St. Louis couple say papal meeting boosted philanthropic goals

Published: 2008-04-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- St. Louis residents Charles and Shirley Drury planned what they wanted to say to Pope Benedict XVI weeks before their April 16 meeting with him in Washington, but when the moment arrived, the gregarious couple found themselves tongue-tied. "Most people never get a chance to meet the Holy Father, so we wanted to make our time with him really count," said Charles Drury, an 80-year-old hotel magnate who with his wife of 53 years represented the Papal Foundation during a meeting the pope held with delegates of Catholic charitable foundations at the Vatican Embassy in Washington. "The Holy Father of course looks straight at you and you get terribly nervous. It stunned us. You come prepared to talk and then can't think of anything to say," he told Catholic News Service April 17.

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .