Open Hands and Hearts

Some Catholic parishes across Australia are culturally diverse and others are becoming increasingly multicultural. Seeing this phenomenon with 'the eyes of faith' is to recognise diversity in the Body of Christ as a gift to the local Church. To welcome this gift of diversity into our worshipping communities is to stand together with open hands and hearts. People of every race and culture who make up the community of faith are coming together to offer communal praise and thanks to God, to grow together in the call to holiness for the life of all.

In Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Pope Francis wrote: When properly understood, cultural diversity is not a threat to Church unity. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, transforms our hearts and enables us to enter into the perfect communion of the blessed Trinity, where all things find their unity. He builds up the communion and harmony of the people of God. The same Spirit is that harmony, just as he is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. It is he who brings forth a rich variety of gifts, while at the same time creating a unity which is never uniformity but a multifaceted and inviting harmony. Evangelisation joyfully acknowledges these varied treasures which the Holy Spirit pours out upon the Church. We would not do justice to the logic of the incarnation if we thought of Christianity as monocultural and monotonous (EG 117).

For a growing number of parishes, this diversity is seen in the priest presider, especially in parishes with multiple churches and whose boundaries extend for hundreds of kilometres. Some years ago my dad became 'a grey nomad', travelling from the east coast to the west coast of Australia, hauling his vintage caravan. When he returned many months later, I asked him about his experience of Mass in the various parishes he visited. He said something like this: Well, John, if it weren't for the priests from over- seas, we wouldn't have been able to celebrate Mass!

Many parishes are also experiencing growing cultural diversity in the members who make up the Sunday assembly week after week. It might even be that people from other cultures and nations -- those who speak languages in addition to English and who have made Australia their home – are now the backbone of the parish.

Questions

Against this backdrop, exciting questions arise about the celebration of the liturgy. What might it mean to celebrate the Church's liturgy interculturally? Might it be that celebrating the liturgy interculturally is a Spirit-led response to God's shaping us and renewing us to be the diverse people of God we are and are called to be? Supposing that the celebration of the liturgy is a rehearsal of how we are to live with others in the world, what might intercultural liturgy evoke within us so that we might better live God's mission in a diverse world?

In addressing these issues, I would like to trace an evolution from monolingual liturgy, through multilingual and multicultural liturgy, to intercultural liturgy.

The first, monolingual liturgy, sees an assembly celebrating in one language – normally it is the group's dominant language or a gathering of people across a region who speak the same language. Over many years we have seen notices in parish bulletins alerting parishioners to 'Mass in French' or a 'Chinese Mass' or an invitation to join the Italian community for Mass. Those attending expect the entire liturgy to be celebrated in the one language. Some parishes have Masses in other languages on a given Sunday of the month.

Multilingual liturgy occurs when two or more languages are used in the one celebration. The languages spoken by various groups in the parish would find a place in the parish Sunday Mass. Some conferences of bishops around the globe provide guidelines and recommendations for the spoken and sung words in several languages.

For example, there might be a marriage between a couple whose families come from two language groups. The couple might decide the scriptures are to be proclaimed in several languages so that all present may hear the word of God. Sometimes the text is spoken in one language and printed in the other.

Hymn composition offers another possibility. There are hymns now written in two or more languages. We see compositions in English and Spanish or in Vietnamese and English. So, for example, at Christmas, a parish could sing the first verse of O Come All Ye Faithful in Latin, the following verse in English, and the next in another language.

Multicultural liturgy goes beyond languages. It incorporates various gestures and customs, symbols and signs that are part of a particular cultural usage. Again two examples will help us see how other signs may be incorporated into the liturgy.

Filipinos bring a tradition of honouring Mary called 'Flores de Mayo' (Flowers of May). It is often celebrated during the Easter season. It will be marked differently depending on what part of the Philippines the people come from. Rituals within the Mass might include the procession of an image of Mary which is placed on a special table decorated with flowers. Later in the liturgy, the younger members of the community might offer flowers to Mary. It becomes a cross-generational experience, too, as grandparents and parents mentor the young ones in this offering ritual. Music from various Filipino languages is part of these processions (There are 120 languages spoken in the Philippines).

A second example: parish members from Samoa might dress parts of the church, altar and ambo in woven floor coverings. Traditional dress – the puletasi for females and linen lavalava for males - might be worn. At the preparation of the gifts, the procession of bread and wine will often include a garland of fresh flowers placed around the neck of the presiding priest, fresh flowers around the altar, and offerings of food for the priest and those in need. Samoan families and community members also wear different clothes to celebrate funerals.

