Truly International - Wayne Centrone

A really bad selfie from the multinational meeting.

Yesterday I was in a meeting, more specifically a conference (the first of the two formal conferences I will be attending while in Rome), that was truly international in its representation. There were representatives from over 20-countries in the small audience of less than 30. Participants from all of the continents of the planet. It was amazing.

The flow of languages and the ease with which some of the attendees could seamlessly go between two, three and even four different language was awe-inspiring. And, a little overwhelming - as the entire meeting (sans a comment from a participant from South Africa) was in Italian. By the end of the morning session, I was exhausted. 

Why is HBI involved in this conference? We are here to talk with priests from around the globe about ways they can partner with non-governmental organizations to expand the social impact of the Church. In fact, I had a very productive conversation with a priest from Lebanon about expanding the Ines Project to his work. He has a small NGO that works with women and children in various places around Lebanon. He was extremely interested in how we might collaborate on an Ines Project. Super exciting.

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