Holiday Prayers for Hostages : Lebanon: A Catholic priest formerly held prisoner in Beirut urges forgiveness of the captors in a service at the Crystal Cathedral.

GARDEN GROVE —  Father Lawrence Martin Jenco, an American who was held hostage in Lebanon for 19 months, came to Orange County on Friday to pray for those still held hostage.

Jenco told an interdenominational service, conducted in the Crystal Cathedral, that the focus should be on prayers for peace and for forgiveness of the hostage-takers.

“During our days in captivity, we five prayed daily for peace in Lebanon, the Middle East, in our own hearts and in the hearts of our captors,” Jenco said. “I believe that we cannot even begin to touch the courses of war till we take the first step: We want to be instruments of peace.”

The service was sponsored by CareWest-Fullerton, a nursing center whose residents decided that this Christmas season they would invite relatives of hostages for a visit to Orange County and to attend a special ceremony.

“We have 31 relatives of hostages in Lebanon who have been visiting with us and who are in the audience today,” said Roy W. Behnke, administrator of CareWest-Fullerton.

On the stage of the Crystal Cathedral,

the three principal speakers were Jenco, who now lives in Los Angeles and is a Catholic chaplain at USC; the Rev. Dr. Chester Tolson, assistant to the Rev. Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral, and Rabbi Haim Asa of Temple Beth Tikvah of North Orange County, based in Fullerton.

Relatives of men still held captive in Lebanon sat in front rows. Many former military personnel attended, and some wore T-shirts commemorating still-missing prisoners of war and those missing in action from the Vietnam War.

Jenco told the audience that while he was a captive, he was with four other hostages, including David Jacobsen of Huntington Beach, who has also been released.

“There were times when we five had to minister to our captors,” said Jenco, who was released in July, 1986. “Our guards were young, very religious people of Islam.”

The Catholic priest said forgiveness was important in dealing with the captors. “Three months prior to my release, Said, one of my captors, who had been with me for most of my 19 months (as a captive), sat on the edge of my mat and said, ‘Abouna, do you remember the first six months of your captivity?’ I responded, ‘Yes, Said, I do remember with tremendous grief and sadness.’ He then said, ‘Do you forgive me?’ To which I responded, ‘Yes, Said, I do forgive you and ask your forgiveness too.’ For there were times during those first six months I was filled with anger and hate.”

Tolson and Asa also emphasized the theme of peace during their talks.

Noting that Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, Tolson said peace proclaimed by angels on the day of Christ’s birth still is the proper spirit of Christmas. “As we think about peace, nothing has really changed,” he said. “How do we celebrate this Christmas? We celebrate it now as the angels and shepherds and men of wisdom did of old.”

The rabbi said: “We have come here as an interfaith group to pray for for peace. . . . We are gathered today with the families of hostages.” At the end of his talk, he said, “War, terrorism, violence, hostage-taking and physical might are not acceptable. . . . We pray that all hostages and victims of terror will be restored soon to freedom and to their people and to their countries.”