By Cindy Wooden (CNS)
Pope Francis invited a group of community organizers from the United States, including a parishioner of St. Stephen’s in Glenwood Springs, back to his residence for a follow-up discussion about their efforts to listen to gather people, listen to their needs and help them figure out how to work together to improve the lives of their communities.
When Pope Francis told a group of U.S. community organizers that their work was “atomic,” Jorge Montiel said, “I thought, ‘Oh, you mean we blow things up?’ But instead, the pope spoke about how the groups associated with the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation in the United States take issues patiently, “atom by atom,” and end up building something that “penetrates” and changes entire communities, said Montiel, an IAF organizer in Colorado and New Mexico.
Pope Francis’ hourlong meeting on Sept. 14 with 15 delegates from the group was a follow-up to a similar meeting a year ago. Neither meeting was listed on the pope’s official schedule, and, the delegates said, both were conversations, not “audiences.” “It was relaxed, it was engaging,” said Joe Rubio, national co-director of IAF. “Often you don’t see that even with parish priests,” he told Catholic News Service Sept. 15, garnering the laughter of other delegates.
To read the full article from Catholic News Service, click here: https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-meets-us-leaders-patiently-building-culture-solidarity