Fr. Allan's Blog

A YOUNGER, MORE DIVERSE AND VIBRANT CHURCH: SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS

2011-12-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

The Church Making a Comeback?

Recently, a reporter was interviewing me about the Diocese of Orange acquiring the famous Crystal Cathedral and turning the landmark into a cathedral for the Catholic Diocese. I had to laugh because the reporter asked whether this event signaled that “the Catholic Church was making a comeback” after facing the challenges of the sexual abuse of minors and serious financial implications over the past several years. I was tempted to say that having survived any number of disasters over the last 2,000 years, the Church was not really going to disappear any time soon. Of course, my saying that would have depended more on the Lord’s promise that the Church would endure than just the historical fact that it has endured, at least up to now!

Well, maybe in a way, one can say that “the Church is making a comeback”! Consider what I have witnessed as executive director of the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity. On January 1, 2012 the Secretariat will celebrate its fourth birthday. Heir to the pioneering work of the Secretariats of Hispanic Affairs and of African American Affairs going back several decades, the new department added subcommittees for Asian and Pacific Islanders, and for Native Americans, as well as another subcommittee for the Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers. What have been the highlights of the past four years? I find myself asking this question as my service as executive director comes to an end on December 16th. I will be moving back to Los Angeles to accept the Casassa Chair of Catholic Social Values at Loyola Marymount University. For me it is hard if not impossible to say that this experience has not been one of great hope and excitement. Here is why.

New Life in the Making

For one thing, the Catholic Church is gaining a new lease on life as a result of migration and relatively higher birth rates among immigrants, especially Hispanics/Latinos. While significant numbers of baptized Catholics of European origin are not going to Mass on Sundays very often and have expressed discomfort with some aspects of their Catholic identity, that loss and lack of enthusiasm for the faith is being made up for by a rising Hispanic/Latino and Asian and Pacific Islander presence together with vibrant and youthful communities of Catholic people from all over Africa and the English, Spanish and Creole-speaking Caribbean. This reality is being marked by the coming of what Fr. Brett Hoover, CSP calls “shared parishes,” that is, parishes that are made up of at least two distinct cultural and language groups and often by three or more.

While there continues to be a need to serve each cultural group as much as possible in contexts where it is truly comfortable and provide opportunities for leadership to emerge proper to each community, the limitations of ministers sometimes means that these groups must be served in intercultural or shared contexts. The Secretariat of Cultural Diversity is an effort to respond to this growing reality in creative ways since what we see now seems to be the “wave of the future.”

Note Dame University Event Profoundly Life-Giving

The Catholic Cultural Diversity Network Convocation held at Notre Dame University in May 2010 was by most peoples’ reckoning a marvelous experience that contributed something of value to the U.S. bishops’ priority on recognition of cultural diversity. The methodology used which is summarized in a resource titled Convocation Notebook and available on the USCCB/CDC website set the tone for efforts to move communities in the direction of ecclesial integration, a term the bishops use to designate the goal of parish and diocesan pastoral efforts at a time of remarkable demographic change in the make-up of our Catholic parishes, schools and organizations. The Notre Dame gathering showed that one of the simplest but most effective ways to begin sound intercultural relationships is through story-telling. People need to be recognized for who they are and given a chance to tell their stories. Amazing as it may sound, we have too many Catholic communities today that are made up of people who really do not have a grasp of their neighbor’s story. As a result, people are often reacting to others, the “outsiders”, negatively and defensively. The current season of immigrant-bashing is a prime example of this sad and sorry situation that sows seeds of bitterness in our civil society as well as in the Church. The Notre Dame event provided a template for another more creative, positive possibility. I am happy to hear that parishes and dioceses have begun to implement some of the methods and practices of the Notre Dame event in their own situations.

Focus on Intercultural Proficiencies

Flowing directly from the Catholic Cultural Diversity Network Convocation was the workshop titled Building Intercultural Competence for Ministers (BICM) which the Secretariat designed and piloted in three locations in 2011. At the November 2011 General Assembly of the U.S. Bishops in Baltimore the Committee on Cultural Diversity enthusiastically endorsed the five Guidelines for Competency and the workshop consisting of five modules that accompany the Guidelines. The bishops’ goal is to promote greater participation of diverse communities in the life and mission of the Church. The growing numbers, youthfulness and real enthusiasm for the faith found among these diverse communities is nothing less than astounding in an age of considerable indifference and even cynicism about Christ and his Church.
The Committee on Cultural Diversity approved the dissemination plan for the Guidelines on Intercultural Competency that consists mainly in training trainers to form parish, diocesan and school leaders in these proficiencies/competencies. For too long we have been hearing about “multiculturalism and diversity” and giving a knee-jerk endorsement of them without necessarily grasping what it is really all about. The five modules of BICM begin to unpack the world of intercultural relations and communications for ministers who daily are challenged by it in parishes and other church and societal venues throughout the country.

Getting Beyond the Silos

While different cultural/racial groups find themselves at different moments in their histories and it is appropriate and wise to respect the integrity of each cultural group, it is also necessary to invite interaction and mutual learning experiences among all. For the Church this is becoming quite crucial because it is a question of leadership. Will the Church form reliable leadership cohorts from among the diversity of emerging cultural groups? We are living a moment of dramatic transition, for example, the European American Catholic middle class is aging and numerically in decline everywhere in the country. As a result, leadership opportunities in dioceses, parishes, schools and Catholic organizations should now be going to Hispanic/Latinos, Asian and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Africans, Haitians, Caribbean peoples and to Native Americans. But are they--at least in adequate numbers? More critical, however, is the question whether these emerging new leaders are capable of serving not only their own cultural groups but the entire Catholic community. That will not happen unless growing numbers of all our diverse communities gain access to the education and formation needed for leadership and gain a vision beyond that of their own particular cultural group. Silos are useful but they have their limitations. Today we must struggle to move beyond them to some extent at least for the sake of the greater good of the entire Church and civil society. It seems to me that the bishops Committee on Cultural Diversity and its Secretariat have a mandate to keep this agenda before the eyes of all Catholics as we manage our way through a virtual demographic and leadership see change.

Bottom Line: Evangelization, The Church’s Mission and Identity

In looking back at the first four years of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity what stands out the most for me is the integral connection between cultural diversity and the Church’s identity and mission. In a real sense, it is not about diversity per se but about catholicity and mission. The Church cannot accomplish its universal mission to transform cultures without ministers who are “experts in culture”, that is, people with knowledge, attitudes and skills that enable them to relate to others, especially persons of other cultures, races and ethnicities, with the Gospel message. When we talk about Evangelization and the New Evangelization we are talking precisely about the engagement of the Christian message with cultures, including modern, secular culture. So when we stress cultural skills we are simply providing the necessary tools to accomplishing the mission given to us by the Lord.

Those skills need to be sharpened more than ever in the context of so many intercultural encounters in today’s Church and society. We also need to be spiritually formed in how to discern what is good and what is bad about today’s secular culture. My heartfelt desire is that all ecclesial ministers and pastoral agents –bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity alike—attain new levels of intercultural proficiency for carrying out their baptismal calling to be missionary disciples of the Lord.

Fr. Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Executive Director
Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

BLESSED AMONG WOMEN!

2011-08-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

LATINAS RENEWING RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES

The Summer has provided an unforgettable experience for me: I was the only male at a remarkable gathering of 110 Latin American women religious assigned to ministries in the United States and representing forty-one religious congregations. They prayed, sang and conversed for three days at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Alhambra, CA from August 17-20. This was the Second National Encuentro of the Association of Hispanic Religious Congregations of Women in the United States. The organization came about in response to the growing need of Latina religious to convene and discuss their identity and mission in the Church in the United States.

The first Encuentro took place in 2008 in Chicago. It was called by the Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Francis George,OMI and Sister Joan McGlinchey,MSC, Vicar for Religious of the Archdiocese of Chicago, in recognition of the growing presence and service of these women religious. The sisters are considerably younger than their U.S. counterparts and their circumstances, backgrounds and concerns differ from those of women religious from the prevailing U.S. culture. For these and other reasons the Latina sisters have generally not found either of the two existing associations of U.S. women religious a comfortable fit for their particular circumstances and needs. For three years a planning committee has been developing a common reflection called documento de base that puts flesh and bones on the reality of these dedicated women. The document served as the basis for the profound conversation they had at Alhambra.

The Encuentro stressed the reality of these Latina sisters who are often involved in serving immigrant communities as parish ministers, catechists, and even teachers in Catholic schools. There’s one Catholic grade school (K-12) in Chicago, for example, largely staffed by women religious from Mexico. The sisters shared their deep concern for the plight of immigrants, especially the undocumented, with whom they sympathize and identify. My role at the gathering was to accompany the sisters in their reflections. I felt deeply honored to be part of this great group of devoted women. The steering committee did a splendid job as did the redaction committee which came up with the Encuentro’s final statement.

