"The Shared Parish," Part 4 of 4 – with video

This post is a continuation of my report about an event on “shared parishes” at the Center for Migration Studies in New York City. Part one is here; part two is here; part three is here.
Maria del Mar Muñoz-Visoso, the Executive Director of the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, emphasized the need in shared parishes for intercultural competence at all “levels” of ministry, and connected training in competence to the imperatives of the “New Evangelization.”

(Credit: csmny.org)
It is important to learn from what the Catholic Church has already been doing, she noted, in its Encuentros. However, are the Encuentros sufficiently engaged by white/Euro Catholics? Some challenges of engaging whites in Encuentros mirror the difficulties in shared parishes. Are Anglos, she effectively asked, ready to claim their cultural identity—and relativity? Reflecting on the 2007 Cultural Diversity Convocation, she suggested that the “national/ethnic parish” model of Catholic yore still matters today, as a step in the process of different cultures learning to be Catholic together. “People integrate better,” she noted, “from a position of strength.”
In responding to comments from the floor, the ensuing discussion raised these items:
Fr. Tonelotto recommended having an annual “Feast of Nations” so that every culture/nationality can be accounted and celebrated in the parish. Ms. Muñoz-Visoso emphasized the importance of having “sharing events” of a variety of forms, so that different communities in the parish can talk about and show how they “do” holidays, how they practice hospitality, what is important to them in their tradition, etc. Dr. Hoover talked about the importance of training for pastoral workers who must be ready for shared parishes. Since no one can be competent in every culture they will face, it is desirable to support the development of virtue in pastoral workers, specifically curiosity and cultural humility. This is especially so for white men who usually find themselves automatically at the head of the line in terms of voice and visibility in the Catholic ecclesial system. Finally, Dr. Hoover raised what for him is a deep theological question raised by his research on shared parishes: “What do we think unity is?” What does “communion” mean, what are practices of communion? What are we hoping will happen and why?
On that profound note, the session ended with gratitude expressed by participants for a rich time together. Thank you, presenters and the Center for Migration Studies, for a good event.
The CMS has posted a video on YouTube of the event, which is here:

APT members and friends: what are your experiences with “shared parishes” or analogues in other traditions? What is theologically at stake and how might research and pastoral practice go forward?
Tom Beaudoin, San Francisco, California