South Hills Bible Chapel, 300 Gallery Drive, McMurray, will host its 2008 Car Show and Family Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 17. Car registration begins at 8 a.m. and runs until 11.

More than 140 custom, classic and antique cars, trucks, and motorcycles will be on display. Also expected to return this year are new car dealers, the National Guard, Air Force, the Peters Township DARE officer and the Frick Auto Museum. The Horse 'n Soul Riding group will provide horse rides for children. Les Holiday will provide music.

Snacks and other food items will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Children ages 10 and under will receive a gift bag. Contact Fran or Jerry Oxford at 724-942-2422 or visit carshow2008@comcast.net for more information or to volunteer.

Pittsburgh march and rally for Darfur set

The Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition will hold a march and rally from 2 to 4 p.m. May 18 to illustrate the enormity of the catastrophe in Darfur.

The event begins at Freedom Corner at Centre Avenue and Crawford Street, across from Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh. Those participating can represent one of the 2,751 damaged or destroyed villages in Darfur.

For more information or to register, contact Amy Langham at amy@globalsolutionspgh.org.

Bethel Presbyterian church hosts concert

The Penn State Gospel Choir will present "Essence of Joy" under the direction of Dr. Anthony T. Leach at 7:30 p.m. May 24 in Bethel Presbyterian Church, 2999 Bethel Church Road, Bethel Park.

The concert is free. A reception will follow to greet the performers.

For more information, call Dick Kraft at 412-833-2360 or the church office at 412-835-0405.

McMurray church holds music festival

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, 105 Gateshead Drive, McMurray, will hold its annual Spring Music Festival at 4:30 p.m. June 1. The concert, directed by Mary Helen Barr, is free. Following the concert, a stuffed chicken dinner will be served in the church social hall. Reservations are required for dinner and must be paid in advance. Deadline for reservations is May 25. Cost for adults, ages 13 and up, is $10; children 4 to 12, $5, and free for children 3 and under. Call the church office at 724-941-7467 to make reservations.

Church sponsoring trip to Color Purple

At Friendship Baptist Church, 17 E. Walnut St., Washington, the Ruth Ward Missionary Society is sponsoring a bus to the matinee performance of the play "The Color Purple" June 7 at Benedum Center, Pittsburgh. The cost is $95.

For information, call Louise Jones at 724-222-5084 or Dorothy Smith at 724-225-4499.

Strawberry festival planned in Claysville

A Strawberry Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 7 at the United Methodist Church, 1257 Route 40 West, Claysville.

LA archdiocese offers schools as collateral

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is using its school properties to help pay part of a record $660 million to alleged victims of clergy sex abuse.

Spokesman Tod Tamberg said the diocese has put up six high schools as collateral on a $50 million loan to go toward the settlement.

In July 2007, a judge approved a $660 million settlement between the Los Angeles Archdiocese and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse. It's the largest payout yet in a nationwide sex abuse scandal that has cost the church more than $2 billion and forced six dioceses to declare bankruptcy.

The archdiocese will pay $250 million, insurance carriers will pay a combined $227 million and several religious orders will chip in $60 million. The remaining $123 million will come from litigation with religious orders that chose not to participate in the deal, with the archdiocese guaranteeing resolution of those 80 to 100 cases within five years.

Judge: Gideon Bibles don't belong in school

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tangipahoa Parish public schools must stop in-school Bible giveaways to students, a federal judge ruled.

"Distribution of Bibles is a religious activity without a secular purpose" and amounts to school board promotion of Christianity, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier ruled.

As requested by both sides, Barbier made a summary judgment based only on the written briefs - something judges may do only if the law is absolutely clear.

But attorney Christopher M. Moody said he thinks the Tangipahoa Parish School Board is likely to ask the 5th U.S. Court of Appeal to overturn Barbier's decision, though he hadn't yet consulted with the board. "We think there's a very good chance" of a reversal, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed the suit for an anonymous family whose daughter said she felt pressured into taking a Bible even though she doesn't believe in God. The girl was called Jane Roe and her father John Roe out of fear of retaliation by schoolmates and neighbors, the ACLU has said.

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