The advertisements have sprung up on billboards and buses. Heated and impassioned faces, images implying struggle and fight, charged words like "anguish."
The LA Marathon is indeed a challenge, and not only for the runners. Every year, approximately 100,000 members from 500 congregations in or near the route of the LA Marathon are faced with road closures, marathon participants and general chaos if they want to get to church services. That is, if they can get there at all.
Last year, Father Dick Martini looked out over a near-empty sanctuary as he tried to begin Mass at 9:45 a.m. at the Church of the Transfiguration in Leimert Park. Many parishioners were outside attempting to dodge runners as they crossed the street, but most were at home having grown frustrated trying to navigate the maze of road blockades on the way to Transfiguration on King Boulevard in South Los Angeles.
At the same time, Pastor Dong Sub Bang at Holy Hill Community Church on Sunset near Dodger Stadium was having a similar problem. "Every year on Marathon Sunday we experience a 50 percent decrease in attendance," said Pastor Bang of his non-denominational Korean congregation. "Most of our members live in Koreatown and are unable to leave their neighborhood because the roads are closed. They are locked in."
Similar situations unfold at Bryant Temple AME on 4th and Vernon, St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Pico-Union, Mijoo Peace Church in Koreatown, St. Agnes near USC, Immanuel Presbyterian in the Mid-city, St. Paul Catholic Church on Washington and Crenshaw, and more.
Many of the affected congregations have been working together for years as a part of their involvement with One LA, a network of institutions across Los Angeles County building the capacity to act together around issues of mutual concern. As leaders in the religious community we are working to reconnect the oftentimes segregated communities of our city, and believe that whether African-American, Latino or Korean, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish, we all have a right to worship.
This right is embedded in the fabric of our nation's constitution. Our country was founded with the understanding that all should have the right to celebrate and observe the Sabbath. However, every year in Los Angeles, a very significant and diverse segment of the population is unable to practice their religion for the sake of a money-making athletic event.
We are very supportive of the LA Marathon in general. An annual event organized by LA Marathon Inc., part of Devine Racing, a Chicago-based company, we believe it is important to the life of our city. But we know that the rituals of the Sabbath are important as well to the families of our congregations.
We want to find a solution so that the City, the LA Marathon, and the residents of Los Angeles --- those who wish to worship as well as those who wish to run --- are all able to win.
Over the past two decades, numerous religious institutions have attempted to negotiate a change in the date of the Marathon both with the City as well as LA Marathon Inc., but have been unsuccessful in finding a sympathetic ear. As One LA, we are hopeful that this year marks a change in this pattern of unresponsiveness.
The Boston Marathon in Massachusetts is organized on a holiday Monday, Patriot's Day, and the Pasadena Rose Parade shifts to a Monday as well when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday. We propose that the LA Marathon change to a holiday Monday so that it does not infringe on anyone's Sabbath. Father Jarlath Cunnane is pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Pico-Union; Rev. Joung M. Song, senior pastor at Mijoo Peace Church in Koreatown; Dr. Rev. Clyde Oden, Jr., pastor of Bryant Temple AME Church, Leimert Park; and Father Dick Martini, pastor of Transfiguration Catholic Church, Leimert Park. All four churches are active members of One LA.
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