During his opening remarks at the Our Lady of the Angels Regional Congress at St. Mary's Academy in Inglewood, the director of Catholic Relief Services in the western United States echoed the theme of the Oct. 24 gathering - that creation is nurtured when faith is cultivated.

Jim DeHarpporte said CRS was "very busy these days" providing emergency help to the victims of a cyclone and typhoon in the Philippines and Vietnam, a tsunami in Samoa, an earthquake in Indonesia and a devastating drought stretching across Africa affecting the lives of 28 million people.

"We believe that some of these changes at least are the result of change in climate," he said. "Certainly, there have been disasters and drought for many centuries. We read about them in the Bible. But what we've seen in the last two decades is that the length and the intensity of these natural disasters are increasing. And more and more people are being affected by that.

"The U.S. Catholic bishops, under the leadership of the Vatican, also believe that climate change is real, and that it's caused at least in part by human activity. Secondly, they recognize it's the poor who suffer the most - people who depend on agriculture, on wells to get their water; people who live in low lands which are easily affected by floods. It's those who have contributed the least to the problem who are the most affected by it."

The bishops, who sponsor Catholic Relief Services, also recognize that the United States bears a responsibility, Deharpporte pointed out, with this country contributing about 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases while only making up 4 percent of the planet's population.

"So we have a special responsibility also because of our faith," he noted. "We are called as Catholics to recognize the global common good, to recognize that we are all part of one human family. But the good news is that problems that are caused by men and women can also be corrected by men and women. We all have a responsibility to do what we can for God's creation."

Evangelizers
The day-long congress opened with a morning praise session, which featured singing Marty Haugen's "Canticle of the Sun," liturgical dancers and a video with dramatic earth photos and Gospel readings about creation. The 30-some workshops in English included "Climate Change: Why Should I Care," "Morality: Getting Back to Basics," "Storytelling, Movies and Christian Values" and "Sexuality: An Invitation to Deeper Spirituality." "Como Dios Expresa que Está Enamorado de Nosotros," "La Catequesis y La Bibila," "El Sacerdocio de Todos Bautizados" and "Creer en el Dios de la Vida" were a few of the nearly 50 Spanish sessions.

Besides CRS's DeHarpporte, workshop presenters included Father Chris Ponnet, pastor/chaplain of St. Camillus Church and the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center; Jeffrey Siker, a New Testament professor at Loyola Marymount University; Maureen Pratt, author and syndicated columnist for Catholic News Service; and Sister Kathleen Burns, formation director of the Sisters of Notre Dame.

At the late-morning liturgy, Auxiliary Bishop Edward Clark spoke of the "remarketable experience" he just had spending two weeks in Vietnam. He told the catechists and directors of religious education that the church in northern Vietnam is very much a church of the poor, a church of the suffering today, and yet it is a church totally committed to evangelization.

But the bishop reported only in recent years had Catholics been allowed to practice and teach their faith openly. As a result, there was such a shortage of catechists that bishops were training them personally during weekend marathon sessions at special centers so they could then go back and teach the mostly uneducated people. The local bishops told him it was a tedious, step-by-step, slow process.

"When I walked into this wonderful auditorium today with all the dedicated catechists that we have here in our region, I realized what a blessing we have," Bishop Clark remarked. "What a blessing in the country and in our archdiocese and here in Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region to have so many people who are dedicated to communicating the faith - who make evangelization the number one, most important quality of their religious life."

Face of God
During his walking-around, energetic Spanish/English homily at the liturgy, Father Ken Deasy stressed that the catechists were on the front lines of today's teaching church and the real modern "face of God." He urged them to teach with great joy and enthusiasm, sharing the spirit of their loving creator.

"So who are the healers in the name of Christ today?" the director of the Holy Childhood Association of the archdiocese's Mission Office asked before saying: "You are. Who are the teachers in the name of Christ today? You are. Who is Christ today? You are. Because the Lord is with you. Thank you, because you are the body of Christ.

"And your sacrificing and your suffering are not in vain," he said. "Because you will be - and cause - the resurrection of the church. And how will you resurrect? By the teaching we give. And that is not just in a book, but in your lives."

Lori Ruiz came to the regional congress with her mother-in-law, Rosa Paiz. Both are catechists at Holy Cross Church on South Main Street in Los Angeles. And both said they wanted to learn more about how to explain God and his unconditional love to the children they teach.

"The most important thing we learned is that God is always with us no matter what," reported Ruiz during the outside lunch break. "He's there. He's with our families. When we pray to him, he always listens to us. And he always forgives us."

Being a first-year catechist at St. Agatha Parish in Los Angeles, Maria Zuñiga came to the congress to become "more prepared" to pass on to the children she teaches God's relationship to the physical world.

"I want these kids to have a better way of knowing God through nature, because he gave us a world to really care for it," she said. "And what we're doing is destroying it. So I thought if I'm a catechist I can let kids know what God really gave us, which is something beautiful."