Of particular note for me was the women’s strong emphasis on religious identity, the centrality of faith and life in community. This was manifested in the beauty and times of communal prayer and expressed in the fact that many of the congregations choose to wear some kind of religious garb, often modified but still quite clearly a kind of “religious habit or uniform.” More importantly, the sense of Christian identity was modeled in the times of prayer and brought into the conversation not as a pious addition but as something quite integral to the sisters’ collective identity and vision. At the same time the conversation among them clearly reflected the richness of the Church in Latin American where ecclesial events like the Episcopal Conferences of Medellín, Puebla, Santo Domingo and Aparecida have forged a deep social awareness among Church leaders, one that integrates faith and concern for matters of social justice like poverty, immigration, violence, and access to education and medical care for everyone—to name just a few.

In my remarks to the sisters I mentioned the fact that in coming together as they had they were taking the lead not only for women religious of Latin American origin but also for many other women religious of Asian, Pacific Island and African origin now serving in the U.S. who experience some of the same trials and are similarly looking for light and leadership. Although there is no sure number yet about the U.S. population of these sisters, reports suggest that it is over three thousand.

This story is just another example of how diversity is bringing life to and renewing the Church in the U.S. Being with those young and spunky sisters for the Encuentro in California was such an inspiration for me! They have drafted plans to form their association and continue to convene the sisters on a regional basis. They plan to maintain good communications with women religious from the prevailing U.S. culture. They realize that their mission is to the entire Church in the United States not just to the Latinos. In that we are all profoundly blessed!

Declaration of the Second “Encuentro” (Gathering) of Hispanic Religious in the US

WE ARE:

Consecrated women, maternal face of God, sent to walk with, accompany, and encourage the people of God, mainly Hispanic immigrants and the poor and vulnerable-- giving prophetic witness of unity, joy and hope from a community life centered in prayer.

WE SEEK TO:

• remain faithful to our Charisms as we radically follow Christ Who is the center of our lives and evangelization efforts.
• engage in an on-going process of acculturation in order to know the reality where we live and serve with the purpose of achieving a true integration that will allow us to inculturate the Gospel.
• know, understand and value the riches offered by cultural diversity.
• remain in an ongoing discernment process that keeps us open and willing to respond to God’s will within a multicultural and ever-changing environment.
• be bridges between cultures, ethnic and Congregational, in order to promote a Gospel centered interculturality.
• live a healthy balance between apostolic itinerancy and presence, with an interior willingness to act as pilgrims while simultaneously living each day as if we were going to stay here, in this country, forever.
• maintain a balance between our “being” and our “doing”.

WE WILL:

• Continue journeying in the reflection of our identity as Hispanic women religious so we can grow in the awareness that we are part of the history of religious life and the Church in the US.
• Develop communication networks, strengthening the association at both the regional and national levels, so we can support each other in our integration process, as well as get other Congregations involved.
• Learn English and become more knowledgeable about both civil laws and the ecclesial documents of this country.
• seek and strive to maintain an ongoing, integral formation process.
• Inform and invite major superiors, especially those outside the United States, so they can get to know the process and support it.

We commend ourselves to you, Holy Mary of Guadalupe, Missionary Woman who as bridge between Heaven and Earth, knew how to unite in your rostro y corazón (face and heart) two worlds and two cultures; teach us to reach out and seek the encounter of diverse cultures in order to lead them to your Son, Jesus Christ.

INTERNATIONAL PRIESTS AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS: SOME REFLECTIONS

2011-06-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

There is a growing awareness among Church leaders and people in the pews alike about the rising number of international priests. Perhaps less noted, but of significance as well, is the rise in the number of women religious from outside the United States. One way to look at this reality is to say that once again we are dealing with a worldwide phenomenon of migration: we live at a time in history when more people, including church ministers, are on the move within their countries and beyond them as a result of many social, political and, most especially, economic factors. Of course, in the case of priests and sisters the primary cause is ministerial but there are a host of other reasons as well.

In the United States the presence of international priests and religious is absolutely nothing new. I come from Los Angeles and I remember quite vividly (and, I might add, fondly) our Irish priests. We called them then FBI’s, Foreign-Born Irishmen, but today, of course, such an expression would not be politically correct. It is true that in the 1950’s and 60’s the number of priests and seminarians reached its highest level ever. Looking back we might say that this was an aberration and that the lower numbers of priests and religious that we experience today is actually more in line with the long flow of history.

Just as our parishes and dioceses experience a dramatic transformation in their ethnic, cultural and racial make-up as a result of immigration, so too is the body of priests, the presbyterates, in the U.S. While nobody was looking the number of Hispanic/Latino priests has risen significantly to more than 3,000. There has been a succession of Hispanic priest organizations beginning in the 1960’s with PADRES which no longer exists, but served admirably right after the Second Vatican Council and during the Chicano Civil Rights movements of the same period.

Today, thanks especially to the hard work of Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the National Association of Hispanic Priests (ANSH) is flourishing under the leadership of a rising number of young Hispanic priests and bishops. Archbishop Gómez served ANSH as treasurer and then as president before he became a bishop. Vietnamese priests also have an organization of their own and next November Filipino priests will be forming an association at a meeting in Los Angeles. A recent study indicated that there are in the order of 11,000 international priests in the U.S. which is more than 25% of the total.

Now there are a number of issues regarding this matter that are of some concern to the bishops and faithful throughout the country. Since this trend seems to continue as bishops search for sources for priests to fill assignments in parishes, hospitals, prisons and military chaplaincies, there seems to be a need to look more carefully at the over-all process by which these men are selected and orientated for service in the U.S. A CARA study of last year showed that the majority of U.S. Catholics are pleased with their international priests. Many of our cultural and ethnic groups are so delighted to have men from their home countries serving them. On the other hand, there are some tensions due to some of the men’s struggle with English or having accents difficult for U.S. audiences.

In June I attended a wonderful consultation of psychology and culture for priests and lay professionals involved in formation in seminaries as well as in care giving in facilities like St. Luke’s in Silver Springs, MD working with priests and religious struggling with personal issues of an addictive and/or sexual nature. The consultation took place at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, NY. One of the questions raised was about how to properly orientate newcomers from outside the country to our U.S. ways. It was acknowledged that not enough orientation is given. Another key factor is that orientation is needed not only by the newcomer but also by the receiving community. They need to know about the newcomer’s home culture. A real Christian sense of respect and regard for others demands mutuality, an openness to both receiving from and giving something to these new ministers. One of the implications of the coming of priests from many parts of the world is that they undoubtedly will change the presbyterates, that is, bring something new from their countries of origin and this will be an enrichment. Of course, they will also receive something from the cultures and ways of our U.S. priests. For more information of the consultation and wider activities look up Parresia Project on Google.

Turning to the reality of international women religious, I can report that in August I will be attending a gathering of Latin American women religious in Los Angeles. They are forming an association of Latin American sisters of whom there are certainly more than a thousand in the U.S. We really don’t know how many. But there are a few hundred of them in Los Angeles and scores of them as well in San Antonio, Miami, New York and Chicago—to mention only a few places. They have asked me to accompany them in their reflection. These women are usually younger than the U.S. sisters. They often dress in a modified habit and are more likely to live a more intense kind of community life than might be the norm among U.S. sisters.

The Latin American sisters are searching for their place in the emerging Church of the U.S. They also report that when they return to their own countries on visits they are told that “they are different” and now don’t feel as much at home in their home as they used to! They do not totally identify with the U.S. woman religious nor do they identify with more traditional U.S. women religious who may be in a full religious habit. These Latin American women religious resemble in some ways Asian and African women religious who also may feel the same need to define themselves more within the U.S. context since they are growing in numbers. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is bringing something new about in our country as a result of the presence of these generous women in our parishes, schools and other ministries.

The U.S. Census and Building Intercultural Competence

2011-04-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

Over the past several months the U.S. Census Bureau has been releasing data from the 2010 Census. One of the findings is that the Hispanic/Latino population now exceeds 50 million. Frequently Hispanic/Latinos are identified with immigrants and certainly many millions of the people counted were born outside the United States. However, the largest group of Hispanic/Latinos is not made up of immigrants but rather people born in this country, U.S. citizens. About one out of every four young persons in our country is Hispanic/Latino. This attests to the extraordinary youth of this population. I recently read that the majority of children three years or younger in Maryland is Hispanic/Latino, and that in California the majority of school-age youth are Hispanic/Latino.

Of particular interest was the report about the movement of Hispanic/Latinos to every region of the country. The fastest growth for them has not been in their traditional regions—Texas, the Southwest and the West-- but rather in the South. The growth has been phenomenal in places like Georgia and the Carolinas and virtually every other Southern state. The Hispanic/Latinos are putting the Catholic Church definitely on the map in those places for the first time in history. One pastor told me about new parishes in the South that serve Hispanics and are named in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They are relatively large congregations that contrast with some of the Baptist churches which are closing in the central parts of some towns. Hispanics are bringing new life to this part of the country.

The clergy is also changing. Researchers are reporting that the number of international priests, among them many Hispanics, is growing every year. While severely under-represented in the ranks of clergy, Hispanics are now on the rise both because of international priests and also seminarians. This is also very true of Asians groups like Vietnamese and Filipinos and a growing number of Koreans.

