Testament, the center is loosely affiliated with a national association called the Christian Conciliation Service. Taking referrals from churches, law firms and businesses, the center provides 140 trained mediators who--in 82% of the cases--successfully help mutually consenting parties come to a voluntary agreement.

For those who desire religiously oriented mediation, the center offers the Christian conciliation program, which incorporates prayer and Scripture. The center also contracts with Los Angeles County to provide completely secular mediation at the Van Nuys and Robertson courthouses.

Most of the center’s mediators are volunteers who pay for their own training. Clients in the Christian program pay on a sliding scale.

According to Donna Gould, a center volunteer who has received training with the Los Angeles city attorney’s office and Harvard University, in addition to a four-day training course for the center at Pepperdine University Law School, “there are three great advantages to mediation (over the court). The first two are the tremendous savings in time and money,” she said. “A complex divorce custody and property division can be worked out in three to six sessions, in contrast to up to perhaps three years in court, with up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees. The third is confidentiality. Nothing said in mediation becomes public record.”

*

Even more significant, she said, is that “what we do can’t be done in a courtroom. In mediation, the parties really listen to each other.”

More often than not, she said, “a dispute over money or child custody is just the tip of the iceberg--feelings need to come out. I have seen cases where people come in in a rage, can barely stand to look at each other. By the end of mediation, it is not unusual for them to shake hands, even cry and embrace.

“Sometimes someone will offer an apology. A real healing takes place. Knowing that I’ve made a difference in people’s lives, that a friendship has been preserved or another happy outcome occurred that couldn’t have done so in the courtroom, is the greatest gratification work can give,” she said.

Murray, senior minister of First A.M.E. Church, will deliver the keynote speech at the center’s 10th anniversary celebration at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Universal Hilton in Universal City. He sees the center as part of “our challenge to formulate a proactive agenda against hate.” Tickets are $125. For information about the center or the dinner, phone (213) 467-3331.

DATES

* First Congregational Church is hosting the 61st Annual Los Angeles Bach Festival Friday, Oct. 14 through Oct. 23. This year the festival includes four evening concerts, two children’s programs and five free noon concerts, Oct. 18 through Oct. 21. Bring a sack lunch to eat in the church gardens after the informal concerts. For complete program information and ticket prices, inquire at the church, 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., Los Angeles 90020, or phone (213) 385-1345.

* Also at First Congregational Church, the Commonwealth Learning Center, in association with USC’s Emeriti College, begins its fall session Sunday. Low-cost lecture series on “Religion and Literature,” “Soundness of Mind and Body” and other topics run four weeks, with one-hour classes Sundays at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday seminars are offered in CPR training and running multicultural churches. For complete curriculum and fees, phone (213) 385-1341.

* “Not Just for Sunday School Teachers” is the theme of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ TeacherFest, a day of learning and celebration Oct. 15 for people involved in the church’s teaching ministry. The event, to be held at Campbell Hall Episcopal School in North Hollywood, will feature workshops in English and Spanish, panels and booths. Registration is $15; scholarships and child care are available. 4533 Laurel Canyon Blvd. (818) 799-0913.

* “An Affirmation of Healing: A Celebration of Healing in a Time of AIDS” will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Hope Lutheran Church, 6720 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. It will feature music, memorial candle lighting and appearances by two guests: Stephanie Dinwiddie Taylor, vice president of the denomination’s Southern California Synod, who will offer a message of hope; and former Miss America Leanza Cornett, who will sing. (213) 938-9135.

* A five-week introduction to Jewish practices regarding death and bereavement is one of six low-fee fall classes offered by Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles beginning this month. For a schedule and registration information, phone (310) 652-7373.

* Sister Carmel Noone is holding a retreat for people of all religious and cultural backgrounds from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 15 at Mt. St. Mary’s College Doheny Campus. Titled “Choosing Life--Letting Go!” the retreat will help participants “look at their unresolved hurts and guilt--the emotions that drain our energy and diminish our peace.” Registration is $20 at the door, $15 in advance. The entrance to the campus is on Adams Boulevard, between Figueroa and Hoover streets, in Los Angeles. (213) 746-0450.

* Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block will discuss “Law Enforcement and Cultural Diversity” at a Temple Beth Hillel Forum at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Admission is $2. The temple is at 12326 Riverside Drive, Valley Village. (818) 763-9148.

* How to enrich sermons through the art of storytelling is the topic at a complimentary lunch from 11:45 to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 19, presented by the Clergy Network and Woodland Care Center in Reseda. Ron Lancaster, a professional storyteller, writer and actor, will speak. Clergy members and others may reserve a space by calling (800) 707-2224.

BRIEFLY

California Ballot Proposition 186, a health care reform measure, Proposition 187, concerning immigration and Proposition 188, about smoking restrictions, will be the topics of a Town Hall Meeting at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. (310) 652-7353. . . . Woodland Hills Community Church will present speakers on Proposition 187 at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19. (818) 346-0820.

The United States Catholic Bishops’ Campaign for Human Development, which provides funding for self-help projects of poor and low-income groups aimed at social change, is accepting pre-applications through Nov. 1 for national grants up to $100,000. For information, phone Jeff Bonino-Britsch or Tom Chabolla in the Office of Justice and Peace, Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, at (213) 251-3550.

AIDS/HIV Awareness Day will be observed Sunday by First Presbyterian Church of Baldwin Park, which will award three nonprofit organizations with $3,000. (818) 338-1660.

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Sept. 28 for Casa Carondelet, an affordable housing project being built in a riot-scarred neighborhood near MacArthur Park by Church and Synagogue Associates (CASA). The organization was founded by members of St. Matthew’s Parish in Pacific Palisades and University Synagogue in Brentwood, in partnership with Beyond Shelter, a nonprofit developer with a track record of helping low-income and formerly homeless families. (213) 977-1951.