Building bridges between cultures in vocation ministry

WHAT ADVICE WOULD Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, F.S.P.A. have for vocational ministers? A Mississippian and a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, she was a tireless worker during the middle of the last century for an ethnically inclusive church. For her, that included bringing people of color into religious life, “black, red, yellow, brown!” she would say. If she were around today, I think she would admire the work of Father Juan Molina, Sister Nicole Trahan, F.M.I., and Father Adam McDonald, S.V.D. We’ll hear from each below.

I interviewed Sister Thea for articles twice in the 1980s. (She died of cancer in 1990.) In one, we talked about intercultural challenges in the church. I asked her for advice on behalf of vocation ministers. Her answer: “When I went into formation, most women felt, ‘We’re all alike. What’s good for one is good for all.’ But my background as a Black Catholic was radically different.” Her suggestion for those trying to cross ethnic divides in their ministry: “Get in touch with Black spirituality and history, and become comfortable with Black people.”

 Create a sense of home 

Father Juan Molina, president of the Mexican American Cultural Center, is a priest of the San Antonio diocese who once was the vocation director for the Trinitarians. He says one of the hardest challenges for religious communities is to develop a truly intercultural understanding. But it’s not just understanding, he says. It’s about living. The more successful communities are “more open to welcoming and making non-Anglos feel at home,” he says. That’s not just handshakes and smiles. It has to do with food, with liturgy, with daily prayer.

“That feeling at home, feeling welcome, is probably the first step for anybody discerning an application [to join a community].” Molina offers the example of a young seminarian he knows from San Antonio. “Fully bilingual, he’s very much at home in a bilingual context. Yet his food is very different than the food that [he] would get if his diocese would send him to a seminary that doesn’t allow much food variety.” Familiar food is always one sign of home.

“You have to feel something of yourself in the congregation,” he says, “in the way it discerns, in the way that it handles authority, in the ways that it makes food, and even in the way that it has parties!”

For a Latino applicant, feeling at home in a religious congregation includes his or her family having a connection to the community. Molina says, “Your congregation will be part of your family, and your family will also be part of your congregation. These are relationships that go not only with the individual.” He gives another example from San Antonio of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit community (the current archbishop of San Antonio is a member). They have an associate program, and many times new members come from families that are associates of the congregation. Parents see it as natural that their son would become a priest with the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit.

“You grow in the family; not only in your blood family, but you also grow in this culture of a religious congregation,” Molina says. “And as you grow up, your parents have been going to meetings, to special Masses and anniversaries, all of these things. It’s only natural for you to then say, ‘I want to be like them as well.’”

The bottom line for Molina is that religious communities need to learn and affirm multiple cultures in day-to-day living and community prayer. “A community needs to understand them better and to understand that culture is an important aspect not only of one’s individual existence but also an important aspect of vocational recruitment.” We’re not inviting individuals, he adds; we’re inviting the whole family. 

Some practical tips for religious communities? “You have to force yourself to go out into the community, learn the other language, even if you don’t learn it perfectly. People don’t care that you don’t know it perfectly. They care that you’re there with them,” Molina says.

He recalls his own experience many years ago as a seminarian. He was befriended by a Glenmary Home Missioner student, Neil Pezzulo, who became a lifelong friend. “He was always open to me and supportive,” says Molina. “I had an accent (I still do!). Not everybody was as sensitive. He understood that I have different struggles. He would recognize that, yes, you can have different struggles, and you have a right to express that your experience is different.” Many years later, both men still look back on that moment. 

Pezzulo, now a Glenmary pastor in rural Southwest Georgia, in a community growing in international membership, says, “It comes down to a simple idea: The Jesus I love, the Jesus I try to follow, is of a different type, place, and culture than me, you know? It’s not complicated. Other people make everything more complicated on this! I think it takes some emotional intelligence. But you build personal relationships.” He states the obvious: “People among us have different cultures, different questions, and radically different ways of doing things.” 

Molina knows that sometimes those entering a religious community hear a different message: “You’re the newcomer, and therefore, you are expected to comply. And in reality, it’s the complete opposite.” And that is one of Molina’s key insights: “It really is you. You’re co-creating a new community. In whatever diocese, parish, or religious congregation that people enter, whether those people are Vietnamese or Indian or Latin American. You’re literally co-creating a very different community!”

