Downtown Tour to Recall 2 Key Figures

Two important figures in Los Angeles religious history will be recalled Tuesday during a noontime guided tour of two downtown sites.

One of many religious events during Black History Month, the quarter-mile stroll will recount the contributions of Biddy Mason, a 19th century black landowner and founder of First African Methodist Episcopal Church, and William Seymour, the pioneer minister in this century’s worldwide Pentecostal movement.

The tour, led by historian Mel Robeck of Fuller Theological Seminary, will start at the Little Tokyo Service Center, 231 E. 3rd St., and proceed to the commemorative wall at 331 Spring St. known as the Biddy Mason Memorial.

The next stop is Azusa Street in Little Tokyo, where in 1906 stood a onetime church and stable that Seymour reclaimed as a place of worship. The ecstatic prayers featuring speaking in tongues and other “gifts of the spirit” brought scores of visitors from around the country who were eager to catch the spiritual fever at the Azusa Street Mission.

The interracial revival was at its most effective from 1906 to 1909 and is widely regarded as having launched the modern Pentecostal and charismatic movements--still a dynamic, and sometimes controversial, force within Christianity.

Frederick Berry of Joshua Ministries, one of the sponsors of the walk, said that plans for a plaque and memorial wall will be announced at the Japan America Center, built on the spot where the mission once stood. (213) 264-2645.

Among other Black History Month events in February:

* Clinical psychologist Terrence Roberts of Pasadena, one of the first nine students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., 40 years ago, will speak at the 10:15 a.m. service Feb. 15 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1014 E. Altadena Drive, Altadena, as a part of joint observances by two parishes. (626) 798-6747. The Rev. Jesse Moses, a longtime Episcopal priest and educator in Pasadena, will speak at 3 p.m. on the same day at St. Barnabas Church, 1062 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, on the history of African Americans in the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese. (626) 798-2996.

* A television documentary, “The Roots of Early Los Angeles African American Sacred Music,” will air on KSCI Channel 18 in Los Angeles from 11 a.m. to noon Feb. 16. The program recalls the legacy of Paul Robeson, Mahalia Jackson, the Original Five Blind Boys, the Rev. James Cleveland and others, according to Tom Reed’s “For Members Only” television program. (818) 894-8880.

* The Holman Choir will present its 39th annual Negro Spiritual Concert on Feb. 21 and 22 at Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. Requested donations for the 3 p.m. concerts range from $10 to $100. (213) 731-7285.

BOOKS

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Passionate personal desires to make life better for other societies and individuals are explored in two recent paperback books by Southland authors.

* Kathleen J. Greider, associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at Claremont School of Theology, wrote “Reckoning With Aggression: Theology, Violence and Vitality” (Westminster John Knox Press) to demonstrate that Christians can use passion and aggression in nondestructive ways.

* “Heart and Soul: Awakening Your Passion to Serve” (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City) describes Heart-to-Heart International, which organizes medical airlifts around the world. The authors are the organization’s founder, Dr. Gary Morsch, and Dean Nelson, who teaches journalism at Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego.

DATES

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The Rev. Gardner Taylor, a widely honored preacher who is pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, N.Y., will deliver sermons at 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday at First Congregational Church, 464 E. Walnut Ave., Pasadena. The Fuller Seminary-sponsored sermons will be followed each day by discussions on the dynamics of preaching. (626) 584-5227.

* The Skampa Quartet of Prague, a string foursome whose U.S. tour includes Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress, will perform at 7:45 p.m. Monday in a benefit concert for the Hebrew Union College near USC. $50. (213) 749-3424.

* Religion’s portrayal in mass media will be discussed by an interfaith panel Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Mount St. Mary’s College, 12001 Chalon Road, Brentwood. Panelists are attorney Cathy Siegel, host of the Jewish Television Network program “Behind the Headlines” and ex-director of the American Cinema Foundation; Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, past president of the Muslim Women’s League and member of the U.S. State Department’s advisory committee on religious freedom, and Sister Gretchen Hailer, author of “Believing in a Media Culture” and an educator. Free. (310) 954-4165.

* Anthropologist Thomas E. Levy of UC San Diego will describe new discoveries at a 5,600-year-old mining village in the ancient biblical land of Edom--present-day southern Jordan--in a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in the Sepulveda Pass. Part of a lecture series on archeology continuing through Feb. 26, general admission for each talk is $12. (213) 660-8587.

* Auxiliary Bishop Steven Blaire of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese will speak on “The Parish as Leaven in the Community” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Bede Catholic Church, 2040 Hilldale Drive, La Canada. Free. (818) 790-2324.

* Opposition to possible U.S. airstrikes against Iraq will be voiced Monday night at an interfaith forum at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. The Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of the church known for its antiwar stances, will lead the discussion at 7:30 p.m. along with Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Dr. Maher Hathout of the Islamic Center of Southern California and Sonia Tuma of the American Friends Service Committee. (626) 583-2734.

FINALLY

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More than 100 artistic depictions of angels, selected from the Vatican Museum’s collections, went on exhibit this week at UCLA’s Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center.

The paintings include the works of Raphael, Georges Rouault and Salvador Dali. The artwork, which goes back as far as the 9th century BC, includes sculptures, pottery and artifacts from Etruscan, Assyrian, Greek, Roman and Christian traditions.

Los Angeles was the first of five U.S. cities chosen for the tour, whose corporate sponsor is the Chrysler Corp. The UCLA exhibition ends April 12. The show will move in turn to St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore and West Palm Beach, Fla.

Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, faxed to Religion desk at (818) 772-3385, or e-mailed to john.dart@latimes.com

Items should arrive two to 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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SPIRITUALITY

Jesuit priests, who for years ran a weekend residential retreat center in Azusa for lay Catholics, have begun a traveling schedule of retreats “with special attention” to Latino, Chinese, Vietnamese and African American communities, the order has announced.

The new Loyola Institute for Spirituality, with offices at St. Joseph’s Center in Orange, will hold 1998 retreats at churches and retreat facilities in Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as in Santa Barbara and Phoenix.

The institute replaces the Manresa Retreat House, which was closed in 1994 after 47 years. The executive director is Jesuit Father Allan Figueroa Deck, an assistant professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University the last three years.

Auxiliary Bishop Michael Driscoll of the Orange Diocese will preside at a solemn blessing of the new offices, at 480 S. Batavia St., during an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. today. (714) 997-9587.