Vida Nueva Newspaper Goes Weekly

The Spanish-language newspaper Vida Nueva, published monthly by the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese for Latino immigrants, will become a weekly next week.

Launched nearly six years ago and financed by advertising revenue and archdiocesan subsidies, Vida Nueva is now a 52-page, tabloid-size paper given away at 1,600 locations in Los Angeles County.

Editor Victor Aleman said that the initial printing of the weekly edition, starting Thursday, will be 100,000 copies--up from the 85,000 copies of the monthly version.

“We provide information needed by immigrants who have been here for less than 10 years--articles that will help them establish themselves in this country,” Aleman said.

The editor said that the Latino communities have very few Spanish-language sources for detailed information on issues ranging from health care to public services. “Most of what they get is commercial information targeting them as consumers,” he said.

Vida Nueva may be extending its circulation into Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, “but that hasn’t been worked out yet,” Aleman said.

The newspaper reflects church policies on social justice issues--”pro-life and pro-immigrant, for instance,” Aleman said. He joined the publication in late 1991 after editing two papers for Cesar Chavez and the farm labor union movement.

The newspaper is a separate news and business operation from the Tidings, the 100-year-old, English-language weekly of the archdiocese.

Msgr. Gerald Wilkerson of Encino, a member of the Tidings’ editorial advisory council, said that a drive last year to increase paid and parish-subsidized circulation has nearly doubled the Tidings circulation to 40,000. But the archdiocese is hoping for a bigger boost this year as the council continues to examine its viability as a communications vehicle for the Catholic Church, he said.

PEOPLE

Laura Schlessinger, who “preaches, teaches and nags” about moral and ethical behavior on her weekday radio talk show syndicated to 400 stations in North America, including KFI, will speak at two synagogues next week.

“Dr. Laura,” author of “How Could You Do That?” will talk at the Stephen S. Wise Temple atop Sepulveda Pass at 8 p.m. Tuesday on “Why Bother Being Jewish: Thoughts on Relationships and Families in the Modern Era.” Tickets are $18. (310) 476-8561. Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills will present “An Evening with Dr. Laura Schlessinger” on Wednesday, starting at 7:30 p.m. For tickets to the benefit event, call (818) 346-3545.

* Ruth Stafford Peale, widow of the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale and chairwoman of the 4.25-million-subscriber Guideposts inspirational magazine, will speak in Garden Grove on Wednesday at the Crystal Cathedral’s Possibility Thinkers Luncheon. Reservations. (714) 544-5679.

DATES

Eastern Orthodox Father Leonid Kishovsky, a former president of the National Council of Churches, will speak Jan. 19 in Pasadena to highlight the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Sponsored by the Southern California Ecumenical Council, the 4 p.m. service at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church, 778 S. Rosemead Blvd., will include participating clergy from Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran and other Protestant churches.

* Franciscan Father Jim Goode, called the dean of black Catholic evangelists, will celebrate the Martin Luther King Mass at 10 a.m. Sunday at Los Angeles’ Transfiguration Catholic Church, 2515 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Goode, who is the superior, or administrator, of St. Clare’s Friary in New York, will led revival meetings at the church on the next three nights.

* Thirteen cantors, including host cantor Ira Bigeleison, will sing in a regional Cantors Assembly concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Adat Ari El Synagogue, 12020 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood. Reservations. (818) 766-9426.

* Cellist Mark Chatfield, who has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will perform Wednesday at Pasadena Presbyterian Church as a part of that church’s free, ongoing “Music at Noon” concerts. The mini-concerts are from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. at the church on Colorado Boulevard to accommodate brown-bag lunchers or those who pay $3 for a sandwich buffet.

* Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, will sign copies of his new book at the Claremont Graduate School’s Garrison Theatre on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. Young was a minister in the United Church of Christ before joining the civil rights movement in 1957. His book is titled “An Easy Burden, the Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America.”

* Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff of Yeshiva University’s Gruss Institute in Jerusalem will speak at 11 a.m. Sunday at Yeshiva of Los Angeles Beit Midrash, 9760 W. Pico Blvd., on “Religious Tolerance and the Future of the Jewish State” from an Orthodox perspective of Jewish law. Refreshments will follow the free lecture. (310) 553-4478, Ext. 285.

FINALLY

Recalling how American Jews improved working conditions in America’s garment industry early in the century, the Southern California Board of Rabbis voiced concern recently about the exploitation of immigrants in clothes-making sweatshops.

“The return of sweatshops to the apparel industry in . . . Los Angeles in particular is of great concern to the Jewish community,” said a resolution adopted by the rabbinical board’s executive committee.

Early in this century, Jews established garment industry unions, including the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (ACTWU), and helped to get minimum standards for work conditions, the resolution said.

“Today, new groups of immigrants are coming to this country, and like the earlier Jewish immigrants, find themselves vulnerable to exploitation,” the rabbis’ statement said, noting that many of the workers are women with families to support.

“When workers are poorly paid, work in unhealthy environments and receive no health benefits, the social problems that affect us all are multiplied.”

Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, a vice president of the board that includes Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, said the statement calls upon the U.S. Department of Labor and manufacturers to eliminate illegal sweatshops and industry practices that prevent workers from organizing strong unions.

Notices may be mailed 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. Items should arrive about 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.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CONGREGATIONS

When the newly renovated social hall of a Serbian Orthodox church in Arcadia was destroyed by fire on New Year’s Eve, it was not only a financial and emotional blow--it also seemed to doom the church’s fund-raising concert set for last Saturday.

But after reading in The Times about the plight of Christ the Savior Serbian Orthodox Church, an official of a Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Temple City called to offer its facility for the concert. (The RLDS denomination, based in Independence, Mo., traces its roots to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but is separate from the Salt Lake City-based Mormon Church.)

“We were so grateful,” said Tom Janosevic, a lay leader of the Serbian congregation. “More than 400 people came to the concert and we collected a few thousand dollars in donations.”

Back at its own fire- and smoke-damaged church, more than 100 parishioners celebrated Serbian Orthodox Christmas Eve services Monday and a smaller crowd attended the Christmas day liturgy Tuesday.

Until the church repairs its facilities, parishioners will go to a Serbian church in San Gabriel or to the Serbian Cathedral church in Alhambra for Sunday worship, Janosevic said.