The timing of annual multicultural liturgies varies across Australian parishes. Some parishes hold a multicultural Mass on Australia Day, 26 January. The Preface at the start of the Eucharistic Prayer prays: For from ancient times you made this land a home for many peoples … And so, we lift our voices to you this day… with the people you have made your own, from every race and tongue, every place and time…

Other parishes celebrate their multicultural Mass on Pentecost Sunday. It seems a neat fit with the scripture reading describing the first Pentecost Day in Jerusalem: they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech (Acts 2:1-11) or the second reading which acknowledges that there is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them (1 Cor 12). These texts proclaim the action of the Spirit which creates the unity and diversity of the Christian people. Adding the other liturgical texts for Pentecost, we have a good liturgical context for the celebration of a multicultural community of faith.

Here in Brisbane, the cathedral church of St Stephen holds a multicultural Mass annually on World Refugees and Migration Sunday in September. All parishes and cultural communities within the Archdiocese are invited to share your cultural faith expression and celebrate the diversity of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. This year's theme was ‘Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees’. The Mass was celebrated by the archbishop and was followed by cultural performances and diverse foods in the cathedral grounds.

I have also seen Multicultural Sunday marked on the final Sunday of the liturgical year, Christ the King. Whatever day is chosen for an annual multicultural event, I would like to think that there really is something important to celebrate here. It holds up a mirror to ourselves and rejoices in the richness of our Christian life – the inclusion of peoples, the diversity of cultures, the gift of peoples' primary cultural heritage, and the unity the Spirit brings from those of every race and tongue.

Celebrating who we are

Australians are a diverse mob – diverse in culture, nation, race. This has changed enormously in the decades since Federation in 1901. For the first fifty years, government policy privileged the reception of migrants from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds and did not welcome our neighbours from Asia, especially China and Pacific Island nations. In the aftermath of World War II, Australia began receiving people who had survived the war and wanted a new start for themselves and their families. This broadened our diversity. From 1949 to 1973, governments progressively abandoned what was commonly called the 'White Australia Policy' and diverse people from other cultures, nations and parts of the world were welcomed to Australia. We have also come to recognise and value the First Peoples of our nation. The 'face of Australia' is a rich mosaic of amazing diversity.

This challenges us to take the next step, to move from a multicultural approach to an intercultural one. Under a multicultural rubric, different cultural traditions and languages are acknowledged and juxtaposed. An intercultural approach involves listening to and learning from one another. Here there is interaction between the cultural customs and symbols, the mindset and values of different peoples. Something new emerges out of such mutual reciprocity.

Intercultural liturgy means working together with open hands and open hearts. It will reshape the language and music of the liturgy, its gestures and movement, its vesture, architecture and art. The community of believers is invited into a new experience of God. It will involve a sharing of liturgical preparation by the cultural groups in the parish, even from those whose numbers might be small, lest larger cultural groups in the parish dominate.

This work is not new. In 2008, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops produced Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship which encouraged parish musicians to move toward intercultural liturgy: When prepared with an attitude of mutual reciprocity, local communities might eventually expand from those celebrations that merely highlight their multicultural differences to celebrations that better reflect the intercultural relationships of the assembly and the unity that is shared in Christ (59). In 2012, the USA

Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions published Liturgy in a Culturally Diverse Community: A Guide Towards Understanding. It suggested that preparing authentic ‘intercultural liturgy’ requires a long-term commitment of the parish (especially the pastor himself) that prioritises the development of a real intercultural parish identity and the empowering of all the cultural groups of the parish.

An intentional move towards intercultural liturgy would mean a parish is attentive and alert to who makes up the parish and thus who is celebrating the liturgy. A first step would be to discover from census data what is the actual composition of the parish population (see abs.gov.au and ncpr.catholic.org.au). Then, those who prepare the parish liturgy could begin to move from a once-a-year multicultural event to intercultural liturgy throughout the liturgical year. Liturgical music may include the languages, styles and genres of local cultures – the whole assembly might learn some responses, refrains and antiphons in other languages. The commemoration of the saints opens possibilities for particular cultural groups to shape the parish liturgy – a growing Korean community might be invited to share their commemoration of the Korean martyrs, for example. Rostered liturgical ministers, church décor for the liturgical seasons, liturgical objects (communion vessels, processional cross, etc) may all reflect the diversity within the worshipping community. The homilist can draw on stories and events from the cultures of parishioners who are migrants or refugees. Particular religious devotions or festivals might enrich the whole parish community – the Filipino Advent customs of Simbang gabi, for example, or the blessing of foods at Easter. The Christmas crib may be prepared by different cultural groups in the parish year by year. With imagination and respectful listening, the possibilities are endless.

Led by the Spirit, ever ancient and always new, our parishes might breathe new life into the community of the baptised if they were prepared to appreciate the gifts all bring from their cultures and to invite them into the celebration of the liturgy. Members of the parish might learn through the liturgy what it means to live interculturally in a complex world where difference may be experienced as a gift and where shared gifts create unity and respect, harmony and peace for all.

As Ruth Duck wrote in her 1991 hymn:

Diverse in culture, nation, race,

​we come together by your grace.

God, let us be a meeting ground

where hope and healing love are found.

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This article was originally published in Liturgy News ​Vol 53(4) December 2023.  Reprinted with permission.

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