The 2026 LA Religious Education Congress kicked off Friday morning with an emphasis on the healing power of mercy and self-forgiveness — and a special message from Pope Leo XIV — as the annual gathering marked its 70th year.
This year’s theme, “Wrapped in Mercy, Hope Renewed!” was the inspiration for the liturgy, song, worship dance, and reflection inside the Anaheim Convention Center Arena on Feb. 20.
In his welcome remarks, Archbishop José H. Gomez surprised participants with a message sent by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of Leo.
“As you gather for these days of prayer, formation, and fellowship, [Pope Leo] trusts that they will provide an opportunity for true spiritual renewal,” read the message. “His Holiness would likewise encourage the young people present to open their hearts to the love of God.”
The message also mentioned the pope’s prayers that RECongress-goers might “discover Jesus’ Eucharistic presence as an unfailing source of comfort and strength in all of life’s circumstances.”
According to organizers, 48 states and several countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdo,m were represented among this year’s attendees.
The opening ceremony, marked by a cultural fusion of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean elements inspired by this week’s lunar new year, launched the adult formation workshops taking place through Sunday, Feb. 22. A day earlier on Thursday, more than 8,000 middle and high schoolers participated in RECongress’ annual Youth Day, which featured Mass, prayer opportunities, and a lineup of Catholic speakers.
One of the most striking moments of the Friday morning ceremony was a video witness presented on the large video screen from Yolanda Chavez, a volunteer for the LA Archdiocese’s Office of Religious Education, which coordinates the Congress.
Chavez explained in Spanish how she had been living and working in Los Angeles for the last 30 years, but suddenly faced a deportation notice. Rather than subject her family to further harm, as she felt she was considered a threat, she relocated to Mexico.
“The first night, I cried a lot,” Chavez said. “God was in my tears, weeping with me. … I love the God who crossed the border with me. Today, I know God. His name is mercy.”
Sister Rosalia Meza, VDMF, senior director of the Office of Religious Education, explained after the video that “as Yolanda shows us, God is always present in our suffering. Mercy is the essence of God’s heart. It wraps us with tender love like a mother kissing her new-born baby for the first time. Mercy is God offering himself to us to lift us from our woundedness.”
Among those in the arena on Friday was Virginia Medellin, a parishioner at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Pacoima. As the badge she was wearing indicated, Medellin first started attending RECongress in 1964 when she was a CCD teacher. In those days, she explained, she marched for the rights of migrant workers with Cesar Chavez.
Today’s aggressive federal deportation policy would lead her to protest on the streets, she said, but growing older, she can “do more with prayer.”
“My heart goes out to [Chavez],” she told Angelus “This is why it is important for me to attend. Things are crushing down all around us, but there is a light in the end. We have to remember how God suffered for us and took His cross. Once we follow Him, we have to take our own crosses.”
In his own remarks, Archbishop Gomez prayed that the RECongress would be “time of renewal and friendship” that would bring participants “to an even deeper dedication to your vocation as disciples of Jesus, entrusted with the beautiful duty to teach His Gospel in a way that brings others to a true and living encounter with our Lord.”
Before the end of the ceremony, Meza paid tribute to the work of the late Father Chris Ponnet, who died last October. Meza said that Ponnet’s legacy of pastoral care and social justice advocacy was an example of “someone who carried hope through his actions.”
“In this time of fragility and uncertainty, our prayers and actions matter,” said Meza. “When we embody hope through love, mercy and unity, we become witnesses to God’s abiding presence, bringing hope not only to ourselves but the entire world.”
