Local Church

Robert Chacon One local church has changed its name to give it a more modern reputation and to reflect its merger with another congregation. The First Baptist Church of Montrose changed its name last week to Light on the Corner. People might have had misconceptions about the word Baptist, said one long-time congregant. "Lots of people thought it was very old fashioned and very common with churches in the '40s and '50s. It gives people the wrong impression," said Barbara Summers, who has been attending the church for 50 years.

Janine Marnien Immanuel Chapel is bringing its vision for second-generation Asian Americans to the local community. The congregation moved from Los Angeles to Montrose in December, and will hold its launch service Sunday in its rented space from Montrose Community Church. It is unique in that it seeks to provide the style of worship and message appealing to second-generation Asian Americans, senior pastor Stephen Han said. "With Asian-American Christian churches, there is a very high dropout rate in our young people after they graduate from high school," said Han, 35. "They don't see a church that has a vision for the next generation."

GLENDALE — The California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Monday that real estate owned by a Newport Beach parish is the property of its national church, from which it broke away in 2006 after a controversial ordination. The ruling from the state’s highest court in Sacramento sent shock waves to three other churches, including one in La Crescenta, where St. Luke’s of the Mountains Anglican Church on Foothill Boulevard had a stake in the matter. Writing for the majority, Justice Ming W. Chin ruled that “the general church, not the local church, owns the property in question.

LA CRESCENTA — The California Supreme Court ruled 6 to 1 Monday that real estate owned by a Newport Beach parish is the property of its national church, which it broke away from in 2006 after a controversial ordination. The ruling from the state’s highest court in Sacramento sent shock waves to three other churches, including St. Luke’s of the Mountains Anglican Church on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta, which had a stake in the matter. Writing for the majority, Justice Ming W. Chin ruled that “the general church, not the local church, owns the property in question.

Citing a recent California Supreme Court decision, Saturday’s In Theory column (“A question of ownership”) asked whether a local congregation should be allowed to take their church building and surrounding land with them when they decide to leave the faith or should it stay with the mother church. Three of the four religious commentators acknowledged that it was basically a legal question. However, the Rev. Bryan Griem initially identified the issue as one between the local church and its national organization, and he continued on to state that the local churches were “robbed” by the decision of an “ignorant secular court.

Amber Willard LA CRESCENTA -- Judas may have sold out Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver in the biblical story, but Glendale Crime Stoppers offered up to a $1,000 reward Monday for His return. It may not be a mystery of biblical proportions, but police are still searching for someone who stole a statue of Christ from a local church. The reward is for information leading to the arrest of the thief or thieves, police said. The case of the missing Christ started last week, when a worker at St. James the Less Catholic Church told police it disappeared overnight April 9. The wooden statue, which weighs about 90 pounds, depicted Christ as he was crucified, police said.

Amber Willard LA CRESCENTA -- Baby booties, toothbrushes and other items will be spread out at a local church Saturday, waiting to be packed into packages for needy people. Women and girls from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in La Crescenta will assemble kits for newborns and needy people as part of their celebration to mark the 159th anniversary of the parent church's women's group. Women and girls from the community are invited to attend.

'The Mental Makeover' is topic GLENDALE -- "The Mental Makeover" is the topic of the Rev. Bonnie Rowsell's talk during the 10 a.m. Sunday service at Glendale Church of Religious Science, 2146 E. Chevy Chase Drive. There will be a 15 minute meditation at 9:30 a.m. The church's youth group meets at 10 a.m. each Sunday. For more information, call 244-8171. 'Mud or Sunshine' is service topic LA CRESCENTA-- Rev. Thomas E. Witherspoon will speak at the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service at Unity Church of the Valley.

Alexa Capeloto A local church has become an unlikely training ground for people who dream of perfecting their singing voices. Eldon Turner, music director at Glendale's St. Matthew's Church, offers free voice lessons to people interested in learning how to read music, increase their range and prepare for show biz auditions. In exchange, his pupils must perform at least five times during the year in the church choir. Three years after starting the program, Turner says it has not only helped the people who take his lessons, but has also reinvigorated the influence of music in the Lutheran church.

State Sen. Adam Schiff stoops to an all-time campaign low, where he is using a program being offered by the Explorer Scouts of the California Highway Patrol to fingerprint children in order to get his name plastered on signs in the parking lot of a local church during "KIDS' RALLY DAY" on a recent Saturday -- and also in the coloring books the scouts passed out to the children. He should not be using the Explorer Scouts for his political gain. These scouts should be allowed to have this program on their own -- without any electioneering or political overtones.

