The largest annual Roman Catholic gathering of...

The largest annual Roman Catholic gathering of any kind in the United States--the Religious Education Congress of the Los Angeles Archdiocese--is expected to attract between 17,000 and 18,000 teachers, clergy and parishioners to Anaheim from Jan. 26-28. The congress is preceded by a youth day that each year packs 11,000 Catholic high school students into the Anaheim Sports Arena.

Usually held in the late winter or early spring, the 1990 Religious Education Congress was moved up to this month because of conflicting events scheduled at the Anaheim Convention Center, according to Sister Edith Prendergast, director of the archdiocesan Office of Religious Education.

That makes January even busier for religionists active in ecumenical and interfaith activities.

The calendar is heavy with conferences and public celebrations--notably observances keyed to the Jan. 15 birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25. The latter, sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is being celebrated with ecumenical services in many Southland communities.

The Religious Education Congress, while run from Los Angeles, continues to be held in Anaheim, even though the Catholic Diocese of Orange was formed out of the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1976. But the annual gathering has long attracted registrants from across the United States and from abroad, Prendergast said.

Because of the high attendance, the registration fee is a relatively low $30 for the three days. Prendergast said in an interview that the fees not only cover the cost of the annual meeting but provide a surplus for operating the religious education office in Los Angeles.

More than 125 speakers will make presentations in 225 workshops, including some in Spanish. The schedule includes four Eucharistic Liturgies.

Prendergast said that speakers typically attempt to provide practical ideas and problem-solving approaches instead of “leading edge” presentations in Catholic thinking.

Nevertheless, some workshop topics cover sensitive areas: the use of “marketing strategy” to help parishes evangelize new members, methods to counter challenges from fundamentalist churches and ways to deal with apparent contradictions in “the Jesus of history” and the Jesus of faith.

In addition, a nun who is both a psychotherapist and spiritual director in Pennsylvania will conduct a workshop titled, “Another Look at the Sexual Celibate,” described enigmatically in the congress program as a talk exploring “the sensual, sexual affective dimensions of the human person in relationship . . . (with a focus) on integration of genitality into celibate friending.”

RABBIS

Rabbis from three segments of Judaism will hold Western regional meetings in Palm Springs next week. About 50 rabbis in the Conservative tradition will convene Sunday through Wednesday at Maxim’s Hotel, featuring talks by biblical scholar Nahum Sarna and Rabbi Joel Meyer, newly appointed national executive director of the Rabbinical Assembly. About 140 Reform rabbis will open a five-day conference Sunday at the Palm Springs Hilton Hotel. The next day at the same hotel, Orthodox rabbis and laymen affiliated with Agudath Israel of California will open a three-day convention. Rabbi Pinchos Menachem Joskowitz, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, will be the keynote speaker.

RACISM

Racism, a persistent problem that sponsors termed an item on “the church’s unfinished agenda,” will be explored in a regional convocation Jan. 19 and 20 at North Hollywood United Methodist Church. The Rev. Cornish Rogers, a United Methodist official who teaches at the School of Theology at Claremont, said the conference is designed to “provide an opportunity for sharing strategies that have worked for some, to receive information about the subtle ways racism intrudes into the Christian community . . . and to discover how we can guard against our own racist inclinations.” Deadline for registration ($20) is Friday.

INTERFAITH

Several hundred members of diverse religious traditions are expected to take part Wednesday in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Prayer Breakfast at Trinity Baptist Church, 2040 W. Jefferson Blvd., in South-Central Los Angeles. Co-sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, the 8 a.m. gathering will be addressed by the Rev. William Saxe Epps, pastor of Los Angeles Second Baptist Church. The program also will have musical, prayer and scriptural contributions from Buddhist, Catholic, Bahai, Muslim and Jewish representatives.

PEOPLE

The Rev. Allan Boesak, 44, prominent anti-apartheid leader in South Africa and president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, will visit the Southland next week. Before receiving the Liberty Hill Foundation’s International Human Rights Award in San Diego next Saturday, he will lecture at 4 p.m. Friday on the campus of Chapman College in Orange.