One of the largest annual Catholic gatherings in the United States will soon make its new home in Long Beach, officials with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said on Tuesday, May 19.
The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, a seven-decade-old convention that’s also known as RECongress and annually draws more than 20,000 people, will move from Anaheim to the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in 2028, the conference’s organizers said. A five-year agreement with the Convention Center will bring Catholics from across the U.S. and the world to Long Beach for the four-day convention through 2032.
For 70 years, RECongress has been organized by the L.A. Archdiocese’s Office of Religious Education. Over the decades, it has evolved into a globally recognized convention focused on faith formation, spiritual growth and community building. And despite its current popularity, organizers said, it has the potential to keep growing.
The congress has been held at the Anaheim Convention Center for the past 57 years. The 2027 RECongress, scheduled for April 22 to 25, will conclude the convention’s long history in Anaheim.
“We’re excited, especially because we are coming back home,” Sister Rosalia Meza, senior director at the Office of Religious Education, told the Southern California News Group in a Tuesday interview. “This is the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; that’s the beauty of coming here.”
Even though it’s been awhile, the move to Long Beach — necessary because of the event’s continual growth — is not unprecedented, RECongress organizers said — though the change is still a massive shift.
“In our long history, we’ve made lots of changes,” said Paulette Smith, event coordinator for RECongress and associate director of the Office of Religious Education. “We started in a high school, moved to a college, moved to an LAX hotel and then moved to Anaheim, and I’m sure with each of those moves and the growing of the event, that leaders were always significantly nervous.
“We’re going to have that same historical courage and know that it’s always been a positive change when we’ve moved,” Smith added, “and so this is another milestone in our history.”
Relocating to Long Beach is intended to enhance the attendee experience, while aligning with a destination that reflects the event’s objective of connection and renewal, said officials with the organization Meet Long Beach.
That organization, which markets the city as a destination for conventions, meetings and events, worked closely with RECongress officials to showcase seaside metropolis and its capabilities, tailoring site visits and experiences that highlighted both the Convention Center and Long Beach itself.
“Long Beach is a terrific destination for this type of event, bringing 20,000 people in, and the walkability,” said Shannon White, national sales director for Meet Long Beach. “I think the planners really saw that – they’re actually local to Long Beach. Although they’ve been in Anaheim for 57 years, when they came to site the city, we were able to give them unique experiences that they weren’t able to see as locals and to bring their conference here.
“We’re so excited,” White added, “and it’s a big move for them and a big deal for us.”
Many local businesses and hotels in Long Beach will also prosper from the four-day conference, White said. The event is expected to generate more than 5,000 hotel room nights annually, alongside increased economic activity for local businesses, restaurants and attractions.
“Our entire hospitality ecosystem, from the restaurants to the hotels, we’re all a part of welcoming conventions to our city,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a Tuesday interview. “When we’re able to attract a convention like RECongress to Long Beach, it says a lot about the strength of our downtown, the strength of our hospitality community and the vote of confidence that RECongress is placing in the city of Long Beach to create the kind of experience that is authentic, welcoming, safe and fun.”
With many attendees coming from the region and part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the relocation also allows people to come back to visit, said Steve Goodling, president and CEO of Meet Long Beach.
“When you bring 20,000 people in from a region, and they had a great time in Long Beach, they can decide to visit again,” Goodling said. “We have the chance of bringing them back multiple times over the year.”
RECongress will also be the only event happening at the Convention Center when it arrives in February 2028 — several months before the Summer Olympics take over — which will help create a better attendee experience, Meet Long Beach officials said — and that’s what organizers were looking for.
“In Anaheim, they took over, they were everywhere in the city and that’s what is going to happen here in Long Beach,” Goodling said. “It’s a big deal for them to come here because it was 57 years and all of our hope is that it’ll be 50 plus years here in Long Beach going forward.”
Among the reasons RECongress officials said the Convention Center was appealing is that it’s accessible by public transportation – such as L.A. Metro — and is close to both the Los Angeles International and Long Beach airports.
RECongress welcomes both youth and adults to participate in programming that promotes spiritual growth, professional development and a deeper connection with their faith, organizers said. The first day of the convention each year is Youth Day, offering students from middle and high schools the opportunity to hear speakers, visit interactive exhibits and experience music, liturgy and prayer.
The following three days offer more than 140 workshops, events and exhibits for adults, with programming offered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, Meza said.
“Looking at this through the eyes of faith, this is God giving us the opportunity to do something different,” Meza said about moving to the convention to Long Beach. “We help but it’s God’s work as well.”