Monterey County clergy form alliance against gang violence...

[Lucinda F. Boyd]

SALINAS — After fits, starts and more than a year of planning, Monterey County's clergy have begun to tackle gang violence in a public way.

About two dozen faith leaders, including Bishop Richard Garcia of the Diocese of Monterey, have for the first time formed an alliance and made joint public commitments to address a problem that some say has been ignored by religious leaders for too long.

"This is an important way of getting involved," said Pastor Frank Gomez, a United Methodist minister at the East Salinas Family Center.

Gomez said the faith community's gang intervention efforts in Salinas found momentum a couple of years ago at a "meeting of the 13 cities" — shorthand for the California Cities Gang Prevention Network, a group of leaders from Salinas and other cities who share strategies for fighting gangs and youth violence.

"The big complaint was the (Salinas) faith community didn't really get involved in the gang problem, at least not overtly," said Gomez. The 13-city organizers, he said, "knew that the faith community was so important." From those meetings evolved the newly launched Alianza de Fe Por la Paz en Salinas, also known as the Salinas Faith Alliance for Peace, which will coordinate with the mayor's office to work for peace in the city. Gomez is chairman of the city's Clergy Council, which oversees the Faith Alliance.

Next month, he and Garcia will join area faith leaders of all religious stripes to focus their Father's Day homilies and sermons on gang intervention.

The coordinated sermons, one of the Faith Alliance's first projects, has been spearheaded by Jerry Boutry, pastor of Salinas Valley Memorial Church, said Gomez.

Boutry was unavailable for comment Monday because he was flying home from overseas, according to church staff.

About two dozen clergy members from diverse denominations have already agreed to take part in the coordinated sermons, including churches in Salinas and a few on the Peninsula and in Watsonville. More are signing up as word spreads through faith circles.

"Catholic churches in the diocese are being encouraged to include this message in their homily," Gomez said. As far as the specifics of the sermons, he said, "We are leaving it up to each pastor. We don't want to tell them what to preach." But Gomez said many are likely to "remind the fathers of the influence they have on their children. How what they model for their children can have a big effect on whether their sons and daughters will be attracted to gangs and violence." Announcement of the new alliance came two months after Garcia announced the diocese's first-ever covenant to fight gangs, a project that has been in the works since fall.

Garcia made public that commitment at a late March peace rally attended by thousands of people after 6-year-old Azahel Cruz Alcantar was killed by a gang member's bullet.

"In a situation of fear and violence," Garcia told the crowd, "it is time for our Catholic community out of love for all children, especially those in gangs, to make some promises to God, to ourselves and to the communities where we live, to hold ourselves accountable." Garcia described four "points" that parish members have agreed to address:

· Connect children and parents with each other and the Church.

· Promote trust between communities and those responsible for public safety, such as police.

· Create new healthful activities and environments where young people can relate in healthful ways.

· Bring the power of prayer to the work.

Diocese spokesman Warren Hoy said this is the first time the diocese has made such a commitment to zero in on gangs.

"The bishop declared it as one of his main priorities," Hoy said, adding that Garcia sought input from parishes, law enforcement and youth groups. "All of this got distilled down and became those four points." Gangs and youth violence will now hold a prominent place among other diocese ministries, Hoy said, alongside social justice, youth ministries, migrant outreach and others.

Garcia has put together a committee at the diocese level to oversee the efforts, Hoy said, but the real work will take place in the churches and neighborhoods. Each group will plan its own strategy for implementing the four points and tackling gangs and violence.

"The rubber meets the road in the parish," he said.