Important Dates
Feb 4 - Fees increase
Feb 10 - Congress & Youth Day ticket mailing begins
Feb 25 - Youth Day Registration Closes
Mar 4 - Last day to mail in Congress registrations
Mar 7 - Last day we mail out-of-state tickets
Mar 9 - Online registration ends
Mar 10 - Last day we mail in-state tickets.

Congress 2011
Mar. 17 (Youth Day) & Mar. 18-20, 2011

2011 Theme
"Hold Firm ... Trust!"

Mantente Firme ... ¡Confía!"

 • Important Dates

 • Congress Dates

 • Youth Day @ 40

 • Register Now!

 • Speaker Spotlight

 • Concert Spotlight

 • Goin' "Green"

 • Congress Volunteers

 • Hotels

 • Cell Phones

 • So. Cal-ers Only

 • RECongress.org

 • Emailing

Online at archive.recongress.org


Email us at
congress
@la-archdiocese.org

The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress is only two months away! Be sure you are aware of some important Congress dates -- including the January 4th deadline for joining the Youth Day 2011 choirs. (Find the Youth Day information below.) Also, the first 5,000 people to register for Congress are "guaranteed" their first choices. So be sure to register this week; we are quickly approaching our 5,000th registrant! Our RECongress Emailings highlight some of the events going on at Congress 2011 — including added events and a spotlight on some of the speakers and musical artists coming to Congress. Also, a reminder that fees increase February 4, and be sure to check the Web site for hotel properties with special attendee rates and updated speaker information. Be sure to register soon to get the reduced fee. Find out how to get your ad in the 2011 Program Book at http://archive.recongress.org/exhibit/AdvertisingForm-ProgramBook.pdf Ad reservation deadline is January 7, 2011.   Pass along this emailing or our link — archive.recongress.org — to share with friends and encourage them to sign up for our Congress Emailing for updates. If you do not care to receive future updates, you can find removal information at the bottom of this message. ¡Para información en español, clic aquí!

Location
Congress is held at the Anaheim Convention Center, located at 800 West Katella Ave. in Anaheim, Calif. (just across from Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure). See a Yahoo Map

Fee
The fee for Youth Day is $20 per person. The fee for Congress, with separate registration form and fee, is $60 per person. Rates are scheduled to increase after February 4, 2011.

Registration
You can register for Youth Day and Congress days online by credit card. For those paying by check, you can use the forms in the Registration Guidebook. The Guidebook contains all workshop and speaker descriptions and one Youth Day form and two individual Congress Registration Forms per book. If you need a Guidebook, you can view one or order one online.

See the Guidebook

YOUTH DAY TURNS 40!
March 17, 2011
Theme: Godbook: Everyone Invited
The first Youth Rally was held 40 years ago, in 1971, at the Anaheim Convention Center. The half day for students set the pattern for what has become Youth Day, which now annually attracts over 15,000 on the Thursday of the Congress event.

Know anyone who would like to take part in the day? We are looking for MCs, Singers, Musicians and other interested youth to be part of the activities in Anaheim. We would also love to have adults volunteer for our day. Those interested must be over 21 and NOT planning to chaperone a parish or school group. You can download registration forms and get much more information online at archive.recongress.org/YD.

Youth, Be a Part of Youth Day
   Arena Choir - To find out about becoming a singer or instrumentalist for the Arena Choir, download the YD Choir Flyer. Deadline is January 4, 2011.
   Grand Ballroom Choir - To find out about being part of the the Grand Ballroom Choir, sponsored by the Santa Barbara Region, contact Daryl Hitt at dhitt@holycross-moorpark.org. Deadline is January 4, 2011.
   YD MCs - Young people who would like to be MCs for Youth Day, with duties to introduce speakers and more, can download the YD MC flyer. (Deadline is February 4, 2011)

Adults, Be a Part of Youth Day
   Adult Volunteers - Adults who are NOT chaperones can find out about volunteer opportunities by downloading the YD Volunteer form. (The deadline is February 15, 2011.)

