The 50th anniversary of the bombing of...

The 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima will be observed Sunday with a series of events at Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church at 132 N. Euclid Ave.

“Children of the Bomb” will be the topic of the Rev. Clarke Oler’s sermons at the 9 and 11:15 a.m. services. The title is drawn from the book of the same name by Los Angeles pediatrician Dr. James Yamazaki, who will be guest speaker that day at a parish luncheon.

Yamazaki, the son of an Episcopal priest, served as a U.S. Army medical officer in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. During the war, he was captured and imprisoned by the Germans--just as his family back in Los Angeles was imprisoned in the U.S. internment of Americans of Japanese descent.

Four years after the war ended, Yamazaki was assigned by the U.S. government to study the toll that nuclear radiation had taken on the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

He tracked those children for 40 years, and his exhaustive study, “Children of the Bomb,” was published last week. The book, written with former Times writer Lou Fleming and published by Duke University Press, will be available for sale on Sunday.

And a “child of the bomb” will tell her story Sunday at a 10:15 a.m. forum between services at All Saints. Kay Kanomata, born in Los Angeles, was a 6-year-old living in Hiroshima on the day the bomb was dropped. Although she was quite close to ground zero, Kanomata survived and works as a teacher today at Los Angeles’ Belmont High School.

Oler’s sermon will focus on the wide-ranging impact of the atomic bomb on the lives of a generation. Oler and his brothers were part of the military buildup preparing for the U.S. invasion of Japan set for Nov. 1, 1945.

“I have good reason to be thankful for the end of the war, which was undoubtedly hastened by the atomic attack,” Oler wrote in the church newsletter.

But after learning more about the devastation in those cities, the priest said, he realized that the catastrophe must not be repeated.

“We are all ‘children of the atomic bomb’ in respect to the terrible burden that the destructive power of those weapons, now multiplied a million times, has placed upon our hearts and conscience,” Oler said.

Among other Southern California observances of the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing this weekend is a four-day retreat, which begins at 4 p.m. Sunday at La Casa de Maria, a multidenominational retreat house in Santa Barbara. Titled “From Hiroshima to Hope: Reflections on a Return to the Sacred,” the cost for the retreat is $175. (805) 969-5031.

Also, United Methodist Bishop Roy Sano of Los Angeles will take part Sunday in a panel discussion at Centenary United Methodist Church in Little Tokyo on “Hiroshima/Nagasaki, a Japanese American Christian Perspective.” The event, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the church, 300 S. Central Ave., is free and open to the public.

CONTRIBUTIONS

* The state’s five most generous Southern Baptist congregations, in terms of donations sent to denominational missions and institutions, are all in Southern California.

For the first six months of 1995, the 4,380-member Immanuel Baptist in Highland in the Inland Empire topped the list with more than $122,000 in “cooperative program giving,” according to the California Southern Baptist magazine. The next largest amounts came from First Chinese Baptist in Los Angeles ($87,030), Magnolia Avenue Baptist in Riverside ($80,026), Saddleback Valley Community in Orange County’s Lake Forest ($71,477) and First Southern Baptist in Fountain Valley ($49,248). The last four churches have memberships ranging from 1,000 to 3,700.

PEOPLE

* Fuller alumnus James D. Guy has been named dean of Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of Psychology in Pasadena, succeeding Archibald D. Hart, who has returned to research and teaching after 12 years in the post. Guy was most recently vice president for university services at Biola University in La Mirada. He has maintained a private practice in clinical psychology in Pasadena since 1982.

* After a nationwide search, St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in San Marino picked a new rector from Apple Valley--the Very Rev. George F. Woodward III. Woodward, ordained in 1983, presided over St. Timothy’s in Apple Valley since 1991; membership tripled during his time at the church. He also served as dean for clergy in the eastern half of the Los Angeles Diocese. Woodward will assume the pulpit Aug. 20, succeeding retired rector Don Lewis and former associate rector, the Rev. Marni Schneider.

DATES

* The 90-voice New Generation Choir, whose ages range from 5 to 21, will perform in its fourth annual gospel concert at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at its home parish, St. Brigid Catholic Church, 5214 S. Western Ave. Expected guests include actress Marla Gibbs, City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, Fox-TV anchorwoman Christine Devine, Beverly White of KNBC News and Charmaine Wilkerson of KABC-TV News. Admission is free, but an offering will be taken. (213) 292-0781.

* The weeklong Congress for Excellence in Public Education will close tonight in San Diego at the U.S. Grant Hotel with a banquet featuring speaker Dallas Willard, who teaches philosophy at USC. About 300 people registered for the conference, which was organized by the Christian Educators Association International, a 5,000-member group based in Pasadena that supports Christian educators and administrators working in public schools. Brad Dacus, the western regional director of the Rutherford Institute, will address the congress on “Rights of Christian Students in Public Schools” at 11:15 a.m. today.

* “God Concepts and Hollywood Films” will be discussed from 12:30 to 2 p.m. today at Temple Akiba, 5249 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, by the Reform synagogue’s guest scholar, Rabbi Allen Henkin of Temple Beth Knesset Bamidbar in Lancaster. (310) 398-5783.

FINALLY

* Sounds from the shofar, or ram’s horn, serve as a traditional spiritual wake-up call for Jews at the start of the High Holy Days (on Sept. 25 this year).

What rabbi, cantor or synagogue leader with a lot of wind hasn’t enjoyed emitting blasts during Rosh Hashanah services? And more than one worshiper surely has mused, “I could do that.”

Well, Temple Beth Am is calling the bluff of the wanna-bes.

The Conservative temple on Los Angeles’ Westside is offering free lessons at a private home for a limited number of members and non-members who want to learn shofar blowing or sharpen rusty skills. Lessons will be given three straight Thursday nights, starting Aug. 10.

Inquiries should be made at the temple (310) 652-7353.

Some of those who successfully complete the workshop stand a chance to blow a shofar at one of Temple Beth Am’s High Holy services, said Associate Rabbi Perry Netter.

Notices may be sent by mail to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or by fax to Religion Editor, (213) 237-4712. Items should arrive at least three weeks in advance of the event announced. Include a phone number, date, time and address.