And what do you think?

An encounter.

The motto of the Christian ministry I participate in at the Torres Unit* is “listen, listen, love, love”.  Retreats take place in the prison over a four-day period starting Thursday afternoon and ending Sunday afternoon. Forty-two men in white"* attend the retreat. Participants are seated at tables called table families. The same six men in white and the same three volunteers (table leaders) sit in assigned seats at their table family.

Table leaders are to facilitate conversation, which is uncomfortable at the beginning of the retreat when the men in white do not know the volunteers and may not know some of the other men in their table family.

A volunteer makes an approximately 20 minute presentation to the assembled group.  Then each table family discusses the presentation and prepares a poster capturing the essence of the presentation.

I was the table leader of the Family of Peter. To jump start conversation, I said “Juan, what did you think about that presentation?”  A bald-headed man leaned toward me across the table and said “Before he answers, what do you think about the presentation?”

 Oh, my!  This man can smell a phony.  I gulped and gave it my best shot.

 *Torres is a Texas State Prison near Hondo, Texas.

**In Texas prisons, all inmates wear white.