Intercultural workshop given for first time in Spanish

Intermountain Catholic

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Laura Lopez leads a prayer during the workshop at the Madeleine Choir School. IC photos/Laura Vallejo

SALT LAKE CITY – One of the five priorities selected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for action in 2008 was the Recognition of Cultural Diversity in the Church.

Among the projects approved by the bishops to implement this priority is the dissemination of Guidelines on Intercultural Competency for Ministers workshops throughout the country.

The workshop was presented March 22-23 to the participants in the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Spanish-speaking Lay Ecclesial Ministry formation program, known as Emaus.

Sister Ruth Bolarte, IHM and Laura Lopez facilitated the two-day workshop at the Madeleine Choir School.

"They are here to put two gold seeds in us. This is the first time in the United States that this workshop is presented in Spanish," said Maria Cruz Gray, director of the diocese’s Hispanic Ministry, who is in charge of the Emaus program.

The workshops, authorized and sponsored by the USCCB, are meant to address the need for intercultural skills for carrying out all ministries.

"They are full of wisdom in the Lord and this is a really big opportunity for all of us," said Gray.

"The urgency of such an initiative has grown exponentially as the numbers of Hispanic and other groups of non-European origin increase in parishes, dioceses, seminaries, schools and Catholic organizations throughout the country. Priests, religious, and lay ministers often find themselves serving a wide range of faithful from diverse cultures with which they have little or no familiarity," reads in the USCCB.

At the workshop in Salt Lake City, Sr. Bolarte explained that today, people in the U.S. encounter different languages, races and cultures more than ever.

"The experience of diversity is therefore more characteristic of our times," said Sr. Bolarte. "The Church’s mission to evangelize or proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and advance the Kingdom of God is centered on the encounter of faith with cultures and on the promotion of justice for all. This workshop was designed to talk about all the difficulties and to really know each other."

Lopez guided an opening prayer in which the attendees dedicated one mystery of the rosary to different cultures.

"We are called to reflect and know each other better so we as community can make the best decisions in order to evangelize. This is our call," said Lopez.

The workshop included five modules, which each covered an aspect of cultural diversity in the context of the Church; intercultural communication and hospitality also were discussed.

"Live this workshop; live it," Gray urged the participants.

"Insight into faith and culture is a fundamental requirement for the effective pursuit of the Church’s mission," reads the USCCB.

The participants in the Emaus program come from all over the state, not only from parishes but from missions such as those in Fillmore, Beaver, Elberta, Huntington, Delta, Ephraim and Heber. Most of them are originally from Mexico but there are also some from Colombia, Peru, Panama and Guatemala.

The Emaus program takes approximately four years of studies; this is the fourth year. The formation plan has four main areas: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. At the end of the program, the LEM candidates will be prepared to serve in their local ministry, but they also will require ongoing faith formation.