[Excerpt]

Organizers "taught people how to listen to others' pain and joy without getting defensive, without wanting to solve the issue," added Elizabeth Valdez, Texas IAF director. "Just letting them be able to share and then asking them what they want to do about it." Valdez said there have been hundreds of house meetings for the synod, and in El Paso, close to 300 people were trained by EPISO/Border Interfaith. In Monterey, COPA conducted six trainings for some 500 parish leaders, who then led synodal listening sessions.

[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]