An ‘Awesome’ Renewal

Don’t fault the Roman Catholic Church for not doing enough to attract youth.

Some teenagers who flocked to Anaheim over the weekend to join several thousand Catholics in celebrating the faith said the church went so far in its quest to make the religion hip that their eardrums almost burst.

“They made it so heavy metal-like,” Jennifer Zarcone, 16, said of the marquee event of the weekend, a concert featuring “Catholic British rocker and Youth Evangelist” Sal Solo. “We needed earplugs. We were like, what is this?”

Zarcone, of course, has no regrets about making the pilgrimage from San Diego to attend the 30th annual Catholic Renewal Convention. She just would have liked to spend more time working out the meaning of life and a little less throwing around beach balls and listening to church rock.

“The adults seemed really into all the kids’ activities,” she said. “But a lot of the kids were more interested in what the adults were doing.”

Indeed, several of the adults sounded like kids as they left the Anaheim Convention Center while the event was wrapping up Sunday. Asked their impression, the most oft-repeated response was “awesome.”

“This keeps my battery charged for the year,” said Helen Schneider, 66, of Tarzana. She came with her daughter and her granddaughter. “It’s all so inspiring. Just awesome. It reminds me that nothing is impossible with God. . . . My stomach is in knots because we have to leave.”

And as she left, she said she left with humility.

Humility was the theme of the day Sunday.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony brought it all into context by setting the opening segment of his sermon in a place his audience of Southern California parishioners could relate to: Petco.

Yes, the cardinal has two cats and he shops at Petco. In civilian clothes.

“I was checking out when the lady in front of me said, ‘You look like Cardinal Mahony,’ ” he told the audience of about 8,000 Sunday afternoon. “Then she said, ‘I know it isn’t Cardinal Mahony, because Cardinal Mahony would never be in a Petco.’ ”

But indeed he was. Engaging in ordinary tasks is part of reminding himself that he is no more important that any other person, he said.

“There are expectations we have of ourselves and we expect others to have of us,” he said, imploring the audience to always seek to be humble. “It’s so opposed to human nature that it is a lifelong struggle for all of us.

“So many people believe that the only way for them to advance is over the dead bodies of others,” Mahony said. “You might see that where you work. People are so anxious to get ahead of others that they will do almost anything.”

Status and advancement, he warns, won’t bring salvation. Only humility and service can do that.

“Humble service is contrary to the value of our culture,” he said, “but it also ultimately creates great freedom, inner joy and peace, because we don’t have to worry about getting ahead of this one or that one, this neighbor or the other.”

Eleanor Moreno of Orange walked outside the building after the sermon looking as if she just stepped off a roller coaster.

“I’m exhausted,” she said, “but it’s a nice exhaustion.”