From a pastoral point of view the growing diversity of the clergy requires more intercultural competence among all clergy, religious men and women and lay pastoral agents. Decades ago the Church sought to provide a fairly homogeneous environment for the many Catholic cultural groups--each with its own clergy-- but today bishops are hard-pressed to find priests from among all the diverse groups that today are on the move and growing. Our parishes are becoming more and more multicultural or “shared” by several groups. By the same token clergy, religious and lay ministers from abroad are often finding themselves in positions of leadership in the local parish. They are called upon to serve the whole community, not just those of their particular culture. Language and intercultural skills are consequently more necessary than ever in today’s Church and in our U.S. society.

That is why our bishops and the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity is investing a great deal of time and effort in a program called Building Intercultural Competence for Ministers. We are piloting it this year and hope to roll it out in 2012 in the form of workshops for training trainers. Stay tuned for developments!

African and Caribbean Catholics

2011-03-29T07:41:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday (March 26) I attended a wonderful event titled “One with the Family” that brought together Catholics of African, Caribbean and African American backgrounds. They came from the greater Washington, DC, area that includes parts of Maryland and Virginia. The event took place at the Catholic University of America thanks to the generosity and kindness of Dr. Steven Schneck of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. Bishop Rutilio del Riego, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Migrants, refugees and Travelers presided at the event, giving a warm greeting and an inspiring homily at the closing Mass.

This was the first gathering of its kind to focus on these communities. There are more than one million African catholic immigrants in the U.S. and , of course, there are scores of thousands of English-speaking Caribbean Catholics as well. Many of the participants, of course, were immigrants and most had a common heritage in Africa. Nevertheless, it was very clear that the cultures of these three groups are quite different even though they all enjoy a common heritage in African. Some have come to the Americas more recently and others centuries ago. Historical circumstances varied quite a bit. An example I would give was a remark of Dominican Father Aniedi Okure, one of the speakers, that “Africans discover that they are black when they come to the United States.” I had never heard that before. Fr. Okure explained that the stress put on race in U.S. history has made people in the USA very aware of racial issues. But that simply is not so in Africa where the overwhelming majority of people are black and it is no big deal. Unfortunately, for many reasons going back to slavery, it has been a big deal in our country.

What stood out during the conference was the common commitment to the Catholic faith of all three groups. Faith is more what brings them together than their racial backgrounds. It was quite inspiring to see this and hear it expressed.

The Caribbean people have a fascinating heritage in the islands colonized centuries ago by Great Britain, Holland, and France. Most of these islands like Trinidad and Tobago, for example, are English-speaking. These people distinguish themselves from the people of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic. All these Caribbean people tend to trace their ancestry back to African and then to some European nation or to India. There are many East Indians in the English-speaking Caribbean islands. What was particularly interesting was that many non-Caribbean people had never thought of Caribbean Catholics as even a category. Here they were, however, right in front of them at this gathering. They shared many distinctive qualities. One of them, according to anthropologists, is the marked hospitality of these islanders. Dr. Gerald Boodoo, a Caribbean professor of Theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, gave a fine paper on the reality of Caribbean American Catholics.

Father Michael Montoya, MJ, gave a rousing talk on the missionary identity of the African and Caribbean Catholics in the U.S. The coming of Catholic immigrants to the United States gives a golden opportunity to the Church in our country to renew itself and take on new life. If the immigrant groups assimilate in a discerning manner, in a way that allows them to maintain Catholic values of their African and Caribbean past, this will be a great blessing for the faith in our country. The challenge is seen especially in the case of youth and young adults. Immigrant parents are struggling to know how to raise their children in a new and often bewildering environment.

The coming together of these immigrant Catholics who have common roots in Africa together with African American Catholics who face some of the same challenges was encouraging. The hope expressed was that together they can help each other find a way forward. For the stakes for them and for the Church are high.

Reflecting on Black History Month

2011-03-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

February was Black History Month and it afforded me a great opportunity to meet the African American community at St. Luke’s Church in Washington, DC. I was invited by a leader in the Cameroonian community which worships once a month together with the African Americans to give the homily at the Sunday liturgy presided by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington. I concelebrated with the Cardinal and other priests from the African American and Cameroonian communities. Deacon Al Turner, the director of African American ministry for the Archdiocese, performed his role as deacon. We also had the honor of the presence of the Ambassador from Cameroon Joseph Bienvenu Charles Atanga and his wife whom I had met before during their visit to our Secretariat at the USCCB. By the way, the parish is under the direction of the Josephite Fathers, a congregation founded to serve African Americans that has done such great work in several parts of the country, especially in the South.

For me what was particularly important about the celebration which combined the lively styles of worship of both communities was the opportunity to think through the meaning of the encounter that is taking place between U.S. and African blacks. With more than a million African Catholic immigrants in the U.S. their presence is swelling the ranks of black people in the Catholic Church in places like Washington DC, New York and Los Angeles. While the histories and cultures of U.S. and African blacks are certainly very different, one sees continuity in style and spirit in the vitality of the music and the way that it engages the whole person body and soul! And I would imagine there are more affinities. This is a very beautiful and important gift for the Church. The 3 million African American Catholics are beginning to find more linkage with the newcomers and many begin to realize that soon there will be a new generation of blacks who will call themselves African Americans, the children of these immigrants, who will mix relatively easily with their U.S. African American brothers and sisters.

Since so many of the Cameroonian Catholics are relatively recent arrivals to the U.S. and African American Catholics have been in this country for a long time, often longer than many of the European American people, there is a first a significant gap between the two groups. In my homily I stressed the common concern of both groups to maintain and develop their Catholic identity which is linked to their particular cultures and histories. Judging from the nodding heads in the congregation, I was on their wavelength.

Parents of today’s black youth of whatever background seek to pass on the faith. They are also aware of the challenge of vocations from among their sons and daughters to the priesthood and religious life as well as to lay leadership in the Church and the world.

I reminded them that one of the blessings that both African American and African blacks are making to our society and Church is a focus on family. African American Catholics are well aware of the scourge of single mothers and the depressing statistics about incarceration rates for young black men, low levels of educational attainment and other serious social problems affecting their communities. African American Catholics, however, through associations like the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver, for example, or through the National Black Catholic Congress continue to address these challenges through participation in public policy affairs and education in Catholic Social Teaching and its pro-life principles. Black Catholic leaders are keeping these challenges before us all the time. They seek to educate themselves and “stir the pot” in the search for solutions. African Catholics in the U.S., I sense, are also becoming more aware of the challenges of life in their new home and begin to understand the reality of their African American brothers and sisters. For many blacks in urban settings throughout the country the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) supported by the Bishops’ annual collection has provided funding to enable communities to develop leadership skills and address their many issues themselves.

The experience of being with the black Catholic community at St. Luke’s, seeing the obvious joy and care invested in this event by the community itself and also by Cardinal Wuerl, gave me a new perspective on the black Catholic presence in our country, how it is changing and its hopeful promise.

Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus

2011-02-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

REMEMBERING MY FRIEND TELLO

My friend Eleuterio Rodríguez, who went by the nickname “Tello”, passed away on New Year’s Day. A campesino from Zacatecas in Mexico, he came from a huge extended family that began to migrate to the United States decades ago when Tello’s father came to work as a bracero, a migrant agricultural worker. I first met Tello on my first assignment as administrator of a barrio church in Santa Ana, CA in 1977. He taught me many things. While having only reached an eighth-grade level of education in his native Mexico, he was proud of the fact that it was in a Catholic school with women religious teachers—something that is usually reserved to Mexico’s middle and upper classes.

Tello was a fierce proponent of Catholic identity especially in a world in which immigrants like him find themselves. So many of their prized values like putting one’s family needs before one’s personal needs, and faithfully performing the rites of both official and popular Catholicism, are constantly being eroded in the U.S. secular environment. The rites of Baptism of infants, and the reception of the other sacraments of initiation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation, were deeply rooted in Tello’s mind, imagination and heart.

He had the wonderful good fortune of finding Linda, a Mexican American women with whom he shared more than 25 years of Christian marriage. I had the privilege of witnessing their marriage on behalf of the Church. They tried to have children but it was not possible. However, they ended up raising a niece and serving in several parishes as catechists, especially as directors of Confirmation programs for high school youth. Tello and Linda did this for more than 25 years and thus intimately touched the lives of literally thousands of young Latino Catholics. They worked hard at forming themselves as catechists taking all the programs offered by the Diocese, earning certification and going on to earn special certification in Pastoral Studies at Loyola Marymount University. At Tello’s vigil and rosary scores of youth overflowed into the street from the large funeral home chapel and filled the parish church next morning at Tello’s Mass of Christian Burial.

These reflections on Tello came back to me recently because I read an article in the New York Times about a family in Brooklyn who have a little business providing images of the infant Jesus for Mexicans and other Latinos to use in the devotion to the Child Jesus celebrated around Christmas time. The article pointed out how important this devotion is to Brooklyn’ Latino Catholic community, how other Latinos, not just Mexicans, are taking up the practice and how meaningful it is to a people who often feel disoriented by their new lives in a “strange” place. (See “Figures of an Infant Jesus, Dressed for a Feast Day” in New York Times, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, A20).

