RECongress Email Updates • Jan18-2008 (REC08 #7)

On Friday morning at 11 a.m. (February 29, 2008), Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony will conduct two, live online chat sessions from the main Exhibit Hall at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, Calif. This will be the Cardinal's 12th annual online appearance live from Congress!

• Join us at the Tech Center on Friday at 11 a.m.

• Go online and join in the chat session.

• Ask the Cardinal a question ...now! After a private online chat session with school students, the Cardinal will conduct a nationwide chat -- and YOU can take part. Have a question for the Cardinal? Ask your question now and watch it be submitted during the chat session.

IN MEMORIAM

John O'Donohue, Irish author, poet and a regular speaker at Congress, died suddenly Jan. 4 at age 53 while vacationing in France. From 1999 to 2006, O'Donohue was an annual presenter at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. He was scheduled to present two workshops at Congress this year. Suitable substitute presenters are being considered.

The author of "Anam Cara," a best seller published in England in 1997 and later in the United States, O'Donohue also authored "Eternal Echoes," "Beauty, The Invisible Embrace" and most recently "Benedictus: A Book of Blessings." He wrote two books of poetry and a book in German.

Excerpted from The Tidings; you can find the entire article at The Tidings Online at www.The-Tidings.com/2008/011808/odonohue.htm

Read the tribute by David Whyte: www.jodonohue.com/inmemoriam/david_white.cfm

YOUTH DAY

Youth Day 2008 (Thursday, February 28) is still open (with under 1,000 spots left), but is expected to reach capacity and close very soon. We encourage anyone interested in attending to register as soon as possible. There is no ON SITE registration at Youth Day. If we receive your registration after Youth Day has closed, we will return the forms/money to you.

Don’t forget you can pre-order official Youth Day T-shirts with the Youth Day theme: "About Face! Focused on God!" Also, shirts can have your parish or school name on them! Check out the shirts at www.Seraph7.com. That is also the place to make your special orders.

Notice to Adults: We are looking for adult volunteers to be part of the Moving Crew for Youth Day 2008. You must: be at least 21 years of age; not be a Chaperone of a group that day; be able to be in Anaheim on Youth Day by 7:30 a.m.and volunteer for the ENTIRE day; have the skills for directing youth and able to handle crowd control. It's a great way to be part of the experience without being a Chaperone! (Note: ALL Moving Crew Members must be fingerprinted by the Archdiocese and have been through the Protecting God’s Children adult training program.)

For information and forms, go to archive.recongress.org/YD

CONGRESS LITURGIES

Planning your weekend liturgies? Congress strives to offer experiences that stimulate new ideas and renew excitement about ministry, reinvigorate faith and help restore a spirit of hope. This happens through ritual, prayer, music, dance and Word – not only from workshops, but through the various daily liturgies we offer. We invite you to experience a liturgy from among the many cultures represented.

Friday, February 29, 5:15 p.m.
Character -- Location -- Presider

General -- Convention Grand Ballrooms -- Rev. Richard Fragomeni

Contemplative -- Marriott Marquis Ballroom -- Rev. Bryan Massingale

Jazz -- Convention Arena -- Rev. R. Tony Ricard

Nigerian -- Hilton Pacific Ballroom -- Rev. Ikechukwu Ikeocha

Spanish -- Convention Hall B -- Bishop Gabino Zavala

Saturday, March 1, 5:15 p.m.

General -- Hilton Pacific Ballroom -- Rev. Robert Scholla

Black Culture -- Convention Arena -- Rev. J-Glenn Murray

Celtic -- Convention Grand Ballrooms -- Rev. Brendan McGuire

Spanish -- Convention Hall B -- Bishop Rutilio del Riego

Young Adult -- Marriott Marquis Ballroom -- Rev. Joe Kempf

Vietnamese -- Marriott Grand Ballroom -- Bishop Dominic Luong, presider
Bishop Anton Chuong, homilist

(Note: This is a move from Friday, as printed in the Registration Guidebook)

Sunday, March 2

Morning Liturgy (8:15 a.m.) -- Arena -- Bishop Tod Brown

Closing Liturgy (3:30 p.m.) -- Arena -- Cardinal Roger Mahony

In addition to the Eucharistic Liturgies, Congress also offers other daily prayer experiences:

Friday, February 29

Vespers (5:15 p.m.) -- Convention 303 (3rd floor) -- Yolanda Brown

Peace Prayer (9:30 p.m.) -- Convention 303 (3rd floor) -- Rev. Alexis Salvatierra

Saturday, March 1

Morning Praise (8:00 a.m.) -- Convention Arena -- Juliette Marsh-Williams

Vespers (5:15 p.m.) -- Convention 303 (3rd floor) -- Douglas Leal

Lamentation (9:30 p.m.) -- Convention 303 (3rd floor) -- Rev. Jim Clarke

For more information go to archive.recongress.org/2008/updates.htm

TECH CENTER

As part of this year's makeover of the Tech Center, located near the center of the Exhibit Hall, it is being renamed the "Congress Technology Innovation Center." In addition to the continuous presentations every 30 minutes, the Center's sponsor, MyCatholicVoice, will be launching their new Web site during Congress.

You can find updates about the Technology Innovation Center in upcoming Emailings and a weekend schedule posted online at archive.recongress.org/2008/tech.htm

CONGRESS TICKETS

When do we get our tickets? Congress and Youth Day tickets will start being mailed at the end of January. We mail in order of registration. You can find an expected mailing schedule online at archive.recongress.org/2008/updates.htm

Did you know? We don't randomly assign Congress speakers to a room. Our Congress database program has been designed to project attendance. When we get about 7,000 registrations, our computer program actually calculates what attendance will be for each workshop. Then, we assign the most popular workshops with the largest capacity rooms. In fact, our most popular session for each period will be in the Arena -- the one location that is always available!

You can find a listing of our Arena workshops and other session information online at archive.recongress.org/2008/updates.htm