Pope encourages Catholic community organizers from US to act, move forward
August 30, 2024
» Continue to this story on Vatican News
CWN Editor's Note: Pope Francis received leaders of the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation in his residence in Casa Santa Marta.
The community organizers discussed the Ecclesial Network of Organized Communities (RECOR), an imitative of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM). RECOR, according to Vatican News, “aims to take the lead in implementing the Church’s Social Doctrine.”
The news agency reported that the Pope “encouraged the leaders to build a synodal bridge ‘so that our peoples may have life.’” The Pontiff “encouraged us to keep moving forward, to keep acting, and not remain indifferent,” said María Guadalupe Valdez, a participant in the meeting.
Another participant, Jorge Montiel, added:
Pope Francis greatly appreciates the capacity of a people to organize themselves. The wealth of a people lies in its ability to organize. He also reminded us of the words of Paul VI, who said that politics is the highest expression of charity.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Sep. 01, 2024 10:52 PM ET USA
I just looked over the IAF website linked in the article above. The tone, stated methods, and history of civic actions appear commendable. This is a far cry from the methods proposed to my parish in the mid-1980s by one of the many cognate organizations (ours was called ABLE) derived from Saul Alinsky's efforts to disrupt civil society. ABLE tried to strong-arm our diocese and parish to adopt a strategy called "PUSH", a set of coercive tactics designed to physically disrupt business activities.
