I spent this past weekend at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress with 30,000 or so of my best friends! As always, it was a great experience. I had the privilege of giving a presentation on The Catechist’s Toolbox to about 500 catechists on Saturday afternoon, followed by a book signing in the exhibit hall. It was a great thrill. Thanks to all the wonderful catechists who came to my workshop on such a beautiful (sunny, 80 degrees) Saturday afternoon, to grow together as catechists! Here are a couple of pics.

Joe,
It looks like they were teaching the “ABC’s” behind you at the book signing…..sorry…..you’ll discover I can be rather sarcastic
But hey, if there were several authors, I’m impressed that you were an “A”.
I’m reading your “A well -built faith” right now and I’m sure I will probably read it over and over again. It’s a great book for learning more about our faith.
I just wanted to put the word out to all catechists that I spent this past weekend at a retreat offered by the Jesuits at Bellarmine Hall (www.bellarminehall.org) in Barrington, IL and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life! I would recommend this, or any, retreat (they offer both men’s and women’s retreats at Bellarmine) to anyone looking to get closer to the Catholic faith. This was a silent retreat and I went there hoping to “hear” the voice of Jesus and his Blessed Mother Mary was the one that ended up speaking to me….loud and clear.!!! The retreat was a great gift to myself that I know is going to help me more effectively share our faith with others.
God Bless.
Greg Olson
Greg, you’re right about the ABC pic! Pretty funny!
Thanks for sharing about your retreat experience at Bellarmine…what a great Lenten gift this was for you.