Tello faithfully enacted this devotion every single year. It consisted in acostando, “laying down”, an image of the Child Jesus in a manger in the center of one’s home, usually the living room close to the nativity scene and Christmas tree. Jesus was born and he has arrived in your house! There the Child remains until the feast of Candlemas, on the Church’s official calendar known as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. On this day the Child is levantado, “picked up”, dressed in his finest attire, and, if possible, taken to Mass to receive a special blessing. Then the image is enthroned on a little homemade chair (as elegantly hand-crafted as possible) and given a place of honor once again in the center of the home, often on the altarcito (“little altar”) from where He gloriously presides throughout the year. By “finest attire” I mean hand-sown robes and cape as well as underwear, booties and, of course, a little crown. Before placing the image on the little throne the family and friends who gather to witness this, pray the rosary and have quite a party, make sure to give Baby Jesus a few drops of perfume on his special day!

Tello always invited me to this celebration at his home even if I was no longer living close by as when I went to study in Rome. I couldn’t always accept, but, if possible, I would try to show up. One year my Jesuit community in Orange County decided to place the Child Jesus in its residence and Tello and Linda came to help us do it right. Many friends who had never heard about or seen this custom were invited. It was quite a revelation as they observed the care and seriousness with which the immigrant community went about enacting this simple but profound ritual of popular devotion.

Is this just a quaint story or does it have greater importance? For me these recollections point to the gift that immigrant people make to the living of the faith. In these traditional, colorful and imaginative rites that, by the way, fascinate children (a presence diminishing if not disappearing in all too many American households, even Catholic ones!), they provide engaging ways to supplement the Church’s official liturgy. They add an element to the living encounter with Christ that the sacred liturgy, especially the Eucharist, is meant to signify.

My generation of Catholic leaders was raised to be suspicious of popular religiosity, to see it as somehow in opposition or detracting from the Church’s official worship. Certainly there can be exaggerations, but Church teaching actually looks upon popular religious expressions with deep respect and positively. This is the message of a little-know document from the Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican titled Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy published in 2001. One of the results of the modern world we live in is a silencing of symbols, rituals and formative narrative or stories that give traction to the content, the teachings, the Sacred Scriptures and tradition of the Church. Too much of our faith comes across disembodied and rationalized. Our preaching and teaching can thus become stiff and unappealing.

In this connection on page 46 of a recently published biography of the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, by Patrick W. Carey titled Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ: A Model Theologian we read about the role that popular piety played in his conversion from Protestantism.

I think that one important blessing that so many Catholic immigrant groups bring to the Church like those of the Haitian people I spoke about in my last blog or of the Mexicans I mention in this one is the creativity and imagination found in many of their simple religious customs. They provide handles or hooks by which Catholic identity takes shape in ordinary people’s lives. The devotion of my late friend Tello or the work of the immigrant Brooklyn family spoken about in the New York Times article are merely two examples of how immigrants are bringing new vitality to the Church in our country.

A PRE-CHRISTMAS DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE!

2011-01-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

In December I had the privilege of joining with the Haitian community at their annual Marian pilgrimage to the National Basilica and Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. The main service was a beautiful Mass presided by the spiritual leader of the Haitian Catholic community in the United States Bishop Guy Sansaricq, Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, who recently retired. Joining him were at least twenty-five Haitian priests who minister with the community throughout the United States. There are more than a 3.5 million Haitians in the U.S. and certainly more than half of them are Roman Catholics. What struck me as I entered the Basilica before Mass was first of all the turnout for the event: the huge church was absolutely packed, which meant there must have been more than almost 3,000 people in attendance. The second thing I was impressed by was the intense devotion of those in attendance. I got there in time for putting the Blessed Sacrament back in the special Eucharistic chapel after many hours of exposition for adoration. The phrase that came to mind was “you could cut it with a knife,” that is, the people’s devotion was palpable.

Anyone that has attended times of worship with the Haitian Catholic community knows what I am talking about here. Of special note, of course, is the music, especially the way in which EVERYONE sings. In this regard we see how different cultures respond to the basic norm the Church proposes for worship and prayer, namely, complete attention and full participation. At this Mass it was patently clear that the congregation was focused, involved, attentive and present one to another and, most especially, to God. It really is a beautiful thing to experience.

This experience reminded me of something the Hispanic bishops pointed out many years ago now in their fundamental statement about the Hispanic presence in the Church in the United States. It’s found in The Hispanic Presence: Challenge and Commitment where the bishops insist on thinking about the Hispanic presence as a BLESSING. The point they make is that their attitude and, they hope, that of all those who come to know, work and relate to the growing Hispanic Catholic community, has to be a positive one. They point out why it is reasonable to have a positive attitude toward Hispanics. The talk about many “creative possibilities” that the Hispanic presence offers to the WHOLE Church in the United States. The first one they mention is a livelier, more engaged life of worship. Now, as we know there are different styles and approaches from culture to culture and the Church certainly respects that reality. But it is fair to say that the Hispanics and now the Haitian presence (and that of many other catholic immigrant groups) is bringing something invaluable to the Church in our country.

I think it’s important to note this because there are elements in the Church—and sometimes here at the USCCB we get letters from—who seem to be fixated on what they knew in the past. We all find comfort, no doubt, in beautiful recollections. But nostalgia can be deceptive and actually get us off track, because God wants us to find Him here and now, today, and not in romanticized visions--often slightly or hugely exaggerated—of the “good ol’ days!” The fact is that the Catholic Church in the U.S. has changed because it is made up now more and more of new cultural groups that, like the Irish, Germans and Italians of decades past, will be doing “their thing,” that is, bringing their particular gifts to enliven the whole Church. Isn’t that terrific!

Having spent a wonderful Saturday in December before Christmas with the Haitian community gave me another glimpse of how migration is so central to the ongoing renewal of Church life in our country. Rubbing shoulders with the young, devout and hardworking Haitian community reminded me of what the bishops had said about the Hispanic immigrants. While there may be difficulties and challenges in the process of these groups’ adaptation to a new country, they do have a profound sense of Catholic identity and one of the greatest needs of the Church in the world and certainly in the United States today is finding the right balance between Catholic identity from the past and the legitimate and appropriate forms that this identity has to take in a world that keeps changing. Could it be that the Haitian people with all their terrible troubles back home and here as well are definitely part of God’s answer to the challenge of constructing a renewed American Catholic identity?

SPOTLIGHT ON IMMIGRANTS

2010-12-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

Just before Thanksgiving I was sent down to Bogota, Colombia to participate in a gathering of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Migrants, Refugees and Itinerant People. This regional gathering of representatives from all the Latin American and Caribbean nations provided an impressive review of what the Church is doing in so many places to accompany the more than 21 million people who are economic migrants or political refugees. The picture is a dramatic one, especially if you mix in the fact that a significant percentage of this movement involves trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation. I had a chance to speak again with Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, President of the Pontifical Council. I met the new Secretary of the Pontifical Council, Fr. Gabrielle Bentoglio, a Scalabrini missionary priest from Italy. This congregation, the Scalibrinians as they are called, do wonderful work around the world in serving migrants and refugees. Unfortunately, so many Catholics in our country seem unaware of the Church’s centuries-old commitment to care for immigrants and displaced persons as exemplified in the life of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, for example, the first U.S. citizen to become a saint! They are unaware of the moral and social teaching about the human dignity and rights of migrants, even when they are irregular or undocumented!

It was very moving to hear about the countless Church-sponsored projects throughout Latin American in support of immigrants. I learned that there are 55 safe houses organized under Catholic Church auspices in Mexico alone. These are places where people find safety from local thieves, predators, are fed and find medical care and other services as they work their way to the United States or are returning to their homelands. We learned that the Obama Administration has deported more than 325,000 persons so far in 2010. Many are simply thrown back across the border—sometimes single women with children who know no one in the bleak border towns where they land. Many, of course, are not even Mexican, but rather Central or South Americans who are simply crossing through Mexico.

I was reminded of the Kino Border Project, a joint effort of the California Jesuits, the Dioceses of Tucson, Arizona, and Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico established a couple of years ago in Nogales, AZ on both sides of the international border. I had the honor of visiting the Project shortly after its inauguration. Every day the Kino volunteers feed about 200 people. Some apartments are available on the Mexican side for single women with children who have been deported from the U.S. and have nowhere to go. There are Mexican woman religious who supervise this service. The Project also engages in advocacy on behalf of these voiceless people. This is a hard and often thankless ministry, but one that the Jesuits and thoughtful Catholics must be very proud of.

As you hear the story of these economic immigrants and the heroic efforts of Church people to respond to the many difficulties they experience I felt much pride in our Church and the basic compassion of its members. On the other hand, when I return to the U.S. and hear all the rhetoric about these people—see how they are being demonized day after day on the public airwaves of our country—I feel very sad indeed and not a little angry.

On my desk when I returned was the Holy Father’s message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees given in Rome in September. In it Pope Benedict XVI stressed the idea that we are all one human family despite the divisions of nationalities, ethnicities, cultures, languages, races and borders. As the movement of people across borders increases throughout the world—there are now more than 210 million on the move!—the Church cries out even louder and more insistently about the rights and human dignity of each of these persons.

