Live from LA RE Congress

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scylla

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So here I am in the hotel on Saturday night after a full day of workshops and a Liturgy at the famous RE Congress here in Anaheim.

Here is my review about what I have seen…

There were some protesters out front, the ones who protest against the dissent taught by some speakers CRCOA, and the ones who represent SNAP, those who represent those who have been abused by Priests.

Both these groups were there off and on from what I could see, handing out papers or just talking to people. It was pretty amiable and I didn’t see any problems.

I talked to some of them and they are pretty nice people, they just want Cardinal Mahoney to address some of their concerns and asked to pray for Cardinal Mahoney.

It was extremely crowded with plenty of booths, but with the workshops and crowd I did not have very much time to see much of the booths. There were some very nice items for sale and plenty of good books, I didn’t get to look too close and check the content of the bookstores, maybe tomorrow. I did see a nice Paulist bookstore which had some very nice sisters who sold me a couple books.

One workshop was offensive and not appropriate for a Christian environment, I had a lady say to me “I am liberal and this guy is offensive to me” Sex jokes and wishy washy teaching was the order of the workshop.
I left this workshop about 10 minutes early and then went to get a snack and wait for the next workshop.

The next workshop was “Catholicism and Islam” and was very good. It had no dissent and was extremely informative, I was well pleased and it gave me some hope.

The next workshop was by a Priest called Father Tony from New Orleans. He was extremely dynamic, interesting and heck he wore a collar and cared about the Church! It was refreshing, I was in a good mood.

Then the liturgy came and crushed my happiness. I was able to recieve our Lord in the Eucharist and for that I am grateful, it was a valid Mass, and as such always a blessing.
The details are depressing and maybe later I will type them out, it involved some silly looking dancing, no crucifix at all, and innovation galore.
Thank you RE Congress for making me appreciate my Mass at home as I see how bad it could be.

Other than disrespecting our Lord and treating me to a nice offensive workshop, I enjoyed some of the Congress as there are many people who really want to do good for the Church there, on the outside protesting the Congress and inside trying to stay faithful, and others who really think that nice music and good feelings are what should bring us to Mass.

God Bless
Scylla
 
Sunday was nice as I finally had time to see the booths and see a little more.

There were many books available and some very good ones. I saw the Paulist sisters selling books, plenty of good books there. A spanish bookstore which had extremely inexpensive Catholic books. Both stores offered great Catholic books at inexpensive prices.

There were missionaries selling medals, rosaries and plenty of Sacramentals. There were some good booths from the Claretians and other missionaries.

There were some media booths, and several vocations booths there with some seminarians. The future looks bright as some of the seminarians are very dedicated and seem like they will make good faithful priests. They were direct and gave me a very comfortable feeling about the future priests that are coming up.

The last workshops were good, and there was very little problem with them at all. One was just pretty much music and had virtually no content other than it being relaxing.

There were priests all around some in cassocks and many sisters in many different habits. I am sure there were some sisters without habits but the only way I would know they are religious would be to stare at their nametag and that would look inappropriate. So I saw no sisters that didn’t wear habits that I know of except for the ones I ate food with, they just looked like any other people there.

The protesters were no-where to be seen the last day.

Last night I had an interesting conversation with a lady who said that the molestations had absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals but that those were just pedophiles. When I pointed out that when a man molests a post-pubescent male it probably isn’t pedophilia but a homosexual abuse, she said it is “just a person with a problem., don’t blame it on homosexuals”
I let it go and let the conversation continue between other people there, but I am confused and will read up more on this, I am not sure why she thinks this, and refuses to think that homosexual abuse is related in any way.

Going to RE Congress is a good way to see and feel the pulse of what is going on in Southern California. Sure there is dissent, and people who want to change the Church. There are plenty of good people too. The Church is strong and will survive, dissenters will die out and the faithful will persevere even though it might look horrible, and sicken your stomach.
I am glad I went, saw and participated.
The Church is so weakened, yet so strong. I saw both sides there at Congress, those who love\dislike the Church(it is just the people), so they want it changed to their image to make it better; and those who love the Church(believe it is God’s) and want to preserve it. They see the Church differently and react differently.

Well hopefully this is informative for some of you and you get involved by being catechists or by some other function in the parish.

God Bless
Scylla
 
I went to the RE Congress as well. My experience was much the same as scylla’s. The workshops were quite good(the ones I attended), the arena masses were awful spectacles. Overall I was pleased. Next time I’m going to avoid the arena masses and the opening ceremonies.

scylla,

Did you see Matthew Kelly? He was great!
 
No I didn’t see him, I did see John L. Allen Jr and his presentation was extremely informative.

This was the Catholicism and Islam workshop I mentioned.

Awful is a good word for the way the Mass was presented, I left as soon as they said Mass is over, I was sickened at how improper it all was.
I don’t go to Mass to see a show, or to see people dancing like Will Ferrell and Cheri (in the cheerleader skit) when they are trying some rap number during communion.
I go to Mass for God, not for a show.

But back to the positive, there were some very nice young priests who I talked to who were eager to share the faith with me.

My little girls were entertained by a nice priest, who did tricks for them and some other very nice booths.

God Bless
Scylla
 
I didn’t even wait for them to say it was over. I left after receiving communion. I just couldn’t take it any more.
 
That Mass was rough, I agree.

I am kinda glad I missed some of the more liberal workshops, yet next year I might pick them out to speak to the speakers afterward.

I didn’t know that they are available in a special area to speak with them until my wife showed me out of the program when we got back home.

Here is an interesting talk I was thinking about attending.
calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=1e8eb08e-151d-4df8-94db-71f7cd8fc572

God Bless
Scylla
 
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