Recently, several sisters from our Los Angeles Province attended the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. While there, our sisters attended speeches, helped run booths and met both old and new friends.
Sponsored by the Office of Religious Education in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Religious Education Congress hosts Catholics from all over the global church. The mission of the 4-day event is to “inspire, transform and send [attendees] out to spread the joy of the Gospel, to be a voice for justice and to serve the needs of the world.”
Sister Noriko Kuroki
St. Francis Xavier Church in Los Angeles, where I am ministering now, had a booth at the Religious Education Congress held at the Convention Center in Anaheim on February 9-11. As the only parish in the U.S. with Japanese-language Masses, many people were interested in visiting our booth.
We were surprised that many people wanted to learn how to make origami cranes, a symbol of peace, or wanted to know about the history of hidden Christians or martyrs, especially Filipinos, who knew a lot about Blessed Takayama Ukon.
Although the preparation was very hard, I am very happy and grateful to have been able to participate in this congress in cooperation with the parishioners.
Sisters Judy Molosky, Carol Quinlivan, Rosalie Callen and Sally Koch
Sisters Judy Molosky, Carol Quinlivan, Rosalie Callen and Sally Koch also attended the congress. During the gathering, they attended several talks about the recent Synod on Synodality as well as visited and helped run a booth with the Saint Joseph Workers.
The sisters attended San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy’s presentation on the Synod and listened to Sister Theresa Maya, CCVI speak about how important loving women in our Church is to the synodal process. Our sisters also saw artistic displays and participated in liturgy.
Sisters Judy Molosky and Julie Fertsch helped run the Alliance to End Human Trafficking booth with the Saint Joseph Workers. Sister Sally Koch went to a gathering of Giving Voice Sisters, a group of religious women from different congregations under the age of 55.