Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, May 4,2000
Faattla Allvd
The Southern Cross, Page 9
Welcome to the international fair
By Dan Luby
Catholic News Service
X he church is packed. In the
foyer, along the back wall, whispered
conversations and intense huddles
give voice and shape to the anticipa
tion filling the sacred space like invis
ible incense. On silent cue, the Viet
namese choir rises to sing.
The International Fair Mass at St.
Rita Church in Fort Worth, Texas,
has begun. A highlight of this parish’s
life, it climaxes an annual day-long
celebration of multicultural richness
in this mid-size urban parish.
The fair’s blend of sights and sounds
and smells — guitars and drums, bag
pipes and horns, mouth-watering aromas
of savory egg rolls, crispy fried chicken,
spicy enchiladas, sweet kolaches — all
contribute to a kind of patchwork quilt of
harmony in diversity.
Father Richard Flores, St. Rita’s
pastor, finds the challenge of “making
everyone feel a part” in such a varied
community especially demanding be
cause, he says, new people often are
shy about offering their talents.
Parishioner and catechist Joe
Rodriguez cites the practical difficulties
of meeting the language, space and
scheduling needs of different ethnic
groups. But the effort is worth it. In the
many cultural groups present in a typi
cal Sunday congregation, Flores sees
“the universal church more embodied”
FOODFORTHOUGHT
In these times of the new
immigration in the United
States, the church’s many
cultural groups reflect the fact
that the nation as a whole has
many new ethnic groups,
among whom can be found
some of the nation’s poorest
people and those most
“vulnerable to exploitation,”
said Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of
Galveston-Houston, president
of the U.S. bishops’ conference.
“A multiethnic, multiracial
church must have a heightened
awareness of the problems that
many ethnic and racial groups
face, ” Bishop Fiorenza said in
an article about multicultural
parishes (America magazine,
Nov. 20, 1999). “This impels us
to fight racism, which not only
is on the increase against
African-Americans but also has
expanded to include Hispanics,
Asians and people of other
ethnic groups,” said the bishop.
He encouraged Catholics to
work in nonpartisan ways “for
legislation and candidates who
will uphold the right to life and
dignity of all, including the
economically poor, people of
color and new immigrants.”
We need to realize that “it is
our own family members who
are forced to live in
substandard housing and to
choose between milk and meat
or vaccinations and vitamins,”
Bishop Fiorenza wrote.
David Gibson
20 Editor, Faith Alive!
than in a homogeneous parish.
The parish of St. Matthew in Ar
lington, Texas, also is made up of var
ied ethnic and language groups. This
suburban parish of 4,000 families at
tracted its first Vietnamese parishio
ners through refugee resettlement.
Father Joe Schumacher, the pas
tor, explains that, as families came
and found a welcoming atmosphere,
word spread among the immigrant
community. Soon a sizable Vietnam
ese presence made itself felt.
Today the parish also has a signifi
cant number of parishioners from Ni
geria and other African countries, and
its always-large Hispanic member
ship now comprises more than 50 per
cent of the parish.
Creating a sense of welcome is con
sidered essential in both parishes in
terms of managing the difficulties of a
multicultural reality and cultivating
its benefits.
Father Schumacher notes the im
portance of flexibility in hospitality.
“You’ve got to be able to bend a little
bit” to meet the needs of a varied
parish population, he says. Knowing
a little of the language helps too.
Father Schumacher, who is com
fortable in Spanish, says he only
knows a handful of Vietnamese
phrases, but that’s enough to dem
onstrate his respect for their lan
guage and customs.
Father Flores says that new pa
rishioners, different in language, cul
ture, ethnicity or experience, invite a
settled community to “evaluate what
we’re doing” and go beyond doing
things one way just because they’ve
always been done that way.
Father Flores quotes 1 Corinthians
12:5 when talking about the blessings
of serving a multicultural parish. In
today’s increasingly globalized
church, St. Paul’s insight is especially
important: “We, though many, are
one body in Christ and individually
members one of another.”
When the St. Rita’s International
Fair Mass concludes, prayers will
have been said and songs sung and
a five'
All contents copyright©2000 by CNS
Scripture proclaimed in Spanish,
Vietnamese and English. Communion
will have been received by people
dressed in traditional costumes repre
senting African, European, Asian and
Latin-American heritages. The inter
cession not only of St. Rita, but of the
sainted Vietnamese and Ugandan
martyrs will have been invoked.
Though it will have lasted twice as
long as an ordinary Sunday celebra
tion, though it will have included
words and gestures outside everyone's
comfort zone, and though it will have
been costly in time and planning and
effort, all will leave with grateful
hearts, mindful of the blessings of cul
tural richness.
(Luby is director of the Division of
Christian Formation for the Diocese
of Fort Worth, Texas.)
Invisible Catholics in need of welcome
By Father David K. O’Rourke, OP
Catholic News Service
0
utsiders to parish life become
insiders only when the insiders make
a conscious effort to welcome them.
There is a large part of our popula
tion, including many Catholics, who
are usually not visible in the course of
Sunday worship. Their daily battles
to survive keep them on the margins
of our communities. They come to
church to say a prayer or light a
candle during weekdays when no one
is around. Welcoming them presents
possibly the greatest of challenges.
I work with an old friend who col
lects, refurbishes and then donates
infants’ and children’s clothes to local
CNS photo by Les Fetchko
agencies that help poor families in
crisis.
That usually means families living
with terrible poverty,-drug and alco
hol addictions, physical abuse,
homelessness, physical and mental
illnesses or just long-term unemploy
ment.
Recently we delivered several car
loads of infants’ clothing to local agen-
44
Welcome takes place on
their turf. It means things
like letting them know that
they are not nobodies, that
someone cares, that their
welfare matters.”
cies, running from the
county hospital’s wing for
newborn infants, one-third
HIV positive, to a shelter
for battered women, to a
“clothes closet” that dis
tributes clothing free.
I never had visited this
clothes closet. But to my
shock it was next door to
my work. I pass by the
door several times a day.
Next we went to a shel
ter for battered and abused
women, my first visit
there. Again, it is a place I
drive by every day. Inside
were a dozen women, some
with little children and all
looking frightened when
we entered.
How do we in our par
ishes welcome these folks?
First, let me redefine “wel
come.”
Welcome takes place on
their turf. It means things
like letting them know
that they are not nobodies,
that someone cares, that
their welfare matters.
How do we do this? Let me offer a
suggestion.
Find out what local groups provide
assistance to people living with daily
crises. Then make an effort to visit the
staffs who run the centers. And do not
be put off by a mistrust of “do-gooders,”
or the fact that a staff may not have
time for you, given its overcrowded
daily schedule.
Let the staff people know you want
to help. If your offer and their
moment’s need happen to mesh, you
might make a connection. If not, try
again later or try elsewhere.
But keep trying. People living on
the margins of society aren’t sure that
they’re really welcome in life. Thus,
they often are depressed and defen
sive. Any humane way of saying to
them that they belong and count is
needed.
(Dominican Father O’Rourke is a
senior fellow at Santa Fe Institute,
Berkeley, Calif.)
I
ln 0 Nutshell
Twenty percent of U.S.
Catholic parishes cel
ebrate the Eucharist
regularly in a
language other than
English.
What can we learn
about God from
cultural groups in the
church with which we
are unfamiliar?
In today’s increasingly
globalized church, St.
Paul’s insight is
important: “We, though
many, are one body in
Christ and indi
vidually members one
of another.”