3 Things I Learned at the RE Congress

I'm sitting at home as springtime has sprung. The sky is blue here in Richland, but with that beautiful springtime comes pollen...and lots of it. I can't even see it, but my eyes are itchy and my nose is runny. Allergies abound, and I am stuck in bed with tissues and meds. The upside is that it gives me time to sit down and write.

I guess this down time is a good thing because it's allowing me to get some rest after several weeks of being on the go. I just got back last week from the annual Religious Education Congress in Anaheim. This was my third time attending what's touted as the largest gathering for religious educators and catechists. I was looking forward to attending knowing that several of the big name Catholic speakers were going to be there. There were definite moments of excitement and some disappointments, but I came out having learned some important things that I can use in my ministry.

1.) You encounter God in unexpected places. - When we first registered for the Congress and reviewed the schedule of events, one of the things I was really excited about was Mass with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. He did not disappoint. The theme of the Mass, "Laudato Si," led me to believe that he would be preaching about caring for the earth, but he expanded the theme and talked about caring for one another. Sure, it's a theme we hear about often. Of course we're meant to care for one another, but Cardinal Tagle told a touching story about being driven around the streets of Manila. As someone who has experienced the way that vendors crowd the cars at a stoplight, his story especially touched me. A man who was selling barquillos was eager to get the Cardinal's attention as he sat in the backseat of a stopped car. The driver said they were not buying anything, but the vendor insisted on giving His Eminence the packet of cookies, "A gift for the Cardinal." As Cardinal Tagle recounted the story about a man whose entire life probably relied on his sales, tears filled his eyes as he said, "A cathedral in the streets of Manila. Caring." It can easily be lost on people that they can encounter Christ in the desperate poor who crowd the streets of busy cities. But if a cathedral can rise in the middle of a traffic jam, can't Jesus be present to us even in the most challenging of situations? It was a sentiment that I needed to hear, and during that Mass, I felt that presence of Christ so strongly. During Communion, I was asked, "Don't you want to receive communion from Cardinal Tagle?" I responded that it didn't matter. Jesus is Jesus. But as I was getting in line, I saw a beautiful moment of what Cardinal Tagle had been talking about during his homily. A priest who was making his way through the jumble of chairs to bring Jesus to people who couldn't get up to receive communion. He stepped over bags and rows of folding chairs and made sure everyone who wanted to receive Communion did. Caring...in the middle of a crowded arena.

2. If you don't rest, you will rust. One of the highlights of the RE Congress for me is that there are hundreds of priests present, and several of them are available for confession. I skipped one of my sessions to make time for the sacrament, and after standing in line, I got to confess my sins to a kind priest from India. As soon as I sat down, he said, "That looks like a heavy bag." I looked over at my tote which carried a few books, a water bottle and boots that I had brought along because rain had been in the forecast. I nodded. It was, indeed, heavy. In hindsight, his initial observation was so astute - he could see the heaviness of my ministry and how it had been leading to distress, which led to impatience and anger and misunderstanding. As I laid all of these things before him, I felt that weight begin to leave my shoulders. And he told me, "You must rest. If you don't rest, you rust. Rusting is corrosion. You don't want it. Rest is a gift from God the Father." Why is it so hard for me to recognize this? Every now and then I see the importance of rest, but I also have a tendency to burn the midnight oil until there is nothing left. But if I learned anything from that session in the confessional, it's that when God gives you a gift, you must receive it. He's giving it to you for a reason, and that reason is his love for you.

3. Greenhouse faith is for fragile Catholics. - If Mass with Cardinal Tagle was what I was most looking forward to, a session with Fr. Mike Schmitz came in a close second. The workshop, titled "Anti-Fragile Faith" was the first session I went to on Saturday morning. Of course the place was packed. As the talk progressed, I was concerned that the talk would just skim the top of theology, just glossing over the basics, but I was wrong. Fr. Mike got into deeper thoughts, including the concept of "greenhouse faith." Greenhouses, of course, are places where fragile plants are placed so they can thrive in a controlled environment. They would die elsewhere. Catholics aren't meant to be in a greenhouse. We're meant to thrive wherever we are. We are meant to be anti-fragile. I noticed in that moment that I can be pretty fragile. There are times when I tend to shrink back and even wilt because I'm not in the middle of a safe environment. There are times when I become afraid of defending my faith because I know I'm going to ruffle feathers or I know that what I say is going to be unpopular or even viewed as intolerant. Stepping outside of the greenhouse where everything is ideal and comfortable isn't easy. In fact, it's a lot like taking on a burden. But Jesus says, "My yoke is easy. My burden is light." Taking on that yoke is sharing in the relationships that Jesus has with his Father. When we take on his yoke, we see the world as Jesus sees it, and we join in His mission. Being anti-fragile means that when you encounter opposition, it makes you stronger because you have allowed God to work in your life. You live with him and you work with Him. There's nothing more anti-fragile in this world than the Church. We grow the most when we are in opposition because God raises up great saints when its fiercest critics come to destroy the Church. That's my goal. I want to be anti-fragile.

Overall, I got some good things out of this Congress. But I also left feeling like I expected more. I wanted to go deeper into theology and grow in my faith more. I guess that's when I realize that we're not meant to be weekend believers. We're meant to take what we learn from conferences like this, from Mass, from our deepest prayer experiences, and bring it out into the world. I guess that's the thing about ministry. The job is never really done until our souls rest in the hands of our God who made us.