The Happiest Place on Earth: The LA Religious Education Congress

I grew up in Southern California, not too far from the Anaheim Convention Center where the 2011 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress took place. Servite High School, where I spent my teenage years, is actually no more than a ten minute drive from the Center. Without diving into the history books, I bet it’s safe to say that this event was taking place just down the road every year I was at Servite, and every year, I had no idea it even existed.
 
It turns out the LA Congress is a big deal and I had been missing out on quite a bit.
 
40,000 people. Hundreds of exhibitors. Culturally diverse Masses and prayer services at every hour. Bright lights, brilliant colors, joyous people. Mitres here, habits there, clergy everywhere. This is the pinnacle of all religious education events, bringing people together on a massive scale to share their faiths and to celebrate their passion for their Church.
 
How was it possible that I knew absolutely nothing of this larger than life, annual festival? I think that part of this disparity can be attributed to my relatively late conversion to Catholicism. It’s difficult to gain exposure to a foreign way of life when you’re a foreigner, even when you live next door. The other part of the disconnect probably lies somewhere between the sunny beaches and the beautiful mountains. With so much to do, so many people and so much Hollywood-style wealth, Southern California doesn’t scream “Catholic Holy Land” any more than South Bend screams “great winter vacation spot.”

Needless to say, the LA area is probably not in your, or my, top 10 list of perceivably Catholic areas of the world. Maybe, though, it should be.
 
It’s only in LA where an event like the LA Religious Education Congress could take place. It needs a city with global reach, charismatic leadership and a massive and diverse population living out the faith. It has all that and more. Never have I been in one place with so many people eager for and excited about all things Catholic. For three full days, people from every race, background and story filled the halls from the minute the doors opened to well after the doors closed. They came for prayer, book signings, product demonstrations, singing, dancing, and Mass in more forms than I knew even existed. There was something for everyone.
 
The staff who manned the ACE booth in the exhibit hall was bombarded day in and day out with questions and conversation from interested participants. Some stopped by to learn more about ACE and the mission of Catholic schools; some wanted to catch the latest news from under the golden dome; others just wanted to give a quick “Go Irish” and show off their class ring to someone who understands.
 
For me, the experience was amplified by the time I got to spend outside the Congress, seeing for the first time the Catholic side of Los Angeles, walking through the halls of Mother of Sorrows Catholic School and driving through the poverty-stricken areas that surround the LA ACE communities -- where, on a clear day, one can see the Hollywood sign off in the distance. It was there that the full extent of the experience  really hit me.  Scattered throughout the city are pockets of hard-working Catholic school advocates making a real difference in their communities. People like John and Jenn Beltramo, chair of the LA Advocates and principal of Mother of Sorrows respectively; new Catholic School Advantage Field-consultant Syliva Armas-Abad; Servite priest Fr. Michael Pontarelli, who went way out of his way to host a dinner for us; the growing LA Advocates group; and so many more. Take this sample and multiply their numbers and it won’t be too long before you reach 44,000. Put them under one roof for three days and the happiest place on earth isn’t the theme park across the street, it’s the LA Religious Education Congress. I hope to see you there, next year.
 
Ricky Austin is an assistant director for the ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools. He also tends to be wordy when asked to write about his experiences. In an attempt to be more succinct, he is stopping here even though he really wanted to write about Archbishop Gomez’s homily and the story he told about Satoko Kitahara, a woman who dedicated her life to Japan's neediest people who, much like in LA, lived a mere mile from some of that country’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

(Photos below courtesy of Andrea Cisneros, assistant director of ND ACE Academies)