Archbishop Jose Gomez, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles, gave a wonderful talk two years ago at the Missouri Catholic Conference in Jefferson City, MO in which he showed how the issue of immigration is, like that of abortion, a pro-life matter. You can read the full text in Origins for Nov. 13, 2008. All life is to be respected and treasured both in the womb and outside it! Irregular or undocumented immigrants are particularly vulnerable people who are forced to make the terrible decision to leave their homelands by serious reasons of an economic, social or political nature. Archbishop Gomez insists on affirming Catholic morality on this matter in a consistent manner showing how concern for undocumented immigrants is also a serious pro-life concern.

Near or Far, Catholic Cultures Speak A Common Language of Deep Faith

2010-11-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

My travels took me to Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos New Mexico last week to give talks for the Archdiocesan youth and young adult leaders. What a marvelous part of our country that is! Interestingly enough, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic Catholic youth of almost any state of the union. Something like 83% of the Catholic youth there born after 1982 are Hispanic! Of course, this is a little deceiving because the other fact about New Mexico is that it is home to the longest-standing Hispanic community in our country (for that matter, of any non-Native American community) going back to the first decade of the 1600’s when Santa Fe was founded by the Spanish. So a sizable portion of the Hispanic youth are the descendants of these Hispanos, as they prefer to call themselves, people with deep roots in our country while maintaining many beautiful features of their ancient Hispanic homeland and way of life. Nevertheless, as in so many other parts of our country, there is a significant and youthful Mexican immigrant population that is relatively new to this land. The third and really notable reality of this part of the world is the Native American presence. There is something about the beauty of the majestic deserts and mountains together with the Native American sense of beauty so apparent in the art and ethos of New Mexico, especially the northern parts. There seems to be a fascinating synergy between the distinctive Native American sense of beauty which relates seamlessly to the beauty of the land and nature with the Hispanic sense of beauty and way of life. Both Native Americans and Hispanics seem to have a strong sense of the world of the spirit, a sense of God’s transcendence, one that contrasts with our United States pragmatism, individualism and materialism. I do not, however, want to romanticize either the Native American nor the Hispanic cultures since undoubtedly the European American or “Anglo” cultures have brought many gifts to people’s lives in that part of the world. But being there does help one grasp the incomparable blessings of cultural diversity.

I had a moving experience in Santa Fe on the weekend where I stopped to spend a few hours visiting the art galleries. I found out that Santa Fe is the second largest art market in the U.S. It is second to New York and ahead of San Francisco in sales of art! I visited a photographic gallery. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the photographer, maybe someone reading this can help me identify him, but it was a marvelous collection of black and white photos taken of life during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. What struck me were the many photos of “migrant workers”, none of them Hispanic. They were all Irish or Scotch-Irish or of some other European background. Their origins were in Appalachia, Oklahoma and other economically depressed parts of the country. Since today we are so familiar with new generations of migrants, most from Mexico or some other Latin American country, it is almost surprising to see these blond, blue-eyed “American” type people immersed in the same poverty and misery we too often find among today’s migrants, especially the undocumented ones, who are the object of so much vitriol. We fail to see the HUMANITY of today’s migrants who in so many ways are no different than those of the 1930’s whose comfortably settled middle-class descendants may have totally forgotten where their ancestors came from and what they had to endure.

Moving to another recent experience, I recently enjoyed meeting representatives of the Apostleship of the Sea-USA, a de facto association of the faithful that works collaboratively with the National Office of the Apostleship of the Sea currently staffed by Sister Myrna Tordillo of our Secretariat of Cultural Diversity. The AOS-USA board was meeting and I had a chance to greet them and participate in some of their discussions. There’s a whole world out there of ministry to maritime workers. The bishops have more than 25 chaplains in ports throughout the U.S. that attend to maritime workers that arrive on commercial, cargo ships all the time. A huge percentage of these workers, a majority of them, are Roman Catholic. The Filipinos make up a large percentage of these workers worldwide. Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting ministers in the Port of Baltimore where there is a center and a van made available to the seamen when they are in port. I got to meet several Chinese men who were not Catholics but are served anyway by the Center which provides clothing, a place to call home from (including calling cards) and reading materials. The Holy See is actually one of the moving forces behind this ministry in ports all over the world. There is a desk at the Vatican in the Pontifical Council for Migrants, Refugees and Itinerant Peoples that keeps an eye on the needs of maritime workers. Included in the Church’s concern, of course, are people taking cruises. AOS-USA had developed the Cruise Ship Priests Program for priests interested in serving as chaplains on cruises. There are several cruise lines that have Catholic chaplains either on all or at least some cruises. This ministry includes, of course, the crews of ships, not only the passengers. There is an office of AOS-USA directed by Fr. Sinclair Oubre, a pastor in Port Arthur, TX that oversees this important ministry. I like to mention this ministry because it exemplifies the need to look beyond parish and other ministries that are certainly essential but which do no exhaust the ways that the Church as evangelizer must be present to people in all sorts of ways.

CATHOLIC COMMUNITIES OF NON-EUROPEAN HERITAGE IN A HIGHLY POLARIZED AND DIVERSE UNITED STATES

2010-10-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last week Robert Putnam and David Campbell published the results of their research on religion in the United States titled American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites People. More than a year ago I met with Dr. Putnam to talk about some of the initial findings of this massive project on religion in America. The book now documents many of the findings Putnam shared with me back then. Many of them relate to the question of diversity and pluralism in our society as well as in the Church. Putnam was interested in sharing his finding with the bishops because, as I will note below, they are very pertinent to the reality and well-being of the Church moving forward.

He reconfirmed the fact that immigration has changed and is continuing to change the face of the Catholic Church. It is well on the way to becoming in the majority Latino. Already 56% of the Millennial Generation (those born after 1982) is Latino. He does not dwell on other immigrant groups, but from my point of view, there is no question that Asian and Pacific Islanders, Caribbean and African immigrants are also making their presence felt in the Church throughout the country. One of the features of these groups like the Latinos is their youth and also the vitality of their Catholicism.

Putnam shows how if it were not for the Hispanic and other immigrant groups the Church in the U.S. would be declining in membership. The way he puts it is: “European American Catholics are hemorrhaging out the front door, while Hispanics are entering in droves through the back door.” He is referring to the statistic that perhaps up to 50% of younger Catholics of European ancestry have distanced themselves from the Church, while Hispanics show a considerable amount of loyalty to the Church.

I recommend the book to everyone who wants to gain more insight into the Church’s current opportunities and challenges. I am reminded of something that the late Cardinal Avery Dulles said: “The coming of Catholic immigrants, especially Hispanics, offers the Catholic Church an opportunity to evangelize American culture perhaps more than in the past…” It’s not that Hispanics are perfect Catholics, but rather that Hispanic cultures demonstrate an affinity with some fundamental Catholic values such as putting family and community before the individual and having a high regard for human life, one that makes practices like abortion, the death penalty or euthanasia quite abhorrent to most Hispanics. They also conceive of marriage and human sexuality in a traditional manner that understands their purpose in terms of their procreative and unitive functions in the creation of families, as realities vitally connected to the common good and for the benefit of children.

By the way, the authors of American Grace recall and confirm the fact that African Americans are the most religious people in the country in terms of main indicators of religion such as frequency of attendance at church, daily prayer and reading of Scripture. As a group they too, like the Hispanics and despite their religiosity, are not in the pocket of conservatives.On the one hand, they demonstrate as could be expected some common attitudes with Latinos that are conservative such as those regarding homosexuality and, on the other, social and ethical concerns of a more liberal sort such as access to education, labor rights, racial/cultural profiling and so forth.

Cardinal Francis George in his latest book The Difference God Makes has a chapter devoted to the question of what it means to evangelize U.S. culture. He points to good and bad, acceptable and questionable features of U.S. culture and insists that committed Catholics of whatever cultural background must have a critical sense of their own culture based on an understanding of the gospel. He notes that many Americans, including Catholics, do not have such a critical sense to discern where our U.S. culture is on target and where it is not in terms of our Catholic faith and teaching.

Another intriguing question that Putnam and Campbell’s book poses to us relates to his main finding, namely, that the United States is terribly polarized politically between religiously-motivated conservatives and secularizing liberals. Fortunately, according to these authors, the country does not burst into pieces because of the fact that pluralism and diversity are present within and among the various groups as a result of so many mixed marriages, families and other communities made up of a wide spectrum of political, social and cultural identities. This continues to be a strong point in the United States civil society where tolerance of others is highly valued.

