Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the USA

Reception and Orientation

The very nature of the Church tells us that cultural encounter and orientation is not a one-sided but rather a mutual process. In addition to the personal efforts of the arriving international pastoral minis ters, the full process of reception and orientation involves the efforts of many people and groups. It is of crucial importance that international pasto ral ministers coming to serve in the United States gain an understanding of the cultures of the peo ple among whom they will serve. Such understand ing will improve the experience of their transition between cultures and reduce conflict for them and liabilities for receiving communities. Proper ori entation in these areas will make the work of the minister more effective. From another perspective, the receiving community must also be prepared for those who are arriving. This is especially true for the receiving diocesan or eparchial bishop, cleric, or major superior in addition to the receiving commu nities, such as the diocese, eparchy, parish, institute, or society. The reception and orientation of international pastoral ministers and their receiving communities includes four distinct stages: pre-arrival, welcome and initial orientation, formal orientation, and ongoing support. We will now look at each of these stages in more detail. Stage 1: Pre-Arrival An earlier edition of these Guidelines called for sharing basic information with international pas toral ministers prior to their departure from their home countries. 1 But even ten years ago, the limited availability of tools to offer pre-arrival preparation as well as the complexity and expense of mount ing pre-arrival programs made the task daunting, if not impossible.

Case Study 1 Father P. was ordained for a large diocese in Nigeria where for over sixteen years he held important respon sibilities as a pastor, personnel director, and educa tional administrator. After visiting his family in the United States and having a positive experience of the Church there, he asked permission to come to serve in this context. From the start, the pastor in his first parish seemed suspicious of him and kept his distance. He gave Father P. few responsibilities apart from routine sacramental ministry. He also forbade him to cook Nigerian food in the rectory kitchen because of “the bad smell.” Parishioners, as well, did not seem to receive him kindly. No one requested him for funerals or weddings. He felt isolated, unappreciated, underutilized, and dis criminated against. He was ready to return to Nigeria. At that point, a new pastor arrived who listened attentively to him, offered him alternatives for pre paring his native cuisine, and began giving him more responsibilities. Parishioners seemed to follow the new pastor’s lead, as they made requests of Father P. and invited him into their homes. The rectory and parish atmosphere seemed to change, and this had a profound impact on Father P. who was now more relaxed and serving with gusto in his parish. This case illustrates the importance of preparing the local priests to receive their international brothers with sensitivity and kindness. Tensions in the rectory and the parish can be diffused in the simplest ways by listening to others, recognizing their dignity, and treat ing them with kindness. We now stand at a different moment in elec tronic communications, and this makes pre-arrival preparation a realistic possibility. For example, the availability and use of social media and access to high speed internet provide the infrastructure for pre-arrival preparation. Although many developing countries lack internet access in homes, it can be found in public places in most cities and even towns. The rapid spread of mobile phones around the world opens another avenue of communication for social media. Smart phone applications offer new vehicles for communication with international pastoral min isters in their home environments.

1 Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the United States (Washington, DC: USCCB, revised edition, 2003), 23. Canon law envisions some pre-arrival preparation for clerics who intend to move from one particular church to another for temporary service. Canon 257 §2 of the Code of Canon Law states that such clerics are to “learn the language of the region and understand its institutions, social conditions, usages, and customs.”

Reception and Orientation | G-1