Located between Los Angeles and San Diego, the Southern Californian city of Anaheim serves as a premier leisure and business destination, known for its excellent outdoor recreation opportunities and world-renowned convention centres. This vibrant city is home to the famous Disneyland resort - a massive complex of family-friendly rides, restaurants, and shops. Visitors can also look forward to watching a variety of professional sports teams in the city's many indoor sports arenas or exploring the downtown area, which boasts an array of trendy little bars and eateries as well as a number of local craft beer breweries. Don’t miss the Colony Historic District, which features numerous Spanish colonial-style concerts and contemporary art galleries.
LOS ANGELES RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CONGRESS
The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress continues to grow with each passing year. It remains the largest annual catechetical and liturgical gathering in the world; and it happens every year in Anaheim.
Within the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, liturgy is celebrated every Sunday in no fewer than 40 different languages. Living in the gift, promise and spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the L.A. Religious Education Congress liturgies have grown as they have embraced this wonderfully diverse church. Without exaggeration, complimentary reports and reviews come from six of the world’s seven continents. From Gregorian chant to gospel choirs; from Aztec dancers to Vietnamese and African drummers; we’ve worked diligently to inculturate the liturgy to accurately and authentically reflect the church of Los Angeles.
The combined talents of nearly 275 musicians comprise the group that provide the music for the final liturgies on Sunday at Congress. Over 16,000 people attend these liturgies. Prior to 1991, the "band" consisted of piano, one percussionist, one guitar, electric bass and a synthesizer. The choir was 16 voices. Over the years, both the choir and band have grown considerably in depth and membership. Today's Congress Band/Orchestra consists of approximately 40 instrumentalists and last year's choir was the largest with over 200 members from six dioceses. Last year, we had nearly 30 students from 6 different colleges and universities singing with us. We’re working hard to include as many talented people as possible in this experience.
John Flaherty
Congress Liturgy Committee
