Pentecostalism

Sunday is Pentecost, the most important day in the Christian calendar after Easter and Christmas. Unlike those two well-known holidays, Pentecost -- commemorating the arrival of the Holy Spirit -- is not widely observed, even by many Christians. "How do you wish anybody a happy Pentecost?" asked the Rev. Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary and an Episcopal priest in Pasadena. "They have Christmas cards galore, Easter cards to some extent. But Pentecost cards?"

Carrying banners and making music, about 3,000 exuberant Christians on Saturday kicked off a weeklong centennial celebration of the birthplace of modern Pentecostalism in Little Tokyo with a "Holy Spirit Procession" through downtown Los Angeles.

Since Saturday, more than 31,000 Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians from 113 countries have been making their presence felt throughout Los Angeles with what many call "joyful noises to the Lord." They have gathered for the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, the cradle of the modern Pentecostal movement. By day, many worship under a tent on Noguchi Plaza in Little Tokyo, the site where the Rev. William J.

IN religion, as in so many other domains, Los Angeles is to California what California is to America and America to Europe: a version of itself in which separate ingredients are stirred together into a scandalous stew. Established religions were the rule in the 13 Colonies, as they had been in Europe, and religious establishment at the state level remained legal in the United States until after the Civil War.

Sylbrian Calimpusan learned to sleep through the late-night foot-stomping, tambourine-shaking and speaking in tongues. He got used to the unexpected visitors, such as the woman from Montana who showed up before dawn with kids in tow, asking for permission to come in and pray. "They drove so far," Calimpusan recalls. "We couldn't say 'no.' " If growing up in the little house brought inconveniences, they were small prices to pay for the privilege of dwelling in a holy place that helped stoke his faith.

The article "The House of the Spirit" (by Mark Kendall, Jan. 8) gives the impression that Pentecostalism originated in Los Angeles and sort of popped out of nowhere. While the Los Angeles movement did bring Pentecostalism to the attention of the world, it was hardly the first such movement. The article doesn't mention the Rev. Charles F. Parham, founder of the first Pentecostals in the modern sense, in 1901 in Topeka, Kan. And even that was not the beginning of such ideas. As far back as the 1700s, preachers such as John Wesley were generating the Holiness movement, which led to ideas that eventually led to modern Pentecostalism.

Fate deprived William Joseph Seymour of sight in one eye, but the fiery African American preacher's vision of a colorblind Christianity, reinvigorated by what its adherents called "the gifts of the spirit," changed the face of American religion.

Decrying the combative "dark side" of their churches' relations in developing nations, a joint commission of Roman Catholic and Pentecostal theologians on Tuesday condemned as unethical efforts to lure away followers amid mockery of one another's beliefs.

Father Kevin O'Grady has come to see his parishioners and other Catholics as a family circle in constant motion, with only a few lingering near the center as most drift in and out. But the Australian priest and others hope that a growing charismatic movement in Catholicism will hold them closer to the church. "They come in and out, they are drawn away and then pulled back," said O'Grady, one of the guest speakers Saturday at the Catholic Renewal Convention in Anaheim.