Go to RECongress.org/YD

REGISTER AND GET YOUR FIRST CHOICES
Want to "guarantee" getting your first choices of Congress workshops? Register now. Workshops are not actually assigned to a room location until 5,000 or more are registered. At that point, we run a projection of attendance and assign the most popular workshops to the Arena and the larger rooms. So, generally speaking, the first 5,000 registrants are "guaranteed" their first choices.

Make sure you're among those first 5,000 by registering now. When you register online you will receive immediate email confirmation of your payment (only if you supply an email address). And once your workshop registration has been processed (usually within a week or two of submission), you will receive an email confirmation with your RECongress Registration number. This is a benefit of online registration; mailed-in registrations do not receive email confirmations. (Tickets will be mailed out beginning February 10, 2011.)

To register online: First, choose your workshops (either from the Guidebook or our online page listing found at archive.recongress.org/2011nav.htm); then pay by credit card; and then indicate your ticket mailing address and your workshop choices.

Register for RECongress now

CONGRESS SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT
Fr. Greg Boyle appeared on the "Dr. Phil" TV show. The December 15, 2010 episode was entitled "Troubled Teens Turnaround: Futures, Not Funerals."

"We get about 15,000 folks who walk through our doors every year, gang members trying to redirect their lives," says Fr. Greg Boyle. "They might come for tattoo removal and discover that we can locate a job for them or maybe they need counseling. ... In Los Angeles County, we have 1,100 gangs and 86,000 gang members. I buried my first young person in 1988. I buried my 170th this morning."

Watch the entire episode from the show's link online on our Updates page.

Congress 2011 features 193 speakers presenting 308 workshops. These are the RECongress workshops listed under the Restorative Justice category:

Rev. Gregory Boyle
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm
Period 2 - Session 2-04*
"Who Would Jesus Hire? Creating a Movement to Welcome the Outcast, the Gang Member and the Felon"

Azim Khamisa
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Period 3 - Session 3-15*
"Restorative Justice: A New Paradigm for Social Transformation"

Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm
Period 5 - Session 5-13*
"The Journey of Forgiveness: Destination Peace"

Juan Meléndez-Colón
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm
Period 5 - Session 5-17*
"Amazing Grace: A Story of Survival, Faith and Hope on America's Death Row"

Find the complete listing of all topics for this year on our Web site.

Congress 2011 Speakers Topics Page

CONGRESS ENTERTAINMENT SPOTLIGHT
Sunday Lunchtime Entertainment
Sunday, March 20 - 11:45 am - 12:30 pm
Convention Center Arena
John Angotti and Danielle Rose
Join John Angotti and Danielle Rose as they bring you into a place of trust in song. Their blend of rhythms and sound will encapsulate your heart and fill you with energy for the rest of Congress.

John Angotti is a full-time music missionary who travels the world providing concerts, workshops, retreats, missions, conferences, and worship. Originally from Clarksburg, W.V., he now resides in Memphis, Tenn., with his wife and two children. He is a graduate of West Virginia University, and the U.S. Military School of Music, where he was a member of the U.S. Navy Band as lead vocalist. With the style and likes of Billy Joel and Elton John, John Angotti delivers a dynamic blend of contemporary styles and meaningful lyrics, leading him to be granted awards for "Male Vocalist of the Year," "Pop/Contemporary," and "Praise and Worship Album of the Year." His writing style includes contemporary rock, pop, and Latin rhythms. In July 2008, John was a featured performer in Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day. He released a new Christmas album in the fall of 2009 titled Welcome Home for Christmas. His latest album, titled Extraordinary Love, was released in early 2010. He has nine recordings to date through World Library Publications.

