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Call > Multicultural Attitudes
Responding to the
Multicultural Reality of our Catholic Church
If we are to face creatively the challenge of the increasing cultural diversity of our Catholic Church, ministers, seminarians, and lay people may benefit by understanding the dynamics of cultural identity and change and the process of inculturation.
Several key attitudes can be suggested on the part of anyone attempting to minister in a multi-cultural context:
1. Receiving institutions must go out of their way to make people who are different feel welcome. This can only be done in a very personal, face-to-face way.
2. Sensitivity to the symbolic world of the newcomer is imperative. Sometimes single gestures are far more effective than elaborate programs. It demonstrates that respect and acceptance of their culture and their people is a given.
3. Sensitivity to language for most groups is also imperative. Often a simple word or phrase in the language of the newcomer can open doors to the human heart. It demonstrates that you are willing to cross over into their culture, recognize their values, and meet them where they are.
4. Awareness of the cultural ground of the newcomer, knowledge of his/her story, can help you understand the attitudes and behaviors that are different. It also shows that you care about their story and the history of their people.
5. A distinction should be made between rejection of newcomers because of simple race or ethnicity and the conflict of different values, real or perceived. We often reject people not because of colour or background, but because we think that their values are opposed to our own.
6. To bring people who are very different together, a simple yet achievable superordinate goal is often helpful. If we can concentrate on a goal which is very important to different people, we can often bridge the differences because of the common desire to achieve a particular purpose. For example, a Neighbourhood Watch Program to prevent crime can bring different people together for a common goal.
7. People in receiving institutions who are threatened by the influx of people who are different often need reassurance of their own values, traditions, and history. They need to know that they are being challenged but not dismissed.
8. Finally, while injustices and bigotry should never be tolerated, changes in attitudes and behaviors occur gradually, as people grow in openness and understanding. They cannot be forced. They should flow from a change of heart.
Our ultimate goal is the Kingdom of God promised by Jesus - never to be fully realized in this world, yet an ideal for which we should be willing to give our effort, our energy, our talent, yes, our very life.
NCDVD Proceedings, September, 1994 used with permission
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