PHILADELPHIA—The City of Brotherly Love welcomed people from all over the world during the World Meeting of Families Congress, Sept. 22-27, including two women from the Diocesan Administration Center in Rockford.

Jennifer Collins, director of the Office of Life and Family Evangelization (LiFE), attended the Congress itself, calling it a “celebration of families.” As one who has attended a number of conferences, Collins was deeply impressed by the organization of the event, which welcomed around 20,000 people from many countries, including couples, families with children, priests and religious, Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

“I had anticipated a very high level of chaos,” Collins says with a grin.

But everything “was so smooth, and things ran well. It was amazing,” she adds, crediting visible efforts by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the city and the various law enforcement workers.

Like her, a number of people were attending the congress because of their professional positions. But the congress differed from other conferences, Collins says, because of the number of families attending with their children from all around the world. Their attendance “spoke to the purpose” of the congress, she says.

Each day began with Mass. At one, Collins says she counted seven cardinals, 124 bishops and “well over 800 priests.” The processional was never less than 20 minutes. Even so, the Jumbotrons — large screen televisions that show close-up shots of the event — made it possible for those clear in the back of the room to feel connected, she says.

The multi-country event featured keynote talks that were simultaneously translated and transmitted to people’s headsets tuned for their specific language. Between the keynote talks were breakout sessions, 15 at a time, to accommodate various interests. During those sessions, age-appropriate activities and events were available for the children.

“All the kids I talked to were having the time of their life,” Collins says. “It was awesome to see a conference of this size to be organized so well and to be so relevant for so many.

“We as Church were all together in one room and living out our vocations very tangibly, right there. All of us were united in our vocations through the family. It was beautiful to see that in action.”

It was a different but also great experience for Nancie Brown, who found out on Sept. 18 that she had won the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s contest trip to Philadelphia.

Although she did not attend the congress itself, Brown and her husband, Larry, couldn’t help but meet and talk with the many families, clergy and religious sisters they saw everywhere, including at the marketplace near their downtown hotel.

The marketplace was “filled with Catholic families from all over the world,” she says, adding, “there were lots of sisters (who were) so joyful and always smiling.”

They also discovered some Rockford connections, including bumping into their friends, the Seivert family, near the marketplace. When a group of Dominican sisters found out where the Browns were from, they told the couple that they love using Holy Family pastor, Msgr. Eric Barr’s, tapes.

The Browns also met the Archbishop of Los Angeles at St. John the Evangelist Church. “He told me to tell Bishop Malloy ‘Hello,’” Brown says, adding that they also visited with a cardinal from Haiti and some of his priests in their hotel lobby.

“We met families from China, Vietnam and all over the U.S. There were a lot from Latin America,” she says. “We heard all kinds of languages. The people were all excited about the faith, and were alive and on fire – the energy of the people was incredible.”

One of Brown’s goals was to find St. John the Evangelist Church where the traveling relics of St. Maria Goretti were displayed. She had read that numerous miracles have been attributed to the “little saint of great mercy,” and she had a number of people to pray for. “I just felt pulled there,” she says.

It turned out that the church was only three blocks from the hotel. They visited more than once, touching several items to the reliquary. “There were wonderful people there,” Brown says, describing the many visitors to this early stop in a Pilgrimage of Mercy tour as “happy, joyful and solemn.”

And then Saturday brought Pope Francis to the congress.

Collins and Brown both saw him in the papal motorcade, and both attended the Festival of Families on Saturday evening.

“There’s just something special about seeing him in the flesh,” Collins says, describing her motorcade spot as right up against the barricade and her festival spot as having a Jumbotron close by and also being able to see the pope through the trees.

Brown called the standing room crowd where she and her husband landed as a place where “everyone was friendly and talking (and) babies sleeping on the grass.” A couple of young women befriended them, including one, Kara, who lived just a couple blocks from the festival and shared with Brown a lot about her life.

Another young woman from El Salvador, Fatima Maria, told Brown all about her life, including how “she didn’t practice her faith much, but that she had to see the pope.” Brown says she looked the girl right in the eye, told her she would be praying for her and that she should starting going to Mass.

“She hugged me, and said I was her adopted mama,” Brown says, adding that she thinks young people don’t see the example of married couples together often enough and that she, indeed, would be praying for Fatima Maria.

“The most important part was when the pope spoke,” Brown says. “Everyone around us was silent. Everyone was nodding and agreeing with what he said.”

After the pope and crowd said a Hail Mary together, the pope gave his blessing, which was, Brown says, “such an overwhelming moment.”

It was a key moment within the larger experience for both of our building’s travelers – an experience where Collins says that “a smile was a universal language,” and where Brown says they “met wonderful people everywhere.”