The first Southern California Catholic Prayer Breakfast, to take place Sept. 27 in the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, was the brainchild of three local couples after they went to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., last May.

Tom and Margie Romano, Bill and Helen Close, and Allen and Kathleen Lund were struck not only by the number of people present (almost 2,000) at the second annual national Catholic event held at the Washington Hilton Hotel on May 20, but also by their fervor in celebrating their Catholic faith.

"We were so impressed by the attendance and the response of everybody that we said, 'Why don't we do this in L.A?"' Tom Romano recalled recently. "You know, we've got our Cathedral, and we do great memorials, great weddings and funerals, and wonderful interfaith prayer services.

"But since Mary's Hour went away, we really don't do much with a purely Catholic stamp on it. This will help define our cathedral as a true Catholic place of worship in Los Angeles."

Bill Close agreed. He told The Tidings the cathedral was a unique place to bring Catholics from across the archdiocese to a central worship space. He hoped the prayer breakfast would attract people to the Cathedral who might otherwise not consider coming downtown on a weekday.

"This is Catholic with a capital 'C,'" Close stressed. "It will bring us all together so that we can have a common liturgy, a place to break bread together and to say a rosary with our bishops.

"It's a Catholic celebration. The fact is this is for Catholics --- and anybody else who wants to partake in it is certainly welcomed to come. But we're going to wear our religion on our shoulder that day."

For Allen Lund, the early morning event will be clearly centered on prayer and devotion.

"It gives us a chance to pray together as a Catholic community," he pointed out. "With a lot of bad press that the church has been getting in Southern California and a lot of other places, it just seems like it's a good time for us to join together and do something positive for the church. That was kind of the whole idea."

Cardinal Roger Mahony has invited all Catholics in Southern California to come to the inaugural Southern California Prayer Breakfast Sept 27, starting with a rosary at 6:30 a.m.. Each decade will be led by one of the archdiocese's five auxiliary bishops.

The rosary will be followed by Mass at seven o'clock, then a breakfast buffet and program featuring a talk by Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer, president of Gonzaga University, and popular author and speaker. Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, pastor of the Cathedral, will act as emcee.

The three businessmen with the brainstorm, who belong to Legatus, an international Catholic group of corporate leaders and their wives, would like to see the prayer breakfast spread to other dioceses.

"My great passion is to see this thing go across the country," Close said. "We're doing it under the auspices of a group that I'm on the board called Magis. But I want it going in the dioceses of Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego. That's our first objective.

"But in a couple years, I'd like to see this across the country in every diocese. The ultimate objective is having prayer breakfasts all over the United States, and having thousands of Catholics saying the rosary and going to Mass and celebrating breakfast together every year on the same day in September."

Romano hoped the first event will be a model, something that will "play well" in Las Vegas, Chicago or Seattle. "There's no reason why we can't have these all around the nation," he said. "The key is to get the pastors on board."

Father Richard Krekelberg, pastor of St. Rita Church, was one of the first priests to literally sign on. His Sierra Madre parish is buying 50 tickets to the prayer breakfast plus chartering a bus to bring parishioners to the Cathedral.

"I loved the idea that there was this initiative to put together an event that would draw Catholics from the dioceses in Southern California," he said. "It's a challenge in a parish to keep a sense of the universal church and to go beyond your parish boundaries.

"I think people who go to the prayer breakfast will feel good about understanding themselves as part of the wider church," he noted. "It'll be a freeing experience as well as tremendously supportive, encouraging and inspiring to meet Catholics from other places and to celebrate our faith."

Tickets, including parking, are $40, a table of ten, $400. For clergy, tickets are complimentary. To register online, visit: www.californiaprayerbreakfast.com. For information, e-mail: info@californiaprayerbreakfast.com or call (213) 680-5219. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is located at 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles.