Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

APPENDIX C: CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS IN ONGOING FORMATION | 111

and therefore wait upon direction from his diocesan bishop or his delegate, while the diocesan bishop or delegate might misunderstand this cultural approach as being lazy or passive because his own culture places greater value on personal initiative. Cultural misunderstandings may be reduced or reconciled when individuals and communities examine their presump tions and dialogue with one another.

THE POWER OF FAITH

287. The Catholic Church, with its long history of experience with many cultures, has significant advantages in bridging divides. Of course, that experience is also set in a context of a faith that grappled early on with questions of cultural difference and came to the firm conclusion that God’s plan calls human beings into communion, as one body, while leaving intact their uniqueness and diversity. If the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost may be seen as the healing of Babel, then note that the Babel experience made all alike, whereas Pentecost united even as it respected the uniqueness of people’s own languages and identities as Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and so on. The Catholic faith and its convictions provide the motivation to bridge cultural divides and the foundation for respect, even reverence, for differences. When clergy arrive from other cultures as immigrant or missionary priests, they have a critical need for proper welcome and orientation to life in a new country and culture. This kind of programming, as essential as it may be, does not fall under the heading of “ongoing formation.” The USCCB has already addressed this question at length in the 2014 edition of Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the United States . 220 Nonetheless, missionary priests serving in the United States do need to be considered by those planning for ongoing formation. First, missionary priests need opportunities specific to their needs as international priests. Even the CULTURAL ORIENTATION 288.

220 USCCB Committees on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations; Cultural Diversity in the Church; the Protection of Children and Young People; Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the United States , 3rd ed. (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2014). The document includes canon law, civil law, psychological considerations, and child and youth protection and safety considerations related to assessing and accepting pastoral ministers, as well as recommendations related to their reception, orientation, and ongoing formation.