For two decades, Warith Deen Mohammed of...

For two decades, Warith Deen Mohammed of Chicago has led the largest group of African American Muslims into the mainstream of Islam as their “imam,” or spiritual leader, upon succeeding his father, Elijah Muhammed, who died in 1975.

Yet most of the attention has gone to Minister Louis Farrakhan, whose fiery rhetoric, anti-Semitic comments and recent, successful “Million Man March” on Washington, D.C., have grabbed headlines. Unlike Mohammed, Farrakhan has remained aligned with the Nation of Islam, the remnant of Elijah Muhammed’s sectarian body, which holds racial and religious views at odds with orthodox Islam.

W. Deen Mohammed has been handicapped in that rivalry by his soft-spoken modesty. Nevertheless, Mohammed has a nationwide following, with more than 150 masajids (mosques) around the country.

He is active in interfaith circles and has been honored by Muslim and government leaders in the Middle East.

Mohammed will deliver a public address on Islam as a “medicine for many illnesses” at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. A spokesman said Mohammed will also discuss his views on religion, humanity and the pursuit of liberty.

The event is sponsored by the Testimonial to Leadership Benefit Committee, 4016 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles. Information: (213) 233-7274.

PEOPLE

* After a six-month hiatus, Father Gregory Coiro, 42, is back handling media relations for the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony. Coiro left the job in July to aid his religious order, the Capuchin Franciscans, which had faculty vacancies at St. Francis High School in La Canada Flintridge. But the brown-robed priest said he longed to return, and the cardinal had not found a successor. Coiro, who studied journalism at San Francisco State University, will direct the Media Relations Office, formerly called the Office of Public Affairs.

* Orthodox Rabbi Simcha Cohen of Congregation Shaarei Tefila on Los Angeles’ Westside has been named the spiritual leader of the Mizrachi Kehilla in Melbourne, Australia, a complex of five synagogues, two schools and a kosher organization. Active in Zionist and philanthropic organizations during his nearly 18 years at the Los Angeles synagogue, Cohen said he will take his new position before Passover next year.

* The first Los Angeles-area wedding of a gay rabbi took place Friday, when Rabbi Lisa Edwards married her partner of 10 years, Tracy Moore, at Temple Isaiah on the Westside. Edwards is rabbi at Beth Chayim Chadashim, the world’s oldest gay and lesbian congregation. Officiating at the wedding were the bride’s brother, Rabbi Laurence Edwards of Cornell University Hillel, and Rabbi Laura Geller of Temple Emmanuel in Beverly Hills.

CONVENTION

* The Episcopal Church’s Los Angeles Diocese--formed 100 years ago next weekend--will open a festive, two-day annual convention Friday at the Riverside Convention Center. The Most Rev. Edmond Lee Browning of New York, who was elected as the denomination’s presiding bishop in 1986 (at the triennial Episcopal convention, held in Anaheim), will preach at the diocesan convention’s Saturday morning Eucharist.

Also joining Los Angeles Bishop Frederick Borsch will be Bishop William Swing of the San Francisco-based Diocese of California, which once covered the entire state, and Bishop Gethin Hughes of the Diocese of San Diego, which was carved out of the Los Angeles Diocese in 1974.

On Dec. 3, the 148 parishes of the Los Angeles Diocese in six counties will begin a six-month celebration of the centennial, culminating with the May 26 visit of Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.

AIDS DAY

* The Rev. Ignacio Castuera, pastor of Hollywood United Methodist Church, will preach at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on the eve of World AIDS Day at an interfaith service at Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. Participants will come from Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Islamic, Buddhist, Native American, Religious Science and Wiccan/pagan groups. Information: (213) 231-5930.

* Also on Thursday, an interfaith AIDS Day service at 7:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann’s Drive, Laguna Beach, will feature the Rev. Tari Lennon of the host church, Rabbi Jane Litman of Kol Simcha synagogue and Buddhist priest Richard Honin Kolosky of the Los Angeles Zen Center. Information: (714) 494-8061.

