The transformational power of God's light in individual lives, communities and the world was the theme weaving through scores of workshops, inspiring music, films and multicultural liturgies at the 40th anniversary Religious Education Congress in Anaheim March 1-4.
"We come today ready to stand afresh in God's light," said Religious Sister of Charity Edith Prendergast, director of the archdiocesan Office of Religious Education during the opening rite and welcome. "Much like in a theater as the play begins, the house lights are dimmed and a very strong light is centered onstage calling all attention to one central focus. Today the spotlight is on God, who is light."
It's a light that transforms the faithful, said Sister Prendergast referring to the Transfiguration story in Luke's Gospel. "God, who is wrapped in light, as in a garment, pours light into us, illumines our whole being, and we come to know our own glory," she said.
Christians are then called to offer themselves in service to the world, she added. "The most gracious and most courageous gift we can give the world is the gift indeed of our true selves," said Sister Prendergast. "We let our lives speak and letting our lives speak challenges us to authenticity, to transparency," she said.
The Congress theme to "Stand in the Light" was carried throughout the four-day conference, which broke previous attendance records, topping more than 40,000 participants, including nearly 15,500 youth and chaperones for Youth Day.
Participants from nearly every U.S. state and several countries abroad attended the 276 workshops held at the Anaheim Convention Center and surrounding hotels, mostly in English but also in Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Korean.
New this year was the Catholic Filmmakers' Showcase which sponsored two nights of film clips and screenings by Catholic production companies.
In the exhibit hall which included more than 200 exhibitors and booksellers, Cardinal Roger Mahony conducted his 11th annual online chat with Catholics from around the country preceded by a session with local elementary school students.
Ethnic liturgies featured the spirituality of African American, Hawaiian, Native American, Latin American, Vietnamese and Indonesian cultures. Young Adults also coordinated a Mass as well as a dance and social.
"I thought today's young adult liturgy was amazing. It's as if I'd never left," said Rita Labuni, 28, who was once again attending Congress since she last participated with her confirmation class as a 14-year-old. Labuni will soon begin teaching a religious education class at Christ the Redeemer Church in Grand Terrace outside of Riverside. "I just can't wait to get more involved now that I'm on the other side trying to give back, because I truly believe in it," she added.
'Wild inclusivity'
Father Bryan Massingale, a Marquette University theology professor and Saturday's keynote speaker, challenged thousands of Congress participants in the Convention Arena to practice Jesus' Gospel message of "wild inclusivity."
There are innumerable ways human beings justify "excluding, and hating and ostracizing each other," he pointed out. But all of society's divisions, he added, "mean absolutely nothing to God."
"The shocking, scandalous, outrageous thing about Jesus," said Father Massingale, is that "Jesus ate with anyone. This man welcomes sinners and eats with them in the name of God."
Jesus' vision often times feels "too big for us," continued the priest who specializes in moral theology with a focus on racial justice. "It's too demanding for us. His light, we're standing in --- but sometimes His light is too bright. It's too intense, so we have to dim the light, dumb it down, tame the vision, explain it away, ignore it, and make Jesus safe."
And yet, Jesus' vision "always manages to break through," he said. "Sisters and brothers, the key to us being converted to Jesus' welcome table is the realization that we do it not for them, but for us," said Father Massingale. "Because each of us in this room has been and still is an outcast. Each of us in this room doesn't measure up in some way to the standards of those who set the standards. Each of us, in some way, is inadequate, insufficient. Each of us in some way, doesn't count, doesn't belong. Each of us in some way would not be at the table, unless Jesus welcomed us there."
Following the talk, young adult participants Sam Nasada and Stefan Soegiarto of St. Stephen Martyr Church, Monterey Park, said they appreciated the challenge to live the Gospel in a radical way.
Nasada said the perspective on Jesus' open table fellowship was "eye opening." Soegiarto, who was attending Congress for the first time, said he was moved to see thousands of people from many different places and cultures. "It's possible for everyone to get together," he said.
Action and prayer
The Gospels also portray Jesus as a man of action and of prayer, noted Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange in his homily during the Sunday morning liturgy. It is often in times of prayer, like during the Transfiguration, that the "glory of Jesus was revealed," he said.
Just as Peter, James and John may have wondered why they were chosen to be present at the Transfiguration, the question has been passed down to present-day generations, said the bishop.
"Know why you are here, why God has brought you here," said Bishop Soto, encouraging the faithful to pray like Christ. "Jesus began the prayer and now it is ours," he added.
Revival of faith
A couple thousand Congress participants gathered in a convention ballroom Sunday morning to hear preacher/social activist Jim Wallis speak on "How Might Spiritual Revival Cause Change?" Wallis, an evangelical Christian and a self-described convert to Catholic social teaching, described politics today as "broken."
As proof, he recited a litany of problems: impoverishment in the midst of wealth; the threat of climate change; disease pandemics around the world; genocide and violations of human rights; threats of terrorism and "endless" war; the breakdown of families and communities; the persistent divisions of race, class and gender; and the multiple threats to human life and dignity.
"Politics is failing us on any of these, even to address them. It's full of competitions of rights and interests that replace any notion of a common good. Politics isn't working anymore," said Wallis, editor of Sojourners Magazine. "I believe real solutions will require not only our best thinking and creativity and dialogue but also challenge our basic values and call us to moral transformation and spiritual renewal. I think we need a revival of faith."
Recalling how spiritual revival was behind many social justice movements, such as the abolition of slavery in Britain and the U.S. as well as the overturning of apartheid laws in South Africa, Wallis said he thinks people of faith may be "on the edge of that kind of revival again."
In response to the new slavery in human trafficking --- the third most lucrative business in the world after arms and drug dealing --- Wallis noted a whole new generation of young people are calling themselves "the new abolitionists."
"There are two great hungers in our world today. The hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice and the connection between the two is the one the world is waiting for," said Wallis. The spiritual choice for our time, he added, is the choice between hope and cynicism: "Hope means believing in spite of the evidence and then watching the evidence change."
Following his talk, first-time Congress attendee Tara Smith of Sacramento said she found Wallis' insights helpful. "My Lenten [goal] is to write a letter a week on social issues, so it was inspiring to me," said Smith.
Caring for creation
At the closing liturgy in the Convention Arena, where Cardinal Roger Mahony presided, San Gabriel Region Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala noted in his homily that standing in God's light allows the faithful to feel "secure and confident in God's steadfastness." But it also can "disturb and shake us so that we are set on fire to do what is right and what is just."
"We will live out the light of God when we go home and we try to be a voice for the voiceless and promote the dignity of every human being and human rights at every occasion and every environment. When we reject in our lives and in our world every form of violence, war, destruction and abuse," said Bishop Zavala.
"When we come home and care for God's creation and reject the harming of God's creation," he added, "we will continue to stand in the light." |