U.S. Senate Chaplain to Lead L.A. Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast

The chaplain of the U.S. Senate will speak at the 23rd annual Los Angeles Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, which is expected to draw more than 1,000 clergy and laypeople Sept. 28 to pray for the city’s future.

The Rev. Lloyd John Ogilvie was one of the leaders of pastors’ prayer gatherings in the city when he left the senior pastorate of Hollywood Presbyterian Church in early 1995 to accept the Senate post. In 1988, Ogilvie co-founded the Love L.A. prayer assemblies with the Rev. Jack Hayford of Van Nuys’ Church on the Way, who will take part in the breakfast service. Ogilvie’s Hollywood church hosted most of the pastor prayer sessions.

Bishop Charles Blake, pastor of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, another leader in the Love L.A. meetings, will also participate in the 8 a.m. prayer breakfast at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.

“The purpose of the prayer breakfast is . . . to pray for our mayor and the leaders of our city,” said Keith Phillips, president of World Impact and chairman of the prayer breakfast committee.

Entertainer Pat Boone will emcee the event. Other program participants will include the Rev. Hee Min Park of Young Nak Presbyterian Church, Susan Long of World Vision, the Rev. Cecil Murray of First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, the Rev. Michael Wenning of Bel Air Presbyterian Church and Nancy Robles of White Memorial Medical Center.

Tickets are $19 each or $185 for a table of 10. Payment should be sent to: Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, 2001 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles 90007. (213) 735-1137.

PEOPLE

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Rosemary Radford Ruether, a pioneering feminist thinker in Christian circles and a visiting professor this fall at the School of Theology at Claremont, will speak on ecological and liberation themes in upcoming talks.

Author of “Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing,” Ruether will explore some of those themes in a talk Thursday from 4:10 to 6 p.m. in the seminary’s Davis Lounge. The free seminar is organized by the seminary’s Center for Process Studies. (909) 621-5330.

Ruether, a professor of theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., will teach the first half of a survey course on “Feminist Liberation Theology,” including a public lecture, at Immaculate Heart College Center, 425 Shatto Place, Suite 401, in Los Angeles’ Mid-Wilshire district, Oct. 10-13. (213) 386-3116.

* Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady, who last year was shot down in Bosnia and rescued after six days of eluding would-be captors, will join the Rev. Robert H. Schuller at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services Sunday at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. (714) 971-4000.

CONFERENCES

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Challenging conventional views of evolution, an Alhambra church will hold a two-day conference, starting Friday night, featuring law professor Phillip E. Johnson of UC Berkeley, author of “Darwin on Trial” and “Reason in the Balance.”

In addition to Johnson’s three addresses, workshops at the Alhambra True Light Presbyterian Church, 20 W. Commonwealth Ave., will explore ways that evolution is treated in classrooms, the media and other settings. John Marks Reynolds of Biola University is the discussion group coordinator.

The conference, which costs $40, will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and will conclude at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. (818) 289-4106.

* Humanists, atheists and freethinkers in Los Angeles County will open a three-day, annual conference Friday afternoon at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel under the theme “Free Thought on a Shrinking Planet.”

The six sponsoring groups are Atheists United, Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles, Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists, Humanist Assn. of Los Angeles, Secular Humanists of Los Angeles and the Society for Humanistic Judaism. For information, call (310) 441-0669.

CONGREGATIONS

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Catholic parishes in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties will hear Sunday about the archdiocese’s ministries to men, women and young people incarcerated in jails and juvenile halls. On “Detention Ministry Sunday” many parishes will include homilies and prayers on the social justice aspects.

Messages, some to be given by chaplains or volunteers, will tell Catholics “of their responsibility to confront and oppose injustice in our criminal justice system, and to help change its emphasis on retribution and vengeance to a restorative system,” according to Sister Suzanne Jabro, director of the archdiocese’s detention ministry office.

* Concerned by the violent deaths of young people and by angry rap music on the airwaves, Pastor Andrae Crouch and his sister, Sandra, will host a musical block party in Pacoima on Vaughn Street in front of Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ at 6 p.m. Friday and between noon and 11 p.m. Sept. 28.

The singer-composer, who became the church’s pastor last year, will perform along with Billy Preston, gospel singer Helen Baylor and gospel rap groups, among others. The two-day “Heal Our Streets” event will be preceded by a food giveaway at 11 a.m. Friday. The block party will include free food, drinks, games and prizes. (818) 361-1087.

DATES

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Abbot Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk featured on the recent PBS program “Searching for God in America,” will lead a contemplative prayer workshop next weekend at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave., Pacific Palisades. Keating will begin the Friday night service with a silent “centering prayer” at 6:30 p.m., followed by a talk and liturgy. Registration for the Sept. 28 workshop will begin at 9:15 a.m. (310) 573-7422.

* Ralph Reed Jr., the national executive director of the Christian Coalition, will be the featured speaker Sept. 28 at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel at the 7 p.m. banquet of the Christian Coalition of California. Tickets are $50. (818) 786-4270.

* Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Satoris of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese will be the main celebrant of a charismatic Mass on Friday night at Mary Star of the Sea Church, 870 W. 8th St., San Pedro. The praise service will begin at 7 p.m. with Mass at 7:30 p.m. (310) 833-3541.

* Dorota Krzyzanowska, a Zen Buddhist teacher from Poland, will give free lectures in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara under the auspices of the Kwan Um School of Zen. She will speak at 1:30 p.m. today at the Dharma Zen Center, 1025 Cloverdale Ave., Los Angeles, and at 7 p.m. Friday at UC Santa Barbara’s Girvetz Theatre. (310) 309-2231.

FINALLY

A marriage, family and child therapist who is a great-granddaughter of L. Frank Baum, the author of “The Wizard of Oz,” will lead an afternoon retreat on the classic story Sept. 29 in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Gita Morena, who weaves in insights from her own spiritual journey, will explore the Jungian symbolism of Oz’s characters and the story’s relationship to individual self-discovery.

“ ‘The Wizard of Oz’ embodies archetypal themes of psychological healing and personal transformation,” said a spokeswoman for the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center, 5300 Crest Road on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The fee is $15. (310) 377-4867.

Notices may be mailed to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion desk (818) 772-3385. Items should arrive about three weeks before the event, except for spot news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.

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HOLIDAY

Many Jews will be absent from work or classes Monday as they observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, by fasting and attending synagogue services.

The most solemn day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur begins with the haunting Kol Nidre service Sunday evening and ends with a series of services during daylight hours Monday. The final blasts from the shofar, or ram’s horn, will signal the end of the 10-day period of repentance and forgiveness that began with Rosh Hashana.

Yom Kippur memorial services will be held Sunday morning at Jewish cemeteries, including the 44th annual Kever Avot (“Graves of the Fathers”) service at Sholom Memorial Park in Sylmar. Rabbi Joshua Berkowitz of Congregation Shaarei Tefila in Los Angeles will deliver the memorial address at the 9:30 a.m. service.

At Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, across the Los Angeles River from Burbank, those who attend the 10 a.m. memorial service are being asked to donate shopping bags of nonperishable food to be distributed by the SOVA Food Pantry. The service will feature cantorial and choral music.