"…each one heard them speaking in the native language of each"
Acts 2:6

On Sunday, January 13, 2008, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Atlanta offered the annual Rev. Carl J. Peter Lecture. His lecture was based upon the theme Catholic Preaching in the Multicultural Context of the United States of America. The following is an excerpt of his talk.

This text will be replaced by the flash music player. Catholic Preaching in the Multicultural Context

The topic Preaching in a Multi-Cultural Church is a daunting [one], but the challenge itself is rooted in the very thing we have come to call “the American experiment” – the grand assembly of very diverse peoples who hope to live and to work and to prosper together as one nation in a manner perhaps unprecedented in human history. Even more fundamentally, the challenge is embed- ded in the very nature of the Catholic Church... Speaking of the Church’s universality, the Second Vatican Council proclaimed: The one People of God is accordingly present in all the nations of the earth, since its citizens, who are taken from all nations, are of a kingdom whose nature is not earthly but heavenly. All the faithful scattered throughout the world are in communion with each other in the Holy Spirit so that “he who dwells in Rome knows those in the most distant parts to be his members” (Lumen Gentium, 13).

THE UNIVERSAL TASK OF PREACHING REFLECTED IN UNITED STATES EXPERIENCE TODAY
“I believed, therefore I spoke” (2 Cor 4).
There is a conspicuous hunger in the land for the Word of God. Examples abound of the drift that people feel in their lives. Only God’s Word can make a breakthrough... As priests, our primum officium is the proclamation of the Word. This is a life-giving Word. It is truly God’s Word. Ultimately, it is the Word made flesh and come to dwell among us.
Do we know the power of this Word? Can we imagine the possibilities of our own proclamation? Do we know the difference between information, which drives our lives in so many ways, and truth, which alone can give meaning and direction to life? Do we know the difference between data—bits and pieces, here and there—and wisdom, to know how the particulars all fit into the plan and mystery of God?

Do we have enough confidence in ourselves as ambassadors of Christ to present ourselves as sources of wisdom? The culture, and even our most steadfast people, do not instinctively turn to us as “wisdom figures.” They are much more likely to go to Oprah or Dr. Phil or a blog-spot. We may have allowed our calling as proclaimers of God’s truth and wisdom to be subverted by sur- rendering to the secular take on us: well-intentioned, rather backward, rarely inspired, at best platitudinous agents of an institution whose day is past relevance.
In the face of this, what shall be our source of confidence, so that we can reclaim the passion, the conviction, and the imagination to proclaim the Word of truth to a world so obsessed with itself and so desperately in need of the saving Word? Perhaps the key is in the phrase that Paul borrows from the prophet Habakkuk: “I believed and, therefore, I spoke.” It begins with our basic faith. That is the only foundation. To pay attention to what we believe, how we believe, in whom we believe – this is not spiritual narcissism. It is the foundation of ministry and life in service to others. It is out of our faith that we can credibly speak and effectively communicate the Word of life.
“That which we have heard and seen and touched concerning the Word of life, that we proclaim to you” (1 John 1:1).
The challenge is not the development of new skills – although these may be very useful – nor the acquisition of additional information – although this can also serve good purposes – the real challenge is a converted heart, a continuing turning heart that believes more and more deeply and from that belief dares to speak. This is the global or universal vision of preaching God’s Word. This provides us with the context to understand the particular ways that preaching needs to be tailored to multicultural contexts.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PREACHING IN A MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT
To speak of the Latino, African-American, and Asian communities triggers in many people the notion of “minorities,” a word that connotes for many a condition of poverty, a lack of education, and poor integration into mainstream United States culture. Of course, the facts present a far more multifarious situation. Can you think of Cuban professionals in Miami as uneducated? Or mem- bers of the Black bourgeoisie – a group that has been around for quite a while – as living in abject poverty? Or Korean software or hardware engineers in Silicon Valley as poorly integrated into United States culture? Still, the identification of [minority] communities as a context for preaching means a lingering set of stereotypes. And so, there needs to be some work of correction and clarification in order to arrive at our goal – effective preaching in these communities. In the process of correcting misconceptions, we will actually move constructively toward understanding the necessary elements for effective preaching in the United States in a multicultural context.

Preaching in a multicultural context means those addressed are primarily victims of inequity, discrimination, and oppression.
Of course, Latinos, African-Americans, and Asians have been victims. To deny that is to fly in the face of history. The wrongs inflicted on these communities have ranged from the horrors of slav- ery to a denial of ordinary civil rights to subtle yet effective discrimination that has constructed glass ceilings and limited social and economic advancement. Preaching that highlights the Exodus paradigm from slavery to freedom definitively gained through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ must always have a place in the proclamation of God’s Word to people whose dignity has been denied. Preaching that highlights the call to justice must always have a place in the proclamation to people whose history and [at times] current moment includes injustice.
At the same time, to identify members of these communities primarily or solely on the basis of victimization can also be a fundamental denial of our dignity. In each one of these communities, real people have claimed agency for their lives... Preaching must take this into account and proclaim God’s gracious empowerment of his sons and daughters. Similarly, this preaching must insist on the revolutionary power of forgiveness and reconciliation – always, of course, led forward by Christ, who “...is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Eph. 2:14).