* Nearly 10,000 people are expected to take part next Saturday in the Posada, a candlelight fund-raising walk in Pasadena to benefit that city’s AIDS Service Center. The event is based on the Mexican custom of re-enacting the search of Mary and Joseph for shelter on the eve of Jesus’ birth. The organizers of the Posada liken that tradition to struggles of people living with the AIDS virus. The ceremonies, starting in Old Pasadena at 4:30 p.m., will be preceded by a 3:30 p.m. interfaith service at All Saints Episcopal Church. Information: (800) 3-POSADA.

DATES

* Muzammil H. Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, will outline the beliefs of Muslims during the 10:15 a.m. service Sunday at Shepherd of the Hills United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ, 30121 Niguel Road, Laguna Niguel. A veteran of interfaith dialogues, Siddiqi is adjunct professor of Islamic studies and world religions at Cal State Fullerton. Information: (714) 495-1310.

* The Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka and the concurrent religious violence in that island country will be discussed in a free public lecture Thursday at 2:10 p.m. at UC Riverside’s 3165 Library South by Purushottama Bilimoria, professor at Deakin University in Australia and a visiting professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara.

* A three-day medical ethics retreat for Catholic health care professionals and their spouses will begin Friday at the Serra Retreat, 3401 Serra Road, Malibu, in what is hoped will become an annual event. Speakers will include Richard Benson, professor of moral theology at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, and David C. Blake, director of the Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Information: (310) 456-6631.

* Edwin Louis Cole of Dallas, president of the Christian Men’s Network and author of “Maximized Manhood,” will speak at a men’s event from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. next Saturday at Covina Assembly, 250 E. San Bernardino Road, Covina, with Pastor Jack Hayford of Church on the Way as special guest. Information: (818) 966-4488.

* A service remembering children who have died of cancer will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Hollywood Lutheran Church, 1733 N. New Hampshire Ave., under the sponsorship of the Kimberly Arslan Foundation in conjunction with the host church, Childrens Hospital and St. Michael the Archangel Old Catholic Church of Hollywood.

FINALLY

* There is one 50th anniversary celebration this year that has nothing to do with the end of World War II, and everything to do with long-lost manuscripts that shed new light on the first major Christian heresy, Gnosticism, as well as studies into the historical Jesus.

The nearly 50 texts of what would be called the Nag Hammai library were discovered in a buried jar by Egyptian peasants near the Upper Nile in December, 1945. Religious treatises such as “The Gospel of Philip,” “The Gospel of Truth” and “The Secret Book of John” fell into the hands of various caretakers and scholars who tried to monopolize the documents for their own academic advancement.

The scholar instrumental in bringing the full collection into the public domain was James Robinson of the Claremont Graduate School. In Philadelphia on Sunday at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Robinson recounted his adventures in getting translations, photographed pages and full commentaries published. About 100 people attended the same lecture several weeks ago in Claremont.

Has the discovery made a difference? Scholars say that merely finding a full copy of “The Gospel of Thomas,” which has 114 familiar and new sayings of Jesus, has changed historical Jesus studies forever. Access to that text and some other Nag Hammai works with minimal Gnostic touches have introduced non-biblical writings to a lay public.

An adult group at California Heights United Methodist Church in Long Beach, for instance, has discussed “The Gospel of Thomas,” “The Gospel of Mary” [a text found a century ago] and “The Secret Book of James.”

Joan Wolfe, director of Christian education at the Long Beach church, said “some might think it un-Christian” or improper to study those writings, but she disagreed.

“When we study other gospels and scriptures that were written about the same time as the ones we have in our Bible we learn that not all early Christians believed alike,” Wolfe wrote in the church newsletter.

“If we study the ‘other’ and find it unreasonable and incongruous with our experience, then we can reaffirm our present beliefs,” Wolfe said, adding that such studies can also “help us learn about ourselves,” and even spur changes in spiritual outlook.