Religious Services

Every year while the pious seek reaffirmation of their faith, some of the most notorious Southeast Asian gang members in the country seek unofficial sanctuary in Carthage, Mo., at the nation's largest Catholic celebration for the Vietnamese. The administration of holy sacraments and conversions to Christ are occasionally interrupted by the metallic ratchet of stainless-steel handcuffs and the brief litany of Miranda rights.

Three Protestant churches in the San Fernando Valley area are learning what Catholic parishes have known for two decades--that Saturday evening is a convenient alternative to Sunday morning services. For growing numbers in the three Valley-area congregations--and in several other Southern California evangelical churches--the Christian Sabbath is becoming truly a day of rest. "It's the only day my wife and I really get to sleep in," said Gene Hiebert of Valencia.

During its 72 years as a Southern California institution, the Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service has overcome rainstorms, protest demonstrations and financial problems. But it now faces a struggle that supporters fear it may not survive. City officials have ordered the service to stop soliciting money. Once-generous donors have threatened it with lawsuits.

Jimmy Swaggart, defrocked but defiant, returned to the pulpit Sunday and sought to save his troubled ministry by unleashing the talent that once had made him and his operation the envy of television evangelism.

Television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, saying he is a "different" man with a rebounding ministry, opened a weekend crusade Friday night at the Shrine Auditorium before a crowd of less than 2,000. It was only his second U.S. preaching appearance outside his Louisiana base this year, since being defrocked over his alleged involvement with a prostitute. "We lost a lot of our supporters, but some of them are coming back," Swaggart said Friday.

In between his roving diplomacy and various humanitarian projects, former President Jimmy Carter still teaches that Sunday school class at his hometown church in Plains, Ga. But it usually attracts more visitors than regular members. "People come to my Sunday school class and quite often they will tell me they've never been in a church before and they just came as a tourist," he said.

The idyllic sounds of rustling leaves and cascading snowmelt mixed with Scripture readings Saturday morning during a pre-Easter service held in a shady Angeles National Forest glen overlooking the east fork of the San Gabriel River. About 35 worshipers from throughout Southern California had gathered by the river to break bread, pray and show support for an ongoing campaign to bolster federal protections for the San Gabriel Mountains. The service was organized by San Gabriel Mountains Forever, a coalition of environmental and community groups including the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and Friends of the River.

A recent nationwide study of sermons given by pastors of a mainline Protestant denomination found that ministers skirt potentially divisive topics--preaching on social justice issues only 5% of the time. Religious themes such as faith, hope, forgiveness and reconciliation with God were central to 70% of the sermons. Another 11% of the pulpit messages pondered directions the church should take, said sociologist Joseph Faulkner of Pennsylvania State University.

Scores of Latino garment workers, who spend their days putting sequins on $1,500 evening gowns, stood in the company cafeteria Tuesday morning and wiped tears from their eyes as they sang mananitas, songs they'd known since childhood about the Virgin of Guadalupe. They had arrived at the makeshift Catholic chapel at St. John Knits in Irvine two hours before their 7 a.m. shift to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Once a year, St. Joseph's School, a Catholic elementary school in the heart of New York's impoverished Lower East Side, honors the Chinese New Year with a special Mass. Before the religious services, several students perform the traditional Chinese dragon dance. At the end, they honor their ancestors by burning incense, making offerings of oranges and bowing deeply. St. Joseph's has survived for seven decades by bending with the wind.