Overcoming barriers 

The same dynamic plays out in many women’s communities. It’s surely not as extreme as what happened to young Sister Thea Bowman in 1953 when she applied to the Franciscans and became the only Black person in her community (indeed, in the whole city of LaCrosse, Wisconsin). Her classmate Sister Charlene Smith, F.S.P.A., writes that an older sister told newcomer Sister Thea, “You know, Black people go to nigger heaven, together with the dogs and other animals.” That’s shocking to hear today, but racism persists in more subtle ways. It can still be a challenge for communities of white people to be truly welcoming across ethnic lines.

Ask Sister Nicole Trahan, F.M.I., former vocation director for the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, a part of the Marianist family. “I think one of the main challenges is if people of color who are discerning the possibility of religious life don’t see someone with whom they can identify in a religious community.” That’s a serious barrier, but one that can be overcome. “I think if a community has never welcomed someone from a particular ethnic background, there might be some implicit bias or prejudice that they’re not even aware of, one that impacts their behavior and makes it difficult for the person who’s entering,” she says.

It seems like a chicken-and-egg problem, not being able to welcome people of color because you lack members of a similar background. But Trahan has an approach for vocation ministers: “Part of it is building relationships. One of the things that I have said to congregations in the past is that people are not going to just pick you out of a catalog and show up to enter!” She says it is critical to “be in spaces where you can build relationships and meet people who are from a different ethnic background.”

One example is getting into diverse parishes and building relationships. “It’s not so much about recruiting; it’s about building relationships and getting to know people.” Perhaps among those more involved in the parish you might find someone considering religious life, she offers. And, she says, it’s not only the vocation minister’s role to build bridges. Everyone in the community has to be on board. 

“That requires doing the work of conversion, looking at ourselves and getting in touch with our implicit biases and prejudices, understanding how those impact our everyday lives. That’s a huge thing!” says Trahan. In many ways, it’s not so different from the obstacles that Sister Thea Bowman confronted in her time. They just might not be so obvious.

“Microaggressions are a big thing,” adds Trahan, speaking of the non-obvious. “That’s something that is said or done based on a stereotype or a prejudice that might sound innocuous. It might sound innocent, but it’s insulting to the person who’s receiving that,” she explains. And it’s typically not intentional, yet racism is institutional. A white community member might seek to praise an African American by suggesting that she is “very articulate,” says Trahan. “No doubt, as an African American, she has perceived that below the surface lies an implicit suggestion: “We’re better [more articulate] than you, and you’re making progress in overcoming that.” That sounds pretty bad, but prejudice, unexamined, untreated, can be like a quiet, infectious disease, both unseen and toxic.

Another microaggression: a white community member telling a Latino newcomer born and raised in the United States that their English is very good. It sounds like a compliment, but actually, probably unintentionally, it serves as a put-down. Whether a potential or newer member would even feel free to confront it is complicated. Did the comment come from a peer? Or from someone in authority? Those can be determinants, says Trahan. “Thanks,” the Latino newcomer might say, “Why wouldn’t it be!” 

One way through issues related to language might be a common open acknowledgment that accent differences take time to accommodate. “To adapt is a process,” says Trahan, “and it’s okay to overcome a little bit of difficulty!”

She also has advice for communities bringing in members from abroad: “The first thing is to recognize that the cultures are different. Even within a country like Kenya, where you have different tribes, those cultures are different. You can’t paint people with a broad brush and say just because their skin color is the same, they’re the same.” Be curious, she advises. Don’t make assumptions.

“I would say it’s important, especially when you’re working with people from another country, to know things about that country and the culture before the person comes to live in the community. I think we run into some issues when people assume that folks coming from the African continent, from African countries, are the same as African Americans. And that’s just not true. These are completely different cultures.”

Parable of the Sower

Father Adam MacDonald, S.V.D., is the vocation director for the Chicago Province of Divine Word Missionaries. For more than a century, his congregation has desired to be interethnic in the United States, says MacDonald. Their seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has graduated several Black Catholic priests and brothers, four of whom became bishops, including the now-retired Bishops Terry Steib (Memphis, Tennessee) and Curtis Guillory (Beaumont, Texas).

