Former nun Patricia Ann Reif, 66, was...

Former nun Patricia Ann Reif, 66, was taught in Los Angeles Catholic schools to be suspicious of heretical Protestants and never to take part in their services. She came full circle this year in her long ecumenical journey by moving into a well-known Protestant retirement complex in Claremont.

Reif, the founding chairwoman of Immaculate Heart College Center’s master’s degree program in feminist spirituality, was accepted for residence at Pilgrim Place, along with another ex-nun, Josetta Walsh.

The two women are believed to be the first Catholics to reside at the 80-year-old retirement community for former Christian workers, said spokeswoman Florence Lerrigo.

Most of the complex’s 320 current residents once served in Congregational and United Church of Christ ministries, although a dozen mainline Protestant denominations are represented, Lerrigo said.

Reif, who holds a doctorate from St. Louis University, recently described her ecumenical evolution while leading a vespers service at Pilgrim Place.

After entering the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1946, Reif learned that prayers for church unity represented the Catholic hope that Protestants would return to “the one, true church” and that the centuries-old schism with the Eastern Orthodox Church would end.

But then, in 1959, Pope John XXIII announced plans to convene the Second Vatican Council, also called the Ecumenical Council for its more benevolent views toward other church bodies.

Reif recalls when, in the 1960s, the forces of reform and reaction racked Catholicism:

* In the summer of 1962, “I first became aware of the new winds blowing in the church,” she said. “I was sitting on the beach at our [order’s] vacation house in Montecito dressed in full habit, reading a book by Hans Kung” urging the church to accept the coming reforms.

* And in 1965, after the Vatican Council approved its decree on ecumenism, Reif’s request to accept a speaking invitation from an ecumenical conference was rejected by Cardinal James Francis McIntyre of Los Angeles, who tested her adherence to traditional Catholic-Protestant distinctions for 15 minutes before reading her a letter he had already written denying her permission to speak.

After McIntyre and some Immaculate Heart nuns clashed over the order’s change to modern dress and new forms of service, the nuns, representing a majority of the order, transformed the order into a secular institute.

Active in ecumenical and social justice issues for more than 20 years, Reif has served as coordinator of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition and a leader of the Interfaith Task Force on Central America, among other things.

A resident of Pilgrim Place since February, Reif is a part of Pilgrims for Social Action and serves on the steering committee of the Women’s Perspective Forum at the retirement community.

CONGREGATIONS

* The 3,500-member Faith Community Church completed its move this week into a former Hughes Aircraft Corp. building in West Covina--a 170,000-square-foot, single-story structure that, when fully renovated, may be one of the largest church buildings in Los Angeles County. In the project’s $1.1-million, first-phase renovation, a 1,260-seat interim sanctuary at 1111 E. Badillo St. was opened for services during the last two Sundays and attracted more than 2,000 worshipers each time.

The conversion will allow the independent, charismatic church to “touch the world not with bombs and missiles, but with the love and grace of the Lord,” said founding Pastor Jim Reeve, whose 15-year-old congregation previously held services a few blocks away in Covina.

CLASSES

* A five-week crash course in reading Hebrew--designed to make the Jewish High Holy Days (Sept. 25-Oct. 4) more meaningful--is being offered at Yeshiva of Los Angeles and at USC’s Hillel Jewish Center, starting next week. Both programs, which are free, use a course and primer from the National Jewish Outreach Program. Reservations are required: The Yeshiva program at 9760 W. Pico Blvd. will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. (310) 553-4478. The Hillel classes, at USC’s Topping Center, will start at 4 p.m. Wednesday. (213) 747-9135.

Two six-hour crash courses in Hebrew reading, also free, will be given Sept. 10 and 23 by Temple Beth Shalom, 3635 Elm Ave., Long Beach. (310) 426-6413. A daylong course will be taught Sept. 17 at the University of Judaism for $75, including lunch. (310) 476-9777.

GRANTS

* The Catholic Church’s national anti-poverty program, the Campaign for Human Development, recently announced grants totaling $718,000 in California, including $45,000 given to Vision Project of Pasadena for aid to Hope in Youth, the interfaith project to reduce youth gang membership and violence in Los Angeles County. Among other grants were $40,000 to the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles and $35,000 to Orange County Congregational Community Organizations in Anaheim.

* Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, announced a $500,000 federal grant on behalf of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network on Thursday, allowing the church’s Catholic Charities organizations in Los Angeles, Fresno, Monterey, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Rosa and Stockton to conduct naturalization programs for immigrants.

PEOPLE

* Ivan Strenski, a noted scholar of religion and culture and North American editor of the journal Religion, has been appointed to an endowed chair in religious studies at UC Riverside. Strenski is currently a specialist in religious studies and visiting professor at UC Santa Barbara.

* Norman Simon, 75, retired last weekend as longtime executive director of the Los Angeles-based western district of B’nai B’rith, the Jewish fraternal organization with 500,000 members engaged worldwide in religious, political and community activities. He was succeeded at the district’s convention in Monterey by Joel Baker, who has been director of development at the University of Judaism and executive director of the Century City Chamber of Commerce.

DATES

* A seminar on “Critical Questions About Spiritual Warfare” will be given next Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. at First Evangelical Church of Cerritos by Clinton Arnold, associate professor of New Testament at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. The cost is $35 each or $65 per couple (800 95-BIOLA).

* A “Recovery Mass” for people trying to break addictions to drugs or alcohol will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Christ the Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church, 185 W. Altadena Dr., Altadena. The church hosts 28 recovery group meetings weekly. (818) 794-7011.

* A special dinner honoring the Ethiopian Jewish community will be held Tuesday evening at Nyala Restaurant, 1076 S. Fairfax Ave., under the sponsorship of Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The cost is $25 for the dinner featuring Ethiopian dishes. Speaking will be Middie Giesberg, board member of the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry. (213) 388-2401.

* New Testament professor Beverly Gaventa of Princeton Theological Seminary will speak on the Apostle Paul at 4:15 p.m. Thursday in the opening convocation of the School of Theology at Claremont in its Kresge Chapel. (909) 626-3521.

* “Spirit Fest ‘95,” a Christian celebrity basketball game and concert held in conjunction with Pastor Chuck Singleton’s Loveland Church, will begin at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Etiwanda High School, 13500 Victoria Ave., Rancho Cucamonga. Guests include A.C. Green of the Phoenix Suns and singers Angie and Debbie Winans. (213) 565-1151.

* The Harambee Prep School, a private school for underprivileged youths being developed in Northwest Pasadena by the Harambee Christian Family Center, will hold a brunch and open house at 10 a.m. next Saturday at its interim facility at 1581 Navarro Ave. The school will open Sept. 11 with two classes. Its board of advisers includes pitcher Orel Hershiser of the Cleveland Indians and Howard and Roberta Ahmanson of the Fieldstead Foundation. (818) 791-7439.

* A guided bus tour of past and present Jewish neighborhood sites from Boyle Heights to Chavez Ravine will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 10 by the Jewish Historical Society. The fee is $25, lunch not included. (213) 653-7740.

FINALLY

* The entire Book of Revelation, the mystical last book of the New Testament also known as the Apocalypse of John, will be read without commentary during a 90-minute service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church of Temple City.

“The service concludes a series of sermons I have been giving on the Book of Revelation since the spring,” said Pastor Douglas Beyer, who said this experiment was a first during his 13 years as pastor of the church at 6019 Baldwin Avenue.