Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the USA

Q7. Why are there so many complaints involv ing language and accent? A7. It is true that many complaints regarding inter national ministers focus on the quality of their lan guage skills or accent. In the US context where overt expressions of prejudice are socially unacceptable, these complaints may sometimes be covert ways of expressing hostility to the “other.” It is curious to note that in instances where individual interna tional ministers have made a connection with a local community, the complaints about language diminish even if the accent does not. At the same time, lan guage and accent are very real concerns. The com prehensibility of a preacher or teacher is essential to his or her effectiveness and to the bonding between minister and community. As this chapter indicates, strategies exist for reducing this barrier. In those instances where an individual cannot overcome seri ous language deficiencies, it may be best to return to the home culture and language setting.

the receiving community needs to understand the cultural differences. The responsibility lies with both parties to this mutual relationship. Q6. If a minister is recruited to work with immi grants from his or her own culture, would that individual need orientation? A6. Even if an international minister is recruited to work in his or her own language with a community from the same culture, reception and orientation are still necessary. Even if the arriving minister goes to a parish where the majority of the people share cul tural affinity, he or she will be a minister of a dio cese or community that is larger and more diverse. And, it is difficult to imagine a truly monocultural community anywhere in the United States. When arriving from another country, furthermore, cultural affinity may not remove the challenge of cultural dis location. A community of Peruvian immigrants liv ing in the United States will differ in their attitude toward authority, clergy, Church, etc. from that of their home culture. The fact of the affinity, in this case, might increase instances of misunderstanding.

G-10 | Reception and Orientation