The interesting question for Catholics today is what is the affect of the now majority of Catholics who are not of European background on this scene? It would seem that Hispanics, for instance, are an important moderating force against the centrifugal movement toward the extremes. While they are religiously and socially conservative in many ways, their well-being points to important social and economic policies in favor of workers, newcomers and the poor. In this they are aligned to important values of Catholic Social Teaching like the living wage, the human dignity of immigrants (even the undocumented ones) and others on the margins of society, and the option for the poor. Yet at the same time many are uncomfortable with the pro-choice mentality, gay marriage and other agendas that liberals keep championing.
Perhaps this means that the emergence of Hispanics in our Church and society is an important development that helps us achieve a better balance between conflicting tendencies. This helps position the Catholic Church where it needs to be, that is, independent of political, partisan agendas and as faithful as possible to its religious mission which at times does involve engagement in issues of social, economic and political policy in the public square. As such the Hispanic Catholic community and other immigrant Catholic groups as well as the African American Catholics-- the various communities of non-European heritage-- are real blessings to our Church and society at this highly polarized time in history.

Catholic Reflections on Diversity and the Current Anti-Immigrant Climate

2010-09-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Photo of Billboard provided by Tom Carney of the Diocese of Des Moines after blog posting.

Two weeks ago I spent a wonderful weekend in Boise , Idaho where I addressed religious education leaders as well as the clergy on the subject of diversity. The Bishop of Boise, Most Rev. Michael Driscoll, is an old friend from my Los Angeles and Orange County days. Bishop Driscoll has been a strong supporter of Catholic Charities over the years and he is extremely knowledgeable about poverty, the economy and immigration. It was very poignant to hear him speak about his concern for immigrants in his diocese. He noted that the very use of the term “illegal alien” by even some good Catholics is very disturbing. He points out that people may commit illegal acts, but they are certainly never illegal. To use that term is to dehumanize persons not unlike the dehumanization of the unborn that allows people to simply “terminate” the unborn when it is convenient. Immigrants, whether they are here legally or not, absolutely never cease being God’s creatures, persons of dignity, who also have rights and duties like everyone else. To make this point is not to deny the right of our country to control its border nor is it approving of lawbreaking. It’s just making the point that unauthorized immigrants are human beings.

By the way, someone reported to me that there is a billboard in Arizona that pictures a beautiful Hispanic family with the words written underneath: “This is the greatest threat to our national security.” I haven’t received yet the confirmation of this report and wonder whether it can be verified. The story, however, reflects the reality of fear focused on Hispanics, the campaigns on cable TV and radio talk shows to represent a particular cultural group as criminal and dangerous. That negativity is picked up by opportunistic politicians who seem to pander to the political passion of the moment to gain advantage even if that means denigrating and belittling other human beings who are particularly vulnerable. Those of us who have spent a lifetime ministering with and to Hispanic unauthorized immigrants know what terrible lies are told over and over about them! Lies are dangerous because they lead to destructive reactions motivated by fear and even hatred.

For Catholics in the United States to be giving any kind of support to this anti-immigrant frenzy really saddens me. What a short memory we can have! Have people forgotten where we U.S. Catholics have come from? In the 1830’s there was a rising political movement called the Know-Nothing Party. It succeeded in electing a very sizable percentage of representatives to the U.S. Congress. The great concern of that party (which rose very quickly and fortunately declined rather quickly) was the dramatic increase in very poor Irish Catholic immigrants. Churches were burned down and restrictive laws against the Irish immigrants were passed. Historians are in agreement that this was one of several anti-Catholic and anti—immigrant phases in our nation’s history and by any reckoning it is something about which our country should be ashamed. I think we are passing through a new Know-Nothing moment when fears, crude prejudices and plain old ignorance is driving otherwise good people to speak and to act in ways that contradict our most deeply felt American and Catholic/Christian values.

This climate may be focused on Hispanics but every diverse cultural group needs to be aware of how this negativity can affect them. Who will be the next scapegoat? For the Church, this movement is an assault on its discipleship of Jesus Christ and its social teachings of which concern for the poor and marginal is a central piece. It may also be—at least indirectly—an attack on the Church herself since it is no secret that the Church’s present and future vitality is demographically linked to the Hispanic, Asian Pacific Island and African Catholic immigrations. Being Catholic makes a difference in how we assess complicated social, economic and political issues like abortion, migration, and the nature of matrimony. Or does it? It seems that too many may have fallen into “nativism,” putting one’s nation before God and Church. Putting anything before God is idolatry. Patriotism is a fine virtue, but it must have its limits. There is such a thing as misguided patriotism. Perhaps that is what is behind this ugly, anti-immigrant climate. That is what ought to concern every thinking U.S. Catholic today.

The Secretariat of Cultural Diversity Celebrates Ongoing Work with the Native American Community

2010-08-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

When I was interviewed for the position I have now at the Bishops Conference the job description given me was rather daunting. Working under the supervision of the Committee on Cultural Diversity, I was asked to be the agent for the bishops’ interfacing with the vast array of cultures, ethnicities and races that make up the Church in the United States, to be an agent of the bishops’ pastoral presence and concern for the various groups of non-European heritage who actually make up more than half the Church in the U.S. today! Of course, I have 10 outstanding associates and support staff who help the Secretariat in carrying out its mission. We do what we can and our web page and this blog are part of that effort to “be present.”

Just recently we were able to contract with one of the few Native American priests in our country to serve as consultant for the Native American Subcommittee. Father Henry Sands is a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit. We were most grateful that Archbishop Allen Vigneron, Fr. Henry’s bishop, gave his permission for Henry to work at least part-time in our Secretariat. One of my responsibilities in making this Secretariat work is to pay attention to all the major Catholic cultural, ethnic and racial groups. We had lacked a Native American staff person and Fr. Henry’s participation will go a long way in filling that void.

The reality of Native Americans in the Catholic Church is quite complex. We are told that there are about 2.3 million Native American Catholics, or about 20% of the entire Native American population. The most encouraging source of leadership and inspiration for the Native American Catholics is the Tekakwitha Conference which meets every year and convenes a cross-section of Native American Catholic leaders.

Among those leaders is a devoted woman religious by the name of Sister Kateri Mitchell who is executive director of the Tekakwitha Conference. Another source of support for the Native American Catholic people is the Bureau of Indian Catholic Missions that for more than a century and a half has supported many Native American ministries with funds from its annual collection. Father Wayne Paysse who assumed the executive director position at the Bureau three years ago has been doing a tireless job of assessing the needs and encouraging the education and pastoral development of Native Americans throughout the country. It has also been quite inspiring for me to learn of the various works of religious among the Native Americans. The ones I am more familiar with are the work of Franciscans in New Mexico and Arizona and the Jesuits among the Lakota Sioux in South Dakota. The Jesuit-run Sioux Spiritual Center in Plainview, South Dakota is one of the few or only Catholic Native American spirituality centers in the country. A devoted group of Oregon Jesuits has been ministering to the Native peoples of the Northwest for a century and a half in a string of missions! Of course, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the majority of aboriginal peoples are not on reservations but live dispersed throughout the country in urban and suburban centers. This makes effective pastoral care a tremendous challenge since they may not always find a home for cultural and others reasons in their local parish.

For me, having the opportunity to learn about the reality of America’s aboriginal peoples has not only been a great blessing but also a source of concern. For various reasons, some Native American people are turning away from the Catholic faith of their ancestors. Moreover, support structures and services attuned to the reality of these Catholics are very limited. The Subcommittee on Native American Affairs is chaired by Archbishop Charles Chaput who is clearly passionate about this ministry. So, I am encouraged that with Archbishop Chaput’s leadership, that of the other bishops on the Subcommittee, and Fr. Henry’s help we can work to better identify the needs of this important ministry and aid in its continual growth as we find more effective pastoral responses.

Please visit our Native American Catholics homepage for more information.

E Pluribus Unum: Can We Americans Sustain Our Founding Motto? By Father Bruce Nieli, C.S.P.

2010-08-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

August is a slow month for some people and so it is for me. My sister and I are going to explore the German side of our Mexican-German heritage. We're visiting the original town of the first Decks that came to the United States in 1740! A distant in-law on the Deck side who is also a Mormon with great interest in genealogies was able to trace the family back to its original town in the region of Hessen close to Darmstadt. But I do not want to leave you kind readers high and dry, so I have a gem of an article to share with you. Paulist Father Bruce Nieli, a tireless apostle among Latino Catholics in the South and elsewhere, recently wrote the following article for his local Memphis Catholic newspaper. He sheds light on a topic known to usually generate more heat than light. He puts the conversation in a broader context and helps us understand why both the Holy Father and our U.S. bishops have been so unrelenting in their concern for immigrants, their dignity and human rights. Thank you, Father Bruce, for this well-written and timely reflection.

In 1894, a six year old boy from Menfi, Sicily, Melchiore Nieli, in the company of his mother Grazia, on a ship destined for Ellis Island, jubilantly threw his hat into the Atlantic Ocean upon seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. He was thrilled to have escaped the poverty of his native village and behold the symbol of the land of hope. He would later fulfill a dream by opening a hardware store along with his little son Anthony (my father) in Merrick, Long Island, New York, and donate the shovel for the groundbreaking of Cure of Ars Church, perhaps the first parish named for Saint John Vianney following his 1925 canonization.

