“People try to fill the spiritual hole...

“People try to fill the spiritual hole inside them with material things--drugs, power, etc.,” said the Rev. Ken Kaisch, an Episcopal priest and clinical psychologist in Fullerton. “It doesn’t work.”

One antidote for malaise among churchgoers, however, is to explore meditation techniques and prayer ideas from deep within Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and old-line Protestant contemplative tradition.

With that in mind, Kaisch, 47, founded the ecumenical OneHeart community in 1986, which has chapters in Fullerton, Newport Beach, La Verne, Pasadena and Brentwood.

About 600 participants are expected at the Loyola Marymount University campus for OneHeart’s “Creating Inner Peace” conference March 15 and 16, co-sponsored by the university’s Center for Pastoral Life.

Speakers will include Susan Muto, director of the Epiphany Assn. of Pittsburgh; Father Hegumen Iona, a Russian monastic priest and an expert on icons; Father Francis Benedict, abbot of St. Andrew’s Benedictine Abbey in Valyermo; Dallas Willard of USC, a popular evangelical speaker; Sister Thomas Bernard, director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ spirituality center; and Kaisch, among others.

The campus Center for Pastoral Life is interested in hosting programs that enhance the ministries and lives of lay Christians, said Sister Judy Vallimont, director of the center. Although some meditation groups use prayer ideas from a variety of religious traditions, Vallimont and Kaisch said they stay within a Christian framework.

“We have so much in Christianity, and even such current techniques as ‘visualizing’ and ‘breath prayer’ are fine because they have a basis in Christian tradition,” Kaisch said.

OneHeart is “not about doing charitable deeds, political campaigns or being a group of casual friends,” the priest-psychologist wrote in the group’s newsletter. “We gather for a spiritual purpose.”

The conference cost ranges from $75 to $85. For registration, (714) 879-0360 or (310) 338-2799.

PEOPLE

* Rabbi Elliot Dorff, rector and philosophy professor at the University of Judaism, is in Poland this week and next to teach the fundamentals of Jewish law, Rabbinic tradition and Jewish prayer to Catholic seminary professors. Arranged by the American Jewish Committee, the teaching mission was seen as vital for a sympathetic understanding of Judaism at Catholic seminaries. Dorff also was in Poland in 1988 discussing Jewish views of Vatican documents about Jews and Judaism.

* Eugene B. Habecker, chief executive of the New York-based American Bible Society, will be honored by Los Angeles’ Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science at its awards dinner March 14 at the Los Angeles Marriott Hotel. The university and the Bible society last year began a program to use as many as 300 Los Angeles churches as sites for vaccinations, performing health tests and dispensing health information. Also receiving life achievement awards are Dennis Hightower, president of Walt Disney Television & Telecommunications, and Dr. Henry S. Williams, former interim president of Drew. Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and KCAL-TV weekend anchor David Clark will be emcees. (213) 563-4974.

DATES

* In a four-hour Lenten program next Saturday, the Rev. L. William Countryman, professor of New Testament at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, will be the featured speaker at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, 3590 Grand View Blvd., Mar Vista. He will discuss “Priests by Birth and Baptism: The Priesthood of the Christian People.” (310) 391-552. Countryman also will talk about the Bible and sexuality at 2 p.m. March 10 at the Cathedral Bookstore in the Episcopal Cathedral Center of St. Paul, 840 Echo Park Ave., Los Angeles.

* A Buddhist ceremony called “Lighting the Lamps of Hope” will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Cal Poly Pomona gymnasium. The Buddhist Assn. at Cal Poly and the Buddhist Light International Assn. are sponsoring the event. A lecture, meditation, chanting and an offering of lamps will be included in the four-hour ceremony conducted in Chinese and English. (818) 937-6540.

* 1 Enoch, a non-biblical text said to have influenced later Christian thought, will be described in a public lecture by Gabriele Boccaccini of the University of Michigan at 8 p.m. Monday at the School of Theology at Claremont’s Mudd Theater and 8 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Judaism in Bel-Air.

In another dual-sponsored series, James A. Sanders of Claremont Graduate School will talk on the development of the Jewish and Christian sacred canon, or Scripture, at 8 p.m. March 18 at the School of Theology and 8 p.m. March 19 at the University of Judaism. Tickets are $17. Call (909) 621-6451 or (310) 476-9777.

* The unrest in Mexico’s Chiapas region and recent developments will be discussed by two priests from the area at 7 p.m. today in Murphy Recital Hall at Loyola Marymount University in Westchester. The speakers are Father Pablo Romo, director of a center for human rights in the Catholic Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas, and Father Loren Riebe, a Los Angeles priest who has worked in Chiapas since 1976. For reservations, (310) 338-2860.

* Mary Elizabeth Moore, a professor of theology and Christian education at the School of Theology at Claremont, will speak about “Wisdom, Teaching and the Fear of Knowing” at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in a free lecture at the University of La Verne’s Founders Hall in La Verne.

FINALLY

The raucous sounds of noisemakers and booing will interrupt readings of the biblical Book of Esther in synagogues Sunday and Monday.

No one will mind. It’s traditional on the happy Jewish holiday of Purim to jeer the story’s villain, Haman, the evil prime minister of ancient Persia who urged the king to kill the Jews because one Jew did not give him homage.

Although the Book of Esther is nearly devoid of theology and the story is termed by scholars more legend than history, rabbis say that the story of the Jewish Queen Esther speaking up for her people and leading to Haman’s downfall has lent itself over the centuries to teaching about Jewish survival and the value of religious tolerance.

Purim (which means “lots,” because Haman drew lots to select the day for Jewish annihilation) begins at sundown Monday. Some congregations, such as Temple Beth Ohr in La Mirada and Temple Beth-El in San Pedro, will conduct a Purim service Sunday morning.

Many synagogues, from Congregation Sir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine to Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, will wait until 7 p.m. Monday for the reading of the megillah, or scroll, of Esther.

In the spirit of the holiday, the Chai Center led by Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz will hold its Purim party Monday night at the Comedy Store at 8433 Sunset Blvd.: megillah reading at 7 p.m., professional stand-up comics starting at 7:45 p.m.

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‘CULT’ CONFERENCES

* The controversial word “cult” has come to mean “a group nobody likes because of its presumed association with brainwashing,” says the “Concise Dictionary of Religion” (InterVarsity Press). Sociologists of religion, however, tend to pick more benevolent words for generic use, such as “new religious movements” and “alternative religions.”

But declaring that a spiritual threat to their young continues to exist, two conventional religious groups have organized conferences to discuss a wide variety of faith groups that they say fall under the definition of cults:

* “Unmasking and Evangelizing the Cults” at Biola University in La Mirada on March 22 and 23 will be chaired by Alan Gomes, author of “Unmasking the Cults.” Gomes teaches historical theology at the conservative evangelical campus. Other speakers will tackle Satanism, the New Age movement, witchcraft and neo-paganism, psychic phenomena and other topics. The cost is $45 and less. (800) 95-BIOLA.

* “Cult Fiction: A Weekend of Awareness” has been planned for 300 teenagers from five western states attending a United Synagogue Youth meeting March 15-17 at Shomrei Torah Synagogue in West Hills. Most speakers will focus on the typical techniques of convert-seeking groups, said Nancy Kraselsky, youth director at Shomrei Torah, an affiliate of Conservative Judaism. “Cult recruiters promise people they will be loved, and their lives will be saved,” Kraselsky said.