| Challenged mightily by economic storms that have created "an extended Lent," Catholics at the 2009 Religious Education Congress were encouraged to seize this unique opportunity, to reject "business as usual" and to develop "a common good culture" that is based in Catholic social teaching. 
"Our goal cannot be to get back to business as usual," said Sojourners founder Jim Wallis in his Congress keynote address Feb. 28 in the Anaheim Convention Center. "We have to say, 'No, we want a new direction. We've tried the greed culture, and it hasn't worked.' We need to create something new, a common good culture, rooted in compassion."
Sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Religious Education, the four-day Congress, beginning with Youth Day on Feb. 26 (see page 6), drew close to 40,000 attendees who participated in close to 300 workshops (some in Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean), more than a dozen liturgies and a variety of special musical and spiritual events.
That included Wallis' talk on "The Opportunity of Crisis," alluding to the severe economic downturn worldwide that has nonetheless, he insisted, offered Christians the chance to make known to the world "who we are, to clarify our mission" as disciples of Jesus Christ.
He noted he has found a particular yearning in, of all places, the business community for spiritual guidance. He spoke at a recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland --- "not my usual crowd," he smiled --- to address the moral values of market capitalism, and found a rapt audience of CEOs and other financial leaders.
Clearly, he said, "We are in a social and spiritual crisis. We seem to have forgotten some key values. The common good hasn't been part of our decision making; we've thought that there is no need for virtue in that process. But all this pain, the misery we've endured, will be in vain unless we learn how to live in a new way. We need to learn new habits of the heart."
The opulence of the 1920s that preceded the Great Depression has repeated itself, Wallis asserted. "When we create a cultural habit of spending what we don't have for what we don't need, disaster isn't far away," he stated. "Our own good is tied up in the common good. And there is no greater example of this than Catholic social teaching. I am here to tell you, as Catholics, your time has come."
Wallis' talk in a packed Convention Center Arena drew favorable comments from Carol Carrig, IHM, 76, director of the Immaculate Heart Community Center for Spiritual Renewal, Santa Barbara.
"His world view, his spirituality and his concern for social justice is so important, and he articulated it so well," said Carrig, 76, who also attended a Wallis workshop. "And it was very heartening to see that there are young people who are interested in social justice as well."
Social justice was the theme of many booths in the Congress exhibit area.
"We've had more business this year than ever before," said David Kennedy, co-chair of the archdiocesan gay and lesbian ministry. "We've had to make extra flyers because we keep running out."
Among the many people visiting their booth were confirmation teachers who get questions from teens about how to respond to gay peers. Kennedy's advice: "Everyone is a child of God --- start there."
Laura Ash, music director at St. Patrick Church in Seattle and attending her eighth Congress, enjoyed the Feb. 28 Celtic liturgy, "a chance for me to be nourished as an assembly member, rather than at work planning a liturgy. Part of what I continually learn is that we have to have a balance: you have to have work but you also have to have play, you have to lead but you also have to let yourself be led, you have to serve but let yourself be served."
"It is always great to be here," said Raquel Pinchinatti, a parishioner and confirmation teacher at St. Dominic Savio Church in Bellflower. "It is a great joy to see how the youth has the call to serve God."
Pinchinatti has attended Congress for the last five years together with a group of ladies from her church. She heard about the event through fellow parishioner Maria Marquez, who attended Congress for the first time 25 years ago, when there were fewer workshops in Spanish.
"It is so good to have those workshops in Spanish because religious education is very important for Hispanics so that we can grow as a community and do a better contribution to this society," she said.
Greg Mark of Sacramento, who formerly taught at Chaminade University in Hawaii, attended his first Congress with fiancée Christina Fa of Sunnyvale where she attends St. Martin Church. "This is very exciting," said Mark, who plans to become Catholic. "There's a very warm, spiritual feeling."
Mickey and Seonaid Sanders of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Victoria, British Columbia, have attended Congress for 20 years. "It's inspiring and a shot in the arm for our Catholicism," said Seonaid, who said their home diocese is noticeably more conservative. "This is very uplifting, the multi-cultural events, the quality speakers --- there's nothing like it in Canada. To see liturgical dance, a woman presider this morning at the prayer service - all these things are very opening and very welcoming."
In her opening talk Feb. 27, Religious Sister of Charity Edith Prendergast, ORE director, noted that "It is possible for us to have a new kind of world - a world where there is more caring, more thought for others, more laughter, more joy, more sharing of our resources. But we must be willing to make the changes in our lifestyles and practices that will ensure a better world, a better place for all, a world oriented toward healing and away from destruction."
Sister Prendergast spoke of the "bitter frosts" in today's world facing everyone --- "the cutbacks, the diminished returns, the sharp edges, the fear of what might lie ahead. It is in these bleak and lean times that we must beg our God to shed light in our darkness."
"As catechetical leaders and pastoral ministers, we are privileged indeed to prepare the soil so that all can come to experience this great showing of God's love. Our ministry is to help unfold the treasures of the Word to the whole community so that they can have a fresh encounter with Jesus. It is up to each one of us gathered here to renew our effort, to savor the words, to allow it to change our hearts - so important in today's world."
In addressing Sunday's Scripture reading of Jesus' temptation in the desert, Cardinal Roger Mahony compared the recent sex abuse scandal case to this year's "new intensity" of Lent in his closing liturgy homily March 1.
"The church scandal went on year after year. Finally, it got settled and slowly but surely that Lent began to recede into the past," he said. "This Lent is a far different reality than the previous years because of the economy. There are problems swirling around us in the desert: fewer jobs, less benefits, fear of losing our job, the company, the house, or children's safety."
To overcome adversity, the cardinal encouraged the assembly to draw energy by recalling the gift of their baptism.
"Like Jesus, we are driven into the desert to be tempted by Satan, left vulnerable without resources of our own to overcome difficulties," he said. "Left to our own devices, it can be miserable. 
"But that desert experience is not what the Holy Spirit wants for you or for me. Remember that it is through the power of baptism that we gain identity with Jesus to find a way to carry those burdens."
He urged the assembly "to pray for one another, to be there for one another, and to journey together in peace."
Contributing to this story were Doris Benavides, Paula Doyle and Sister Nancy Munro, CSJ. Contributing to this story were Doris Benavides, Paula Doyle and Sister Nancy Munro, CSJ.
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