In late March, CCSTA President Marino Gazzola was one of about 30,000 people that came together in Los Angeles, California to connect, learn, and celebrate Catholic education around the world. The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress (RECongress) is an annual event that “offers in-service education and spiritual formation to those in catechetical and related ministries,” says Jan Pedroza, Religious Education Congress Program Coordinator. Hosted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the congress is a Catholic-focused congress that has grown to include people from a wide variety of different vocations and faiths. It was Mr. Gazzola’s first time attending the event, and he says it was an amazing experience.
“It was certainly the best conference or congress I’ve ever been at,” he says. “It was unreal. The experience of being at a Mass with almost 10,000 people was just out of this world.”
Mr. Gazzola says they had heard such glowing reviews about the congress from Catholic educators in western Canada that the CCSTA felt they had to send a representative. He was there for the whole event, from Thursday to Sunday.