The congregation has developed an “interethnic lens” that continues to shape its vision in vocations, MacDonald says. He suggests the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds (Mark 4:1-8) as a paradigm for inclusion: “How generously do we extend that invitation? Are we like the sower of the seed in the parable? Who’s willing to throw that seed wherever it lands, regardless of rocks and thorns, giving everyone a chance to hear that word, and whoever has the desire to respond, we’ll bring that to fruit. Or do we kind of pick and choose, and say, well, we’re only going places where we think there’s a greater likelihood of a response? Granted, we have limited resources. We can’t go everywhere and do everything all the time. But sometimes, I hear complaints that [vocation ministers] don’t get responses. If you look at where they’re placing an invitation, it’s too tightly focused.”

Authenticity is critical, too. It’s that chicken-and-egg problem again. You want to draw new people from ethnicities you haven’t welcomed before, but there is no one familiar. But you can’t fake it, says MacDonald. He speaks of a community creating brochures using stock images to imply diversity that isn’t there. That leads to trouble once an inquirer looks more closely. On the other hand, images showing diversity among the people who are invited to retreats and events can communicate an openness to all.

“We need to put the invitation out there authentically,” says MacDonald. “Let’s say that someone hears the invitation, responds, and wants to enter, whether it’s for a visit or to stay. It raises those questions of what adjustments we might be willing to make to help someone feel welcome in our midst.”

One of the big adjustments may be spending time and resources on language. Newcomers from English-speaking countries might need training to learn or improve an American-English accent. On the other hand, the community may need to learn more about those home countries and learn to practice patience. Spanish-speaking newcomers might need to gain more English proficiency, while the welcoming community members might need to learn and improve their Spanish. 

“We need to offer candidates opportunities to bring the richness of their culture to bear upon the entire life of the community,” says MacDonald. “That means scheduling opportunities to celebrate cultural and national feasts important in the cultures of origin of the people who join us.” His community, for example, celebrates the feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita, the enslaved African woman who was brought to Italy and established her freedom. “She has become a real patron of our African, African American, and Caribbean sisters and brothers, of whom we have a significant number.” These celebrations bear fruit with everyone over time.

“When I look at our community celebrations, I see our members, for instance, from Haiti who are just as involved in helping cook for and decorate for and celebrate Lunar New Year or the Asian Cup [soccer championship]. And when we have our Josephine Bakhita celebration, our Asian and our Latin American confreres are just as invested and interested in preparing for and being present at the celebration. We encourage our members to wear a national dress or costume during these celebrations.” Some community members even join in wearing international attire from a country other than their own.

“It’s not for show or sort of like a token; it’s a sign of respect and appreciation for how these things enrich our lives, how we want to share in them together,” MacDonald notes. “It’s not just a Vietnamese or an African celebration, but it’s something that we really value together.”

When it comes to discernment, MacDonald recommends a team approach. Rather than have only one ethnic group represented on a vocation team, try to have vocation staff from the cultures where you are in contact with candidates. MacDonald reinforces two themes Father Juan Molina brought up: “We have a very intentional way of walking with the young men that inquire, which means that we will eventually go to try to meet them and their families and understand that the families will be part of that journey as well.

“And I can tell you it makes such a difference when we’re able to communicate, removing that limitation that might otherwise be there. It communicates to the families that this congregation cares enough and invests enough to value and respect the cultures that we are willing to learn those languages.”

MacDonald stresses the importance of being present at ethnic conferences in the United States, such as the National Black Catholic Congress, the National Association of Burmese American Catholics, and the annual Vietnamese Marian Days gathering in Carthage, Missouri. In the end, he says, it’s not only about a poster or brochure; it’s about building relationships.

Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman advocated the same. Building relationships, developing trust, nurturing  a multicultural sense of the church—she spoke of these in our 1988 bedside interview: “I think the church is universal, and for such a long time people misunderstood universality. They thought it meant that everybody had to be alike. But I think the beauty of the universality is that the church is able to speak to the people in whatever language they best understand. And when we say language, we’re not just talking about verbal language. We’re talking about ritual, we’re talking about music, we’re talking about gesture, we’re talking about story. And, you know, the kind of witness to the Good News that happens when they see us coming together in Jesus’ name. One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, all within the diversity of our histories and our experiences and our cultures, our arts and our rhythms. For me, that’s the fun of it!” 

John Feister is a veteran Catholic journalist and Catholic Media Association’s St. Francis De Sales Award winner. He and Sister Charlene Smith, FSPA., coauthored Thea’s Song: The Life of Thea Bowman (2009, Orbis Books), which was the winner of a Christopher Award in 2010.