Altars

In the chapel of San Fernando Mission its patron saint is welcomed into heaven by the Holy Trinity. A sculpted angel waits nearby, holding a heavenly crown on a pillow. The figure of St. Mary Magdalene stands to the right and to the left is Father Junipero Serra. Carved nearly four centuries ago from blocks of walnut, the religious figures are part of a lavish altar installed this month that covers the entire east wall of the chapel.

California finds itself in an unaccustomed place these days: behind the curve. Another state, Rhode Island, and two more countries, France and New Zealand, were just added to the steadily growing list of places where same-sex marriage will receive full recognition and status. The roster now encompasses 14 nations and 10 states - as soon as the Rhode Island legislation is signed - as well as Washington, D.C. Missing from it is California. How could California, with its frontier live-and-let-live sensibility and a reputation for social progressiveness that verges on downright weirdness, have ended up in this situation?

In a historic moment for downtown Los Angeles' new Roman Catholic cathedral, the edifice's immense wine-colored marble main altar was blessed and installed Wednesday. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony presided Wednesday over the ceremony. A small crowd of priests and nuns wearing hard hats over habits watched in awe as a 5 1/2-ton marble mensa, or altar top, was lowered atop a 2-ton round pedestal.

NBC may have been "Ready for Love," but viewers sure weren't. The new dating show executive produced and hosted by Eva Longoria was supposed to be NBC's next great hope. Instead, Tuesday's premiere bombed big time -- and that was with the singing smash "The Voice" as a lead-in. An average of just 3.7 million total viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen. To put those numbers in perspective: "Ready for Love" held on to a measly 28% of "The Voice's" audience. That means nearly three-quarters of viewers fled when they realized what was on. Maybe many of them were fans of ABC's "The Bachelor.

A $2-million, golden altarpiece that stands more than four stories tall within the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano will be unveiled today at an afternoon Mass. On Friday, as workers hurried to apply finishing touches to the lighting of the Grand Retablo, worshipers entering the basilica froze upon viewing the altarpiece for the first time. One woman with rosary in hand stood for several minutes, staring in amazement as tears rimmed her eyes.

Two artists, wearing surgical gloves, began the painstaking work Thursday of refacing the altar in Orange County's oldest chapel. They laid the tissue-thin, gold-looking bronze leaves onto sticky varnish and used a brush to press them into the many twisting grooves of the 350-year-old, hand-hewn tribute to God at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The gloves prevented oils in their hands from tarnishing the new metal. "It's starting to look beautiful!"

On her parents' former backgammon table in a light-filled corner of the living room, actress, filmmaker and sometime psychic Lucinda Clare keeps a panoply of gods. A resin-red Buddha, Ganesh and Lakshmi keep company with a photo of a Parisian cancan girl lying on a velvet sofa, a pack of worn tarot cards, a Tibetan prayer bag and tiny bottles holding a rainbow of pigments and aura sprays. "It's my creativity altar," she explains.

Celebrate life by remembering the dead at the storied Hollywood cemetery's 12th annual Dia de los Muertos festivities. Learn about the ancient tradition of honoring the dead with ceremonial altars through lectures and musical performances. Several art exhibits and more than 100 traditional altars will be on display. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Noon to midnight Sat. $10, children 6 and younger free. (323) 447-0999. http://www.ladayofthedead.com .

Chinese witches in the southern province of Guangdong are smashing their spirit altars and flocking to government-organized agriculture classes, a Canton newspaper reported Wednesday. The Canton Evening News said that women in nearby Hua county, some of whom had failed as farmers, have turned to witchcraft, setting up "spirit altars where they cheat people of their money."

Seymour Gitin, director of the Albright Institute in Jerusalem, will lecture on the history of Philistia to the Orange County Society of the Archeological Institute of America on April 25. The lecture, illustrated by slides, will be at 2:30 p.m. at Southern California College in Costa Mesa. Philistia, the nation of the Philistines in what is now southwestern Israel, fought many battles with the Israelites beginning in the 11th century before Christ.

If you're thinking about getting married, it can be important to consider whether you and your intended are financially compatible. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling has identified some key issues for couples to discuss: •How much debt do each of you have? Before you tie the knot, lay it all out for your partner to see: What you owe on credit cards, vehicle and student loans, and any other debt. "Don't hide anything, as that's really getting off on the wrong foot," the foundation said.

