[Excerpt]

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 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.

Pope Meets US Leaders Patiently Building Culture of Solidarity, US Conference of Catholic Bishops / Catholic News Service [pdf]

[Excerpt]

Over 300 leaders, clergy, religious, and bishops from 20 organizations gathered last week in San Antonio to celebrate five years of Recognizing the Stranger, a West/Southwest IAF training, leadership formation, and parish organizing strategy. 

The Convocation was highlighted by a video message from Pope Francis, who offered his “closeness and support” to the IAF network and its work to organize with immigrants and with those at the margins to encourage “participation of the Christian in public life.”  

[Excerpt]

Rabbi John Linder from Phoenix gave the pope a leather-bound and gold-leaf Hebrew Bible during the visit. "The most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself," the rabbi said, "but what does that look like?" "Pope Francis said it's about 'amor concreto,' or 'concrete love,' " recalled Linder. "And that means being with people, paying attention to their needs — for example figuring out that a community needs water or needs electricity. "Amor concreto," Linder said. "That will stay with me forever."

[In photo, a synod training session is held by Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA) at a parish in the Diocese of Monterey, California. COPA community organizers trained around 500 Catholics to conduct synodal listening sessions in the region.]

For Synod Listening Sessions, US Bishops Turned to Community Organizers, National Catholic Reporter [pdf]

Valley Interfaith Project strongly supports Prop 308 which would ensure that all Arizona high school graduates, including Dreamers, will pay in-state tuition at our state colleges and universities.

Approximately 2,000 Dreamers graduate from Arizona high schools each year. These young people and their families are integral to our communities and they should have the same opportunities as all Arizonans. Their success benefits us all.

Proposition 308 will make post-secondary schooling truly accessible, enabling students to pay their own way through college and prepare them to become self-reliant and contributors to our social fabric and to our economy. We need their talent, energy, and leadership to help shape a dynamic future for the next generation.

It is time to set this matter right and make Arizona a place to realize the American Dream.

Vote “Yes” To Give Dreamers The Same In-State Tuition Rates As Everyone Else, Jewish News [pdf]