Files recently released by the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese show that 29 clergy accused of sexual abuse served assignments at local parishes, where some of the alleged child molestation took place. Of the 29 men who were named, eight were accused of committing sex abuse while assigned to local parishes in Burbank, La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena, Montrose and La Crescenta . Of those eight priests, three - Leland Boyer, Lynn Caffoe and John Kohnke - are dead. The other 21 were either not assigned to local churches at the time of the allegation being made, or there were no files listed.

Christians crowded into local churches Wednesday, joining their counterparts around the world to mark the start of Lent with the traditional application of ashes to the forehead. The 40-day Lenten season is regarded by Roman Catholics and others as the most sacred time of the year. It culminates with Holy Week and Easter Sunday, recognized as the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ashes, applied as a sign of repentance to the forehead in the form of a cross by a priest or Eucharistic minister, traditionally come from palm fronds collected on the previous Palm Sunday and then burned.

DOWNTOWN — It’s been more than three years since Church of the Incarnation parishioners saw their community center blessed. On Sunday, a diverse group of churchgoers, students and community leaders showed up at the three-story campus complete with a preschool gym and office space to officially christen and open the center during a ceremony titled “A Harvest of Thanksgiving.” Father Paul Hruby stood in the courtyard and re-blessed the plot of land as elders of the church, Boy and Girl Scouts, and religious groups looked on. “In stewardship we give back to God what God has offered to us,” he said, before sprinkling the land with holy water.

LA CRESCENTA — The fate of the Anglican congregation at St. Luke’s of the Mountains Church grew dimmer Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a property dispute between a sister congregation and the Episcopal Diocese in Newport Beach. The battle between the congregation at St. James Anglican Church and the Episcopal Diocese has followed a rocky legal course similar to St. Luke’s break from the Episcopal Church. The two parties have been in a back-and-forth over the Newport Beach property since 2004.

GLENDALE — Madeleine and Michael Miller’s poodle-Chihuahua mix, Suki, received a holy blessing from the Rev. Keith Banwart Jr. on Sunday morning at St. Matthews Church in honor of St. Francis Day. The couple traveled from their home in Las Vegas on Friday for St. Matthew’s Church of Glendale and Burbank’s annual animal blessing. They mark their calendar every for the church’s blessing, making sure not to miss it. “Sometimes it looks like Noah’s Ark,” Madeleine Miller said of the blessing services.

Hoping to return to local church When our family first moved to La Crescenta seven years ago, my wife and I decided to enroll our 5-year-old in St. Luke’s of the Mountains’ summer youth program. We were happy to find an Episcopal church nearby and were attracted to its beautiful stone work, which is an excellent example of local La Crescenta rock. Before the summer session began, however, we learned that some of our friends and family (who were practicing Episcopalians)

Citing a recent California Supreme Court decision, Saturday’s In Theory column (“A question of ownership”) asked whether a local congregation should be allowed to take their church building and surrounding land with them when they decide to leave the faith or should it stay with the mother church. Three of the four religious commentators acknowledged that it was basically a legal question. However, the Rev. Bryan Griem initially identified the issue as one between the local church and its national organization, and he continued on to state that the local churches were “robbed” by the decision of an “ignorant secular court.

St. Luke?s of the Mountains Anglican Church in La Crescenta is at risk of losing its property after the California Supreme Court unanimously agreed Jan. 5 that rebellious churches who have separated from their denominations cannot legally claim church buildings or the property they sit on as their own. On Feb. 13, 2006, St. Luke?s broke with the Episcopal Church USA and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and aligned itself with the African Province of Uganda in the Diocese of Luweero, with whom St. Luke?

Members of St. Luke’s of the Mountains Anglican Church are waiting for their day in court but for three other churches, that day has come and the decision has gone against them. In a landmark ruling, the California Supreme Court on Monday upheld an earlier court decision that the property and buildings of three churches that separated from the Diocese of Los Angeles and Episcopal Church do not belong to the breakaway congregation but to the Diocese. The ruling directly affects St. James Church in Newport Beach; St. David’s in North Hollywood and All Saints in Long Beach, but the ripple affect is being felt at St. Luke’s here at home.

LA CRESCENTA — The California Supreme Court ruled 6 to 1 Monday that real estate owned by a Newport Beach parish is the property of its national church, which it broke away from in 2006 after a controversial ordination. The ruling from the state’s highest court in Sacramento sent shock waves to three other churches, including St. Luke’s of the Mountains Anglican Church on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta, which had a stake in the matter. Writing for the majority, Justice Ming W. Chin ruled that “the general church, not the local church, owns the property in question.