It may take half a decade for the couple in "The Five-Year Engagement"to make it to the altar, but the romantic comedy will quickly outrun the competition to the top of the box office this weekend. The movie starring Jason Segel and Emily Blunt is expected to debut with a solid sum of $18 million to $20 million, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys. The film about a troubled relationship is likely to perform far better than three other movies hitting theaters this weekend.

Jason Campbell and Yenicia “Jenny” Montes held a party for 162 family members and friends at an exclusive Dominican Republican resort. Sounds like a nice gesture, although things might have gotten a bit awkward when the wedding that the guests were expecting never took place. The Oakland Raiders quarterback and his fiancee had been planning their wedding for more than a year. But, Campbell told the Washington Post, he and Montes made the decision to "put things off" after discussing it for a couple of weeks.

Reporting from San Juan Bautista, Calif. -- On the darkest day of the year, a hushed crowd in a dim church awaited a few minutes of sheer brilliance. It was just after dawn Wednesday, the day of the winter solstice. Outside the 200-year-old mission at the heart of tiny San Juan Bautista, Native American drummers sang, urging the sun to rise. Inside, dozens of parishioners rubbed the sleep from their eyes. A woman stood up and sang in cadences haunting and solemn — phrases in no known tongue, she said, but "the language of the heart.

Celebrate life by remembering the dead at the storied Hollywood cemetery's 12th annual Dia de los Muertos festivities. Learn about the ancient tradition of honoring the dead with ceremonial altars through lectures and musical performances. Several art exhibits and more than 100 traditional altars will be on display. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Noon to midnight Sat. $10, children 6 and younger free. (323) 447-0999. http://www.ladayofthedead.com .

Not long after she began studying to become a mortician, Amber Carvaly started to dream about death. In one dream, she found herself in an embalming room surrounded by gleaming silver tables. In another, she found herself in a cemetery, and in a third, her grandmother had died and, as her mother stood by, Carvaly let out an ear-piercing, heart-wrenching scream. Each time she awoke in her studio apartment in Eagle Rock scared, yet strangely reassured. Weeks into a demanding curriculum on such topics as the cultural history of undertaking, preparation for embalming and funeral ceremonies, she hadn't grown numb.

So many dead. It is often said that Mexicans famously celebrate death; that it is viewed not just as the end of life but a single stage in an infinite cycle. The Mexican, as poet Octavio Paz once put it, does not fear death but "mocks it, courts it, embraces it, sleeps with it. " But this year, as Mexicans picnic at cemeteries and erect elaborate altars to mark the nation's annual Day of the Dead observances, death is haunting in its abundance. Mexicans face the stark reality of a drug war that has plunged the country into its deadliest violence since the revolution 100 years ago. So many dead.

Incense mingles with the aroma of home-cooked stew, as neighbors leave their shanties jammed against one another here in the capital's Sucre neighborhood and take their places before a makeshift altar on a steep, narrow road. Palms raised for prayer, they face a cross covered in carnations, roses and jasmine, lit by candles and accompanied by statues of saints. Woven palm branches tied with white ribbons arc over the display.

The looming vote to lift the federal debt limit marks a crucial test of strength for House Speaker John A. Boehner as his allies scrambled across Capitol Hill on Wednesday to line up votes ahead of Thursday's floor showdown.   Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, an Ohio Republican, said about 20 of Boehner's top lieutenants gathered Tuesday evening in the speaker's office to plot a path to passage. Some reluctant conservatives, many in their first term in Congress, have been slow to embrace their leader's package, hoping to hold out for more concessions from President Obama and the Democrats.

From the first overheated moments of "Bridesmaids," with its Kama Sutra-plus-six-positions sex ? so satisfying for him, so exhausting for her ? it's clear we're in for that rarest of treats: an R-rated romantic comedy from the Venus point of view. For the Mars crowd, that means real people in real relationships, real raunchy, real funny. Thank you, Kristen Wiig for every single one of those old-school Rs. In fact, so unusual is this sort of humor in testosterone-driven ha-ha-Hollywood these days, it almost makes me ha-ha-happy that producer Judd Apatow is currently the industry-anointed 800-pound clown prince, since it probably took all 800 pounds of his princely powers to get this film made.