One of the glories of the world's great religions has been the support given throughout history to immigrants and refugees. The Hebrew Scriptures are forthright: "The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you" (Leviticus 19:34). Pope John Paul II, in his powerful Apostolic Exhortation promulgated in January, 1999, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, The Church in America, gives contemporary voice to this solidarity by quoting from the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops: "The Church in America must be a vigilant advocate, defending against any unjust restriction the natural right of individual persons to move freely within their own nation and from one nation to another. Attention must be called to the rights of migrants and their families and to respect for their human dignity, even in cases of non-legal immigration."

The United States of America is at this writing embroiled in an identity threatening conflict over the issue of immigration, and especially, in the Pope's phrase, "non-legal immigration." Many immigrants and refugees fear deportation in an increasingly hostile American environment. It is the opinion of this writer that to a great extent the source of this conflict is the hesitancy on the part of many, perhaps due to complacency, reserve, or even fear, to truly get to know persons culturally different from themselves, to deeply enter into their aspirations, struggles, and life experiences. Who are these immigrants as persons? Saint Paul the Apostle could serve as a master teacher in this regard: "I have become all things to all people" (1 Corinthians 9:22). The crisis over immigration is, sadly, yet another manifestation of the profound polarization we are experiencing as a people. It reflects one more challenge to our founding motto e pluribus unum, "out of many, one."

In 1776 our fledgling country was struggling to form itself as one nation from thirteen diversely populated colonies. The Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to create a seal and motto for the newly declared United States of America, and the motto they came up with was the Latin e pluribus unum. To this day one can see this phrase on the ribbon carried in the beak of the bald eagle within the Great Seal of the United States on the reverse side of the one dollar bill. We were to be a sovereign union of sovereign States, "out of many, one."

Our country was therefore rooted in a philosophy; in fact we were to live out as a people the great philosophical problem of all time—that of the one and the many, unity amidst diversity. In terms of population, this translates into "how do I maintain my own identity while being open to the values, beliefs, and cultures of others?" "How can I be a free person while living in community?" How can we as a people truly be a veritable multicultural beacon of freedom and providential "light to the nations?" This has been for us historically a lifelong and painful struggle, but in an authentic way America has become that beacon and light, the planet's cultural barometer, inviting the world to send us, in the words of Emma Lazarus' famous poem, its "tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free." But will that invitation continue?

It is my conviction that Catholic Americans have a providential opportunity to bring our people together and renew our e pluribus unum identity. With our incredible human diversity and mystical unity, we Catholics are an e pluribus unum Church with a mission to rebuild an e pluribus unum America. "From California to the New York island,""from sea to shining sea," the United States cries out for a spirituality of e pluribus unum, a guiding light and permeating force to root us historically yet open us up globally.

Catholicism can provide for America such a spirituality by becoming, in the words of Servant of God Isaac Hecker, a "North Star"of the Spirit. Our Table of the Eucharist could serve as Dr. Martin Luther King's "table of brotherhood." In our parishes, schools, institutions, and societies, we can be bridge-builders for our people, facilitators of intercultural bonding and neighborhood intercommunion. As our Catholic bishops have pointed out, we can help our people really get to know persons of diverse backgrounds and become instruments of reconciliation and channels of mutual understanding. We can become both truly human and truly holy by reaching out to the rich diversity of our population.

A similar claim was made early in our American history by the influential Alexis de Tocqueville. In his seminal work, Democracy in America (1835), de Tocqueville states, "These Catholics show great fidelity in the practices of their worship and are full of ardor and zeal for their beliefs; nevertheless they form the most republican and democratic class there is in the United States; (Catholicism) likes to intermingle all classes of society at the foot of the same altar, as they are intermingled in the eyes of God." Later on in that century, the aforementioned Isaac Hecker, Paulist founder, would claim that his contact with "all classes" of persons in America would draw him to Catholicism and to his eventual belief that "in the union of Catholic faith, and American civilization," there would result "a future for the Church brighter than any past." Thomas Merton, recently cited by the Dalai Lama as a major influence in his spiritual journey ("Many Faiths, One Truth," NY Times Op-Ed, Tuesday, May 25, 2010), relates in his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain that it was precisely the great diversity of ages, genders, and classes prayerfully participating in the first Mass he ever attended, at Corpus Christi Church in Manhattan, that prompted him to seek initiation into Catholicism.

It was, in fact, in Manhattan, during my participation in the recovery of bodies at Ground Zero, in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, that a spirituality of e pluribus unum really hit me. On opposite ends of what had been the campus of the World Trade Center I was aware of two powerful icons: the steel beams joined in the form of a cross, retrieved from the rubble and planted at the site, and perhaps the earliest painting of our country's Great Seal, with e pluribus unum on the ribbon, above George Washington's pew in St. Paul's Chapel. I was reminded of Saint Paul's words: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and have all been made to drink of the one Spirit." (I Corinthians 12:13) It is from the cross of Christ that the living water of the Holy Spirit flows, turning a desert of hatred and despair into an oasis of love and hope, and transforming a divided nation into an "America united."

The Diocese of Memphis, like dioceses all over the country, is blessed with thousands of immigrant persons. Many, perhaps most, are undocumented. They share in our parish life and account for the largest participation in some of our liturgies and religious education classes. They do the landscaping, construction, poultry farming, nannying, hotel maintenance, restaurant servicing, and umpteen other activities not provided for by a retiring American labor force. I am graced to have so many as dear friends and coworkers in the vineyard. May we all share with them what Melchiore Nieli and so many like him came to enjoy— "a future brighter than any past."

2010-07-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Faith Alive!
Evangelization: The church has a mission or the mission has a church?
By Father Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ
This article originally appeared as part of Catholic News Service's Faith Alive! series.

We sadly often hear about persons or groups within or outside the church who oppose or dissent from authentic church teaching. What we hear less about are those faithful who simply ignore what the church teachers, sometimes out of ignorance or intentionally. May I suggest that evangelization is one of those teachings?

Many people mistakenly consider evangelization as mere “outreach,” being hospitable and looking for people to invite to the parish community. But that is hardly the essence or even the main point.

For the church, evangelization is the fundamental framework in which it understands its identity and mission. Evangelization has to do with the calling of each and every baptized person.

At the Second Vatican Council, this vision of the church as a communion of “disciples of Jesus Christ in mission” was firmly planted in at least two major documents, "Gaudium et Spes" and "Ad Gentes." The subsequent synods of bishops led by Pope Paul VI, especially the Synod on Evangelization of 1974, clearly asserted the teaching about evangelization that led to the Magna Charta of Pope Paul VI titled "Evangelii Nuntiandi, also known as "On Evangelization in the Modern World."

Pope John Paul II gave his seal of approval to this and went even further in confirming this teaching in all his writings, but especially in "Catechesi Tradendae" and his encyclical on the church’s mission titled "Redemptoris Missio."
Pope John Paul II added his own term, “new evangelization,” to refer to the urgent need to proclaim the message among already baptized Catholics who have not really experienced a personal relationship with the Lord.

Pope Benedict XVI has certainly continued this process of refocusing the imaginations of the faithful not only on maintaining their parishes and other institutions but on transforming them so that they see themselves as missionary to the core and act accordingly.

The church’s understanding of evangelization is rich indeed and involves four major components:
(1) A personal encounter with Jesus Christ (conversion).
(2) The proclamation of the Gospel message in ways that engage and transform cultures (inculturation).
(3) The transformation of the social, economic and political orders in justice, leading to real peace (liberation).
(4) The realization of unity among all believers in Christ (ecumenism) and among all people of faith (interreligious dialogue).

What an agenda that is! Yet that in a nutshell is what the church is all about.

The late Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles was perhaps the most accomplished theologian who regularly took the church’s priority on evangelization seriously. He wrote about the “evangelizing parish,” lamenting that the vast majority of parishes tend to be focused on maintenance, not mission.

Cardinal Dulles also noted the challenge of providing real opportunities for the “new evangelization” of Catholics by offering them experiences of reflection and prayer in which the person of Jesus becomes personally present and real rather than a figure from history or a theological idea.

Perhaps the main resistance to the teaching on evangelization comes from the fact that it requires participation in politics understood as concern for public policy issues, especially those that affect society’s poor and marginal, the most vulnerable like the unborn and immigrants.

People’s social values and political preferences, moreover, are often more informed by right or leftwing ideologies than by faith.

Evangelization means making the Gospel and its values the center of one’s life -- beyond one’s political party, clan or culture. Evangelization involves really discerning how one’s culture relates to the Gospel. Sometimes this means going against the grain of one’s own culture. Consumerism and individualism, with their tendency to make personal choice rather than the common good the end-all of morality, are examples of U.S. cultural values that clash with Christ’s message.

Now we get to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. Why should these be essential to the church’s evangelizing mission? As long as the followers of Christ remain divided and alienated from each other, they fail to witness to the faith.
Witnessing is the most powerful form of teaching or preaching. So every effort to communicate the Word is negated by the example of disunity that professed Christians are giving.

Interreligious dialogue is also essential to evangelization because God’s love is universal. God desires all to come to knowledge of the truth. The church does not have all the truth, but all the truth necessary for salvation. It must proclaim this truth with conviction and dialogue respectfully with others who do not share it. Persons of other faith traditions may have insights into truth and even the mystery of God even though they do not know Jesus Christ. Through sincere dialogue, the Word will thus take flesh in all humanity, not just one’s limited circle of co-religionists.

