Board of Rabbis Names Vice President

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, who led an Orange County synagogue’s growth from 200 to 500 members over the past decade, has been named executive vice president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.

Artson, 39, led Congregation Eilat in Mission Viejo for 10 years after graduating cum laude from Harvard University and with honors from the Jewish Theological Seminary. His book, “It’s a Mitzvah! Step by Step to Jewish Living,” is widely used in religious schools.

He is also an associate editor and columnist for the quarterly magazine Jewish Spectator and has been active in national activities of the Conservative branch of Judaism.

“This man brings with him a tremendous reputation,” said Rabbi Lawrence Goldmark, president of the 250-member board of rabbis. “He becomes [a] major spokesman for the second-largest board of rabbis in the country.”

Artson succeeds Rabbi Paul Dubin. He is the full-time administrator for a board whose presidency rotates among Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis.

Officials of the governing Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles also have enhanced the post by putting Artson on the federation’s senior management committee. As such, he will attend top executive and board meetings, adding a rabbi’s input to discussions of issues affecting the Jewish community.

Married with two children, Artson entered into Conservative Judaism’s national debate in the early 1990s on whether gay and lesbian Jews could or should be ordained as rabbis. Artson argued to Conservative Judaism’s Jewish Law Committee that the doors should be opened. The committee overwhelmingly said no, but Artson praised the later successful efforts of Rabbi Elliot Dorff of the University of Judaism, who led a study reexamining issues of homosexuality and same-sex relationships.

Although Reform Judaism’s rabbinical body permits the ordination of homosexuals and has some affiliated congregations that are predominantly gay and lesbian, Reform leaders have not approved of conducting same-sex wedding ceremonies.

MARCHES

The annual March for Jesus will take place next Saturday in 150 countries and 700 U.S. cities, including some Southland locations. Drawing largely from Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal churches, the songs and concluding prayer rallies have been coordinated nationally for at least five years.

Locations for the Saturday morning event include:

* La Palma. Participants will gather at that Orange County city’s Central Park at 10:30 a.m. for a short program featuring the combined choirs of several churches after starting a march from two locations at 9:30 a.m. Information: (714) 626-3820.

* Artesia/Cerritos. Participants will meet at Cerritos Regional Park at 9:30 a.m., begin marching at 10 a.m. and finish with prayers at the Cerritos Center for Performing Arts. (562) 865-8444.

* Lancaster. The Antelope Valley March for Jesus will assemble participants at Jane Reynolds Park in Lancaster at 9 a.m.

Many marchers take along March for Jesus songbooks and boombox radios to listen to pre-selected music starting at 10 a.m. on KKLA-FM 99.5.

GRADUATIONS

The Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the leader of the Taiwan-based Buddhist organization’s Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, will address commencement ceremonies at 2 p.m. today on the Hsi Lai University campus, 1409 Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead.

* The Rev. George F. Regas, rector emeritus of the large All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, will address the University of La Verne’s baccalaureate service 4 p.m. today at the La Verne Church of the Brethren, 2425 E St.

MUSIC

Contemporary Christian singer Crystal Lewis, who was named the Gospel Music Assn.’s female artist of the year last month, will appear in concert next Saturday night at Calvary Church in Santa Ana. The Southland vocalist picked up a second Dove Award in Nashville at the April 23 event for the best Spanish-language album, “La Belleza de la Cruz.” General admission is $14.95. (714) 973-4800.

* A “reunion choir” of former musical directors and musicians of the large West Angeles Church of God in Christ will be featured at the 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. services Sunday at the congregation pastored by Bishop Charles Blake. Among special guest performers at the church, 3045 Crenshaw Blvd., will be gospel singer Rubeinstein McClure, known for her recordings with the Institutional Radio Choir of Brooklyn, N.Y. (213) 733-8300.

* The Lyric Singers will present their farewell concert under Jane Hardester, a retired faculty member at El Camino College, where she taught for more than 30 years, at 4 p.m. Sunday at El Segundo United Methodist Church, 540 Main St. She has been the music director for the church since 1995. Free. (310) 322-0051.

FINALLY

The late Carl Segerhammar--a longtime Lutheran bishop in Los Angeles, then active in ecumenical circles while a retiree in Thousand Oaks--had four offspring who went on to church-related service around the country.

Delegates to the Southern California (West) Synod assembly next week will be able to hear insights from three Segerhammar daughters during sessions at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills. (The Segerhammars also had son who became a minister.)

After an opening service Thursday night at California Lutheran University’s Samuelson Chapel, the three-day assembly will start Friday with special speakers and business sessions.

The Bible studies will be led by sisters Kathryn Swanson, a retired Cal Lutheran faculty member; retired minister and ex-national church administrator Kathleen Hurty, and the Rev. Karen Parker, who is on leave from a pastoral role in Colorado.

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Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion desk (818) 772-3385, or e-mailed to john.dart@latimes.com Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event, except for spot news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.

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PEOPLE

The Immaculate Heart College Center in Los Angeles has appointed a United Methodist pastor as its next president, starting July 1. The center is the successor to Immaculate Heart College, once a Catholic-run campus bordering the Los Feliz area that closed in 1980 and reopened the next year in scaled-down form.

The new appointee, the Rev. Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon, senior pastor of Torrance First United Methodist Church, is a member of the center’s board of trustees and has been the center’s acting president since autumn.

Houghtby-Haddon holds a master’s degree and a doctorate from the Claremont School of Theology. She is the widow of the Rev. Richard Houghtby-Haddon, formerly the Methodists’ Los Angeles district superintendent.

The most popular curriculum at the ecumenical college center, now in the Mid-Wilshire district, is its masters program in feminist spirituality.

* Rabbi Debra Orenstein, an instructor at the University of Judaism and an editor of two books on Jewish lifestyles through women’s perspectives, has been named to share Rabbinic duties at Makom Ohr Shalom, an alternative synagogue with an emphasis on meditation and spirituality.

Orenstein will alternate Shabbat duties with Rabbi Mordecai Finley on the first and third Fridays of each month at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Tarzana, starting with a service welcoming her June 5. (818) 725-7600.