Catholic educators, catechists, pastoral ministers, clergy and religious gathered from all over the world for the annual Religious Education Congress to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and the freedom to live joyful lives of discipleship and love.

"God pours light into every empty cup," said Religious Sister of Charity Edith Prendergast, archdiocesan director of the Office of Religious Education, in her March 31 opening event address on this year's theme "Step into Freedom." The process of becoming free, she said, includes "learning to fast from our fears and anxieties," and "drawing closer to the God within us."

For the first time ever, Congress --- now recognized as an international event --- topped 40,000 people as participants hailed from 47 states, Washington, D.C. and from Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. The four-day conference at the Anaheim Convention Center started with Youth Day March 30 and continued through the weekend as workshop presenters facilitated some 270 sessions in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Referring to the Sunday Gospel reading in which Jesus calls on Lazarus to come out from his tomb, Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe encouraged religious educators in his April 1 keynote speech to teach people to hear God's voice in their lives. The original meaning of the word "obedience," he said, is "to hear."

"It's about learning to hear the voice of the Lord," said Father Radcliffe, who taught Scripture and doctrine at Oxford University for a dozen years. "[People] have to find their way to what is right by listening to the Gospels, by tending to the teachings of the church, by being attentive to the experience of God in their lives, by debating with each other."

He cautioned that sometimes Christians seem timid and fearful.

"Of course we need laws and rules, but holiness is more than just following a checklist of commandments," said Father Radcliffe. "They should form us for freedom…It's the liberation of the imagination. The freedom to think in new ways, to create a way forward when there seems to be no way."

The English priest observed that in the United States the church faces the difficult challenge of bridging ideological divisions that separate Catholics from one another.

"There is a deep anger in the United States against Catholics on the 'other side,' much more I think than any country in the world," he said. "We are not a sign of God's freedom in Jesus until we can dare to belong with each other across every theological boundary. That means we have to see with other people's eyes, hear with their ears, and feel with their skin regardless of whether they are Legionaries of Christ or militant feminists."

Cardinal Roger Mahony received loud applause from thousands of participants in the arena when Father Radcliffe praised the cardinal's national public stand for humane immigration reform.

Throughout the weekend Congress participants reflected on the meaning of spiritual freedom. Kathleen Faith Rainey Bean, a parishioner at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ojai and a pre-school teacher, said it means "not being afraid about who you're really meant to be." It's a process that takes time, she said, adding that attending Congress --- this year was her fifth --- helps her to look more deeply within.

Elizabeth Bower, a parishioner at St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley and a psychiatric nurse, said that for her "stepping into freedom means the ability to relax and to let God take care of things." Bower, who returned to the church after a couple of patients committed suicide, said she now turns her problems over to God's care. Stepping into freedom, she added, is not passive; "it's a decision."

Paul Johnson, a recent convert to Catholicism and parishioner at St. Edward Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, said freedom for him means "being unbound from earthly things that come between us and Christ" like preoccupation with material consumption or ill feelings towards others.

John Genova, a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, talked about the ability to take a risk. "It's the leap of faith when we have doubts. Then we're lifted up," he said. "What lifts us up is the savior of the world."

Amidst the bustle of thousands of conference goers and a lively exhibition hall featuring scores of religious education vendors, a designated quiet and sacred space offered the sacrament of reconciliation, adoration of the Eucharist and a labyrinth on which to walk and pray.

There were numerous opportunities to listen to live Christian music during mealtimes, notably by the reunited St. Louis Jesuits. Eucharistic liturgies March 31 and April 1 featured Celtic, Nigerian, Hispanic, Young Adult and Tongan Masses, among others.

"The liturgies on Friday and Saturday nights are the heart and soul of Congress," observed Bob Jordan, parishioner at St. Paschal Baylon Church in Thousand Oaks.

Following scores of workshops on a wide range of topics, including contemporary liturgical issues, intergenerational catechesis, evangelization, Catholic social teaching, immigration, sexuality, prayer, ecumenism and much more participants prepared to return to their parishes with new resources, skills and vision.

During the closing liturgy April 2, Cardinal Mahony referred once again to Lazarus and reflected that Jesus did not restore him simply as a sign but to be sent forth as a good disciple of Jesus "to continue the miraculous work of Jesus Christ." The cardinal encouraged participants to pick up the work of discipleship for these times.

"We need to be heroic Christians in ways that we've never done before," he said. "To listen to those who oppose us. To not fight against those who insult us, but to pray for them, to reach out to them, to be healers and reconcilers in a greatly polarized land, among polarized peoples."

Jesus, he added, "not only is calling us forth from whatever ties us down, from whatever tomb we might be in, but he sends us forth with a new and powerful spirit into the world, back to our parishes, our communities, our towns. Back to all the places from which we have come to be new and revitalized as heroic disciples of Jesus."

Sister Nancy Munro, CSJ, contributed to this report.