This is the Lord’s Great Commandment: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).

Evangelization in this rich and more complex understanding is quite a challenging packet. What a lively church ours would be if only we shared this well-kept secret and really answered the call to be disciples of the Lord in mission!

(Jesuit Father Deck is executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church.)

BUILDING A MORE INCLUSIVE CHURCH: INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE FOR MINISTRY

2010-06-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

BUILDING A MORE INCLUSIVE CHURCH:INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE FOR MINISTRY

Reverend Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Ph.D., STD
Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Need:

Three significant realities highlight today the importance and need of intercultural competence for all forms of ministry. First, an obvious “sign of the times” for the Catholic Church in the United States are the demographic changes taking place in our parishes, dioceses, schools and Catholic organizations as they become more culturally, racially and socially diverse than ever before. A Church that once was primarily of European origin is now increasingly of Latin American, Asian and African origin. Second, since the Second Vatican Council the Church grounds its understandings of its mission and identity on a theology of the human person which links faith with culture. When faith becomes culture it also becomes life. This is the teaching of Gaudium et spes, Evangelii nuntiandi and Catechesi tradendae -- to name just a few of the relevant documents of the Magisterium. Cultures are the target of the Church’s evangelizing efforts in preaching, teaching, liturgy, youth and young adult ministries, worship and catechesis. As a result, skills, attitudes and knowledge about cultures, how they interface and how faith engages them, are central concerns of all ministries. Third, a sound ecclesiology conceives of the Church as a communion of diverse members. Consequently, the principle of catholicity proposes unity in diversity rather than uniformity as the way for the Church moving forward in an intercultural age of migrations and globalization.

How to Define Intercultural Competence:

Intercultural competence refers to the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to communicate and relate effectively with people of different cultures. Knowledge involves cognitive capacity to ascertain levels of self-awareness, to grasp the general dynamics of culture, to analyze the different ways in which cultures think about themselves and others and how they act upon that knowledge. Skills refers to how one develops relationships with people of cultures other than one’s own, how one cultivates empathy for others along with specific skills such as listening, decision-making and problem solving. Attitudes embrace a willingness to engage other cultures, curiosity, open-mindedness, flexibility, and willingness to change. For intercultural competence in ministry one must also cultivate a theology of the human person and of culture as well as a spirituality of hospitality that encourages and sustains intercultural interaction.

How Do Intercultural Competences Show Themselves?

People are interculturally competent when they can engage in appropriate and effective communication with persons of cultures other than their own. By appropriate is meant that one respects the dignity of the other person and the cultural codes by which they lead their lives. Effectiveness requires that the desired communication occurs in a way that honors the intent of the speaker and the receiver’s capacity to comprehend.

Competence is an incremental capacity to engage knowledge, skills and attitudes that make up appropriate and effective communications. Examples of the areas of knowledge one must develop are the following: the strengths and limits of one’s own culture, cultural dynamics, for example, cultures that are more communal rather than individualist in their preferences, gender roles and appropriate ways to communicate among diverse cultures.

Examples of skills for intercultural relations are hospitality, listening, patterns of speaking, empathy, learning different cognitive and learning styles, knowing where to go to find out about different cultures and how to gain information, how to intervene in conflict situations and engage in problem-solving.

Among the attitudes that encourage intercultural contacts are curiosity, cognitive flexibility, caution with regard to stereotyping and prejudice, and awareness of the theological and spiritual underpinnings of intercultural relations.

Important Considerations for Building an Inclusive Church

It is important to understand the minister’s point of entry. Are they members of the dominant/majority culture or are they part of a minority? The majority needs to become aware of how they perceive and act toward “outsiders.” The minority needs to come to terms with the pain and negative experiences they may have had at the hands of a dominant group. Other key areas of concern are: 1) cultural communication styles and skills, 2) overcoming prejudice and stereotypes, 3) working with groups in intercultural settings, 4) pastoral issues in intercultural settings, for example, how diverse, popular religious practices can be integrated effectively into the life of the shared or multicultural parish, 5) reading different cultural settings in the light of the New Evangelization for the purpose of culturally discerning the options that the gospel and one’s Christian values require.

Theology and Spirituality for Ministry in Intercultural Settings

As mentioned above, the Second Vatican Council proposed a theology of the human person that links faith and culture. The Council also furthered a theology of the Church as communion that stresses catholicity and unity in diversity. The U.S. bishops have applied the Council’s vision in many pastoral statements over the years such as Welcoming the Stranger in Our Midst, Brothers and Sisters to Us, Asian and Pacific Presence: Harmony in Faith, Native American Catholics at the Millennium, and Encuentro and Mission. These teachings refer to the reality of Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and Asians and Pacific Islanders in the context of their integration into the life of the Church and the broader U.S. culture.

The bishops’ teaching stresses four rich theological and spiritual themes that are particularly relevant to the flourishing of intercultural relations in Church and society: conversion, communion, mission and solidarity. These themes need to be unpacked and assimilated by all those engaged in ministry today because they provide a firm theological/spiritual grounding for intercultural competence, for today’s and tomorrow’s major challenge: building more effective and inclusive parishes, dioceses, schools and Catholic organizations.

Catholic Cultural Diversity Network Convocation

2010-06-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

www.usccb.org/ccdnc

In May 2010, the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church convened a two-day gathering of Catholic leadership from among the many cultures and races that constitute U.S. Church membership today. The Catholic Cultural Diversity Network Convocation created an atmosphere of dialogue and collegiality by providing opportunities for leaders to exchange hopes, dreams and challenges. In the spirit of Encuentro 2000, the Convocation opened minds and hearts to the evangelizing potential of the Church's rich and growing diversity. View Video

"March for America: Change Takes Courage and Faith"

2010-04-05T11:19:00.001-07:00

The Immigration March that took place a few weeks ago in Washington, DC gave me much encouragement. Human dignity is one of the central values of the Gospel and of Catholic social teaching. When people are merely objects of other people's decisions and actions they are dehumanized. The beautiful thing about the Immigration March was that the people most affected by the United States' broken immigration policy, the undocumented, were doing something to bring about a positive change for themselves and their families. Nothing is more dehumanizing than indifference and passivity in those who are the most concerned but fear giving voice to injustice. Fortunately, the U.S. is still a country where due process and respect for personal rights is a reality if, at times, tested and threatened by ignorance and prejudice. It was heartening to see so many families, not just individuals, at the march which unfolded in a peaceful, even joyous, manner. At this point it is anyone's guess what affect the demonstration of solidarity among immigrants and their many supporters will have. So many immigrant communities and organizations concerned about workers' rights, family reunification, and well-being of children, especially those separated from their parents and picked up by Homeland Security came together--people from every continent. Immigration is certainly a life issue, an issue of social morality, along with even more fundamental moral issues like abortion. It was wonderful to see our bishops assume a role of leadership in this major issue. Cardinal Roger Mahony has invested a lifetime in promoting the rights and dignity of immigrants and here he was leading the Catholic Church's huge delegation to the march. Bishop Wester who chairs the Committee on Migration was there as well and demonstrated his familiarity with the complex issues around immigration reform and his resolve to support immigrant rights in the name of the entire body of bishops that constitute the Bishops Conference. The Justice for Immigrant Campaign that is highlighted on the USCCB webpage is one of the major initiatives taken by the bishops to use modern communication and the church's vast network to be a voice for the voiceless.
Fr. Allan

Photos by: Armando Daniel Garcia (Archdiocese of Baltimore)

"March for America: Change Takes Courage and Faith"

2010-03-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

Fr. Allan F. Deck will join Cardinal Mahony to celebrate mass for immigrants, March 21 in Washington.

WASHINGTON—Due to limitations of space and the large numbers expected to attend the Mass for Immigrants, March 21, at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Washington, media intending to cover the Mass are strongly encouraged to register with the USCCB Media Relations office.
Please contact Mar Muñoz-Visoso at mmunoz-visoso@usccb.org or 202-541-3202.

2010 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering

2009-12-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

Join me at the 2010 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering, February 7-10, 2010

CHARITY IN TRUTH: Seeking the Common Good

On Sunday, February 7, 2010 I will be speaking during the opening plenary session.

Faith Doing Justice: Spirituality and Social Action. I will reflect on the links between faith and spirituality and our work for human life and dignity, drawing on the Holy Father's encyclical. For more information go to: http://www.usccb.org/jphd/csmg/index.shtml

Cultural Diversity: Theological and Pastoral Reflections

2009-12-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

I. It’s all about love…rooted in the life of the Trinity!

The Church’s focus on diversity is rooted in the inner life of God as we have come to know him in the Scriptures, as God has revealed himself to us. We are told that “God is love.” Love is about reaching out to another. The inner-life of God is trinitarian - it consists of a mutual giving and receiving among the three divine persons. Human beings we are told are “made in God’s image.” So we are also about love and our godliness consists just like God’s in reaching out to others in mutual giving and receiving. Now otherness is about difference not sameness.

Read more in the Executive Director's Corner at : www.usccb.org/scdc