Danielle Rose is a 2002 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she received bachelor degrees in music and theology. Her debut album, Defining Beauty, was released in 2001 by World Library Publications. After graduating from Notre Dame, Danielle Rose began traveling the globe as a music missionary, ministering from World Youth Day in Toronto to her hometown of Duluth, Minn. In 2004, Danielle received the personal blessing of Pope John Paul II when she presented him with her second album, Mysteries, a collection of meditations upon the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary. She received a Unity Award from the United Catholic Music and Video Association as Female Vocalist of the Year in 2005. One year later she recorded her third album, I Thirst, a musical tribute to the life and work of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. In August 2007, Danielle recorded her fourth album, Pursue Me, which describes the journey of accepting the call to discernment.

Did you know...
The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest on the West Coast. The facility opened in July of 1967, and since that time has experienced five major expansions.
Property: 1.6 million square feet
Size: 53 total acres
Space: 813,000 square feet of exhibit space
Arena: 8,000 seats
Meeting rooms: 51

See our Congress Updates Page

CONGRESS VOLUNTEERS
Would you like to volunteer at Congress? Congress could not function without the hundreds of volunteers who give of their time. If you have attended the Religious Education Congress in the past and would like to find out more about becoming a Congress volunteer this year, please consider this your "personal invitation."

We have a need for volunteers at Youth Day and for English volunteers at Congress workshops and as Eucharistic Ministers for the two Closing Arena Liturgies. Volunteer positions include Assistants (ticket takers), Chairperson (coordinator) and Master of Ceremonies "MC" (to introduce the speakers).

Volunteers must be available to work FOUR workshop sessions. All volunteers must arrive 20-30 minutes prior to their assigned workshop and stay for the entire length of the session. A Congress Volunteer meeting will be held on February 22, 2011. For those interested, additional information and contact information can be found on the Congress Web site.

See Our Volunteer Page

HOTELS
This year we have contracted with 28 hotels nearby the Anaheim Convention Center to offer special rates for attendees. Find a hotel for Congress using our online 2011 Hotel page and our Interactive Hotel Map! We suggest making hotel reservations as soon as possible. When making reservations, be sure to ask for the Religious Education Congress rate.

RECongress.org/Hotels

BRING YOUR OLD CELL PHONE TO CONGRESS
Last year we witnessed two of the largest natural disasters in recent memory in Haiti and Pakistan. And through the generous participation of Congress 2010 attendees in our Cell Phone Recycling Initiative, we have been able to donate $1,800 to Catholic Relief Services’ emergency assistance to Haiti. Again this year we are partnering with GetGreenToGetGreen.com to collect phones to benefit Haiti and Pakistan. Bring your old cell phones — working or not — with you to Congress. More than 130 million cell phones are thrown away every year. Don’t throw away electronics that should be recycled. Do your part to recycle your old cell phone — and help us help Haiti and Pakistan in the process.

RECongress Spotlight Page

JUST FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIANS
Ralphs Grocery Company, a major supermarket chain in the Southern California area, supports schools, churches and other non-profit organizations with annual contributions. The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress is a member of Ralphs Community Contributions Program. Simply by using your Ralphs rewardss Card a portion of eligible purchases are contributed to the RECongress. (Note: This is an annual program that must be renewed each year. The current term is September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011.)

Even if you were part of this program last year, you will need to update your account again this year. We encourage all Ralphs shoppers to sign up for the free Ralphs rewards Card and register their card with the Community Contributions Program. It’s easy! Every time you shop for groceries and scan your card at Ralphs, RECongress will automatically earn up to 5% of all eligible purchases per enrolled card. Sign up now! It’s never been easier to contribute to the RECongress.

Organization Name:: Archdiocese of Los Angeles - Religious Education
Address: 3424 Wilshire Blvd., 3rd Floor, Los Angeles, CA
Organization Number: 90658

Find step-by-step instructions and information online.

RECongress Ralphs Program

RECONGRESS.ORG
You can find all Congress information and updates online. We have begun to add our Exhibitors list for Congress 2011 and are constantly updating on our Congress 2011 Updates page. Check our site for updates and announcements.

archive.recongress.org

EMAILING
Find this and past Congress Emailings online at our Emailings page at archive.recongress.org/Emailing

Be sure to Sign-up for the Congress Emailing List. You may opt out from this Emailing at any time from the link below.

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