Preaching in a multicultural context means speaking to people who are exotic, “not at all like us.”
The fact that people come from different traditions and have a particular cultural background does not automatically make them exotic... Inside of difference, as I have already affirmed, there is a universal human spirit. That spirit confronts the questions and the struggles and the yearnings of all humanity. Death, work, family life, time, friendship, alienation and reconciliation – these universal realities link us in a common bond of human experience...
Although we can strongly and securely affirm this common bond of common human experience, within that commonality there is a grace of difference... And that difference within common human experience may be a matter of an expression, a symbol, a gesture, a local connection, a particular historical memory, a turn of phrase, or whatever. Clear and effective preaching will take note of such differences. Taking note, however, presumes a sympathetic listening to others, a curiosity about their particular way of encouraging or expressing the common ground of human experience. Is this not the pattern of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman? At Jacob’s well, in a specific context of Jewish-Samaritan relationships (or hostility), with an evocation of different ways of worship on Zion or on Gerazim – with all this in mind Jesus preaches a Word that will produce life-giving water and conversion in this woman.
When we preach in a cultural context that is not our own, we must tread softly. It is important that we consistently affirm the cultural and faith-cultural experiences of those to whom we speak. This is a dangerous and truly unhelpful perception. Besides that, it is extraordinarily patronizing. If preachers must feel fettered by cultural niceties, they can never utter a prophetic word. They can never challenge the culture. Still we know better. We know that cultures, all cultures, are in need of the conversion that only the truth of Christ offers... A culture that sanctions violence or the diminishment of women or a culture that rigidly protects the interests of moneyed or powerful classes—cultural attitudes of this kind deserve and need serious critique. Obviously, a preacher ought not to begin with a prophetic critique. Still, having come to know the people and the culture, preachers must let the Gospel speak its Word directly and pointedly, like the two-edged sword that it has always been.
To remain in the realm of uncritical affirmation in the face of a given culture’s defects or variance from the spirit of the Gospel is both patronizing and demeaning. Such a position suggests that people really cannot change, that the conversion of individuals and cultures is not fully possible. That is not our Catholic faith. Prophetic critique is always rooted in hope that, by God’s grace, people and cultures can change.

THE PERSON OF THE PREACHER: A BELIEVER
In this last part I want to return to Paul: I believed, therefore I spoke. Although God’s Word can surely take root even through the instrumentality of a preacher whose faith is tepid, [this] is not what God wants nor is it the ordinary way that the Word of God effectively enters into the hearts of listeners. God wants, and we also want preachers of faith, who are convincing because they are convinced. And in light of our theme of preaching in a multicultural context, the faith of the preacher plays out in its own special way.

If the preacher believes and speaks from faith, God’s Word will find a home in the heart of the listeners.
...I understand the process in this way: If the preacher truly, deeply, and passionately embraces the Word he will share with others in faith, then that Word will go out from him and it will find a home in the hearts of those who listen. The Word itself and the graced hearts of the listeners will adapt the preaching so that it becomes “hearable” in a given context. Of course, whatever use- ful human adaptations can be made ought to be made. My point is that the heart of the matter is faith speaking to faith. If that basic connection is established, the particulars of adaptation will follow and not always because of the efforts of the preacher but, more significantly, because of the work of the Holy Spirit...

If the preacher believes with a faith that has consequences, he will be all the more effective in a multicultural context that demands actions beyond Words.
Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has recalled for us the central conviction of our faith in God: Deus caritas est, God is love. The same letter from which these holy words are drawn clearly indi- cated that there are consequences of embracing faith in God who is love: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them...Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also (1 John 4:16b, 20-21).
It is not enough to love “in word or speech, but [also] in truth and action” (1 John 3:18). A consequential faith means a faith ready to make decisions, especially in service of one another. To communicate this kind of faith requires that the preacher be convinced of it. The consequences of faith...also lead to the praise and thanksgiving of God preeminently celebrated in the liturgy of the Church. It is not accidental that both in multicultural contexts and contexts in which believers have felt somehow marginalized, liturgy is of decisive importance.

CONCLUSION
Let me leave you with the image of one extraordinary person who proclaimed the wonders of the Lord. It is the Mother of the Lord, who in her Magnificat crossed back to the past narrative and history of God’s great deeds. And she stretched and pressed ahead into the future across all generations and cultures to affirm the reliable and faithful promise of God. For she understood that the One she bore within her womb was destined to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). She understood that her Son crossed over all cultures and times and people and brought them together as one. In Paul’s words, “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all in all!” (Col 3:11). It is no wonder, then, that when the Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary was poured out upon apostolic preachers at Pentecost, they were able to preach to diverse people and to be under- stood with singular clarity: ...each one heard them speak in the native language of each (Acts 2:6). And that is still possible today, my young brothers, even for us. Amen!

Past Lectures:

2006
Most Rev Timothy Dolan - Archbishop of Milwaukee
Preaching: An Ecclesial Vocation [mp3]

"Maybe the greatest threat to the Church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitized, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes no demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms."

2006
Rev Robert Barron
Announcing the Lordship of Jesus Christ:
The Evangelical Task Within the Context of the Contemporary Culture

2004
Rev. Donald Senior C.P
What the Bible Can Teach the Preacher:
The Art of a Catholic Interpretation of Scripture