Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church

201 Painter Street, Everson Pennsylvania 15631  --- Phone 724-887-6714

Cultural Pluralism in the United States
April 14, 1980 United States Catholic Conference - (ISBN 1-55586-739-1)
The following is a small sampling of the contents of the above document...

Part 6. It is a historic fact that there is no government and there is no organization that has as continuous and enduring an existence in form and structure as the Catholic Church. Faithful to the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Church insists that, as the people of God, we are members of the body of Christ, of the one human family, bound in a unity which transcends the diversities or origin, culture, education, or personality.

Part 26. Pope John Paul II, speaking in Chicago in 1979, saluted Americans for "the common history and union which you built from the richness of your different cultural and ethnic heritages-those heritages that you now rightly want to know and to preserve."

Part 28. In theory and in practice the Church has insisted on the freedom of all peoples to remain faithful to their cultural heritage, their particular language, and their traditions. At the same time, recognizing the reality that culture is ever subject to the development, that it is not something static but dynamic, the Church has favored the normal process of integration of cultures-sometimes described as acculturation-as distinguished from assimilation and from the extreme of exaggerated nationalism.

Part 38. Parishes must not fear to be centers of cultural as well as spiritual inspiration, relating the customs and folkways of people to contemporary gospel teaching. This may often require special language provisions in catechesis and worship. Insensitivity on the pastoral level can alienate even the most devout.

Part 39. Church organizations, whether local or national, should encourage participation in the wide range of opportunities offered by the ethnic diversity of the People of God in our country.

Part 42. Liturgical life, so fruitful a vehicle for understanding, should reflect the Catholic traditions of the whole human family, helping to promote the community of all. The feast of Pentecost itself might appropriately suggest both liturgy and celebration acknowledging and rejoicing in the variety of ethