Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

GOFP 281

APPENDIX C Cultural Considerations in Ongoing Formation CONTEXT 281 It is a foundational truth that we all belong to the one family of the baptized. There is a need for conversion that would make ordained ministers see the immigrant and the international citizen for who they are: our brothers and sisters. Cultures may be diverse, as might histories and origins; but our Lord died to give each of us a new identity that all Catholics share. 282 Catholic priests serving in US dioceses are a culturally diverse body serving a diverse flock. This is not a new phenomenon. Some areas of the United States such as Florida, Texas, and California were already being evangelized by Spanish clergy for more than a hundred years before the establishment of the United States. In the British controlled colonies on the Eastern Seaboard, early Catholic presence was limited by anti-Catholic restrictions. By the time the new US Constitution guaranteed religious liberty, some Catholic clergy were already active in the former colonies—notably in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. Although some of the clergy were themselves born and raised on the Eastern Seaboard, more were missionary priests hailing from European countries. 283 The strong presence of missionary priests only increased in the nineteenth century, as the Catholic population itself began to change with the arrival of new immigrants. For a brief period in the mid twentieth century, US dioceses saw a rise in vocations that tipped the balance in favor of local clergy. Even so, many of those local vocations were in fact produced among immigrant communities,

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