Local Church

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.

Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church will present its first Empty Bowls — Hope Not Hunger fundraising and silent auction event from 5 to 9 p.m. Nov. 22 at the church. Proceeds from the event will go to assist the food pantries Friends In Deed House, based in Pasadena; Fishes and Loaves of Glendale; and Christians Concerned for Burma. Volunteers at Crescenta Valley High School and the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge have, since April, made the bowls that will be sold at Saturday’s event.

Linda Montray hadn’t received an eye exam for several years until Friday. But the 50-year-old Glendale resident got a free eye exam and got to look inside her own eye at the Glendale Healthy Kids’ community health fair at the Church of the Brethren. “There are not a lot of people who have insurance,” Montray said. After noticing that her vision was slowly getting blurry, she decided to go to Friday’s eye-screening event. The Northwest Glendale Lions Club sponsored the free eye screenings, along with Optos Eye Screening, Glendale Optometric Center and Jewel City Optometry.

La Crescenta Presbyterian Church recently sponsored a men's retreat in Tijuana, Mexico, the weekend of July 13 to 15. Forty-seven participants, ranging in age from their teens to their 50s, split up into three teams and built three houses for needy families. "The men worked all day Saturday and another six hours on Sunday," said trip organizer Jim Sedgwick. "This was the first time that we were able to build three houses." The men's retreat has grown in size each year from its first installment four years ago. "The trip really builds camaraderie among the men in the church," said church Spiritual Formation Director Lee Cook.

For Christians the world over, the week preceding Easter, which commemorates the Passion, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the Resurrection, is one of the most observed of religious holidays. Easter follows Lent, the 40 days prior to Easter, not including Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. On Easter Sunday, Christians will flock to their respective churches in numbers far exceeding those normally seen during regular Sunday services and, according to local clergy, more mainstream churches are finding it difficult to fill with members on a regular basis.

There will be a service of public worship Jan. 28 at the historic Church of the Lighted Window. Worship time, nursery care and church school commence at 10 a.m. Pastor Skip Lindeman will conduct the worship hour and deliver the morning message. Doreen Harris will be in the narthex to greet the arriving worshippers. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Joseph Klice on keyboards, will provide music. They will perform "Love Divine" arranged by Mark Wilberg. The church's 110th annual meeting will be held in Fellowship Hall following worship.

A recent study of church giving titled "The State of Church Giving Through 2004: Will We Will?" reportedly shows that most church giving ? as of 2004, the latest year for which data was available ? goes to needs within local church organizations, with declining numbers of dollars going to activities outside the church, such as international mission work, combating child mortality rates worldwide, establishing elementary education across the globe. According to the study, more funds are spent on church building projects and church salaries as congregations give less than they once did for benevolent purposes.

GLENDALE — Religious leaders eager to offer advice and solace throughout the community pressed Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams on Tuesday for avenues to help police in instances that call for religious leadership. "How can we help?" said Ken Lee, Glendale stake president of the Church of Latter-day Saints. "What can we do?" Adams had answers for the clergy at the Glendale Religious Leaders' Assn.'s first meeting after a summer break at the Church of Latter-day Saints.

L.A. County Mayor Michael Antonovich has posted a $10,000 reward for information about the vandals who have struck four times at a local church. The most recent incident on Dec. 18 involved graffiti and vandalism damage at Gethsemane Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod on Orange Avenue. The vandals painted "God is Gay" and Satanic symbols on the church in the nighttime or early morning hours. They also destroyed doors, screens, hardware and playground equipment. The earlier three incidents involved vandalism only.

It was an invite too big to pass up -- a tour of the new Newport Beach California Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The personal invitation to tour this temple, the first in Orange County and only the 122nd in the world, came from local church members Kathleen Peterson, Ann Owens and Joe Bentley. I was flattered to be on the invite list, and I must say, the tour didn't disappoint. Perched at the edge of Bonita Canyon in Newport Coast, the completed temple is 17,800 square feet, 90-feet tall and made of Salisbury pink granite imported from North Carolina.