Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, President of the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology (DSPT), was invited to give two workshops at the annual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress on February 27 and 28. The largest event of its kind in the world, the Congress is held at the Anaheim Convention Center and draws crowds in the tens of thousands. Participants this year were able to choose from over 275 workshops given by nearly 200 speakers. DSPT hosts a table at the event every year to advertise its programs.
Fr. Sweeney’s first workshop was titled “At the Heart of the Parish” and was filled to capacity with over 200 attendees. Using the Gospel account of Jesus meeting two of His disciples on the Road to Emmaus as the basis, Fr. Sweeney spoke of how we can organize parish life around this same encounter of meeting Christ on the way, being instructed by him and recognizing him in the “breaking of the bread” as we live this rhythm of Christ’s interaction with us in the Mass. Fr. Sweeney spoke particularly of how each parish ministry flows from the rhythm of Mass, whether we gather people in, proclaim to them the Good News, call them to prayer and worship or send them out to serve; the parish is where we encounter the Risen Christ in the Eucharist and are then sent to bring him to the world.
The second workshop, “A Lay Office?” also drew a crowd as Fr. Sweeney explored where the laity fit within the Church. Offering a brief history of the Church’s understanding of the role of the laity, Fr. Sweeney then spoke of the power, authority and jurisdiction of the lay person as serving the secular order. He added that to speak of a lay office in the Church is to point to the primary duty of lay people, which is to consecrate the world to God through the proper ordering of what is secular. Fr. Sweeney emphasized the importance of the lay office in bringing the Good News to contemporary society, as it is quite possibly the only way many people will hear of God’s love.
Both workshops were well received and many participants asked questions after each talk. At the heart of both of these talks was Fr. Sweeney’s call to the people of God to know that our vocation lies in where we are called to heal. Most of those present were lay people and so this call, to bring the healing of Christ to the world, took on special importance. While many of those who attended the workshops work within a parish, Fr. Sweeney encouraged them to not only look within our parish family, but outside at a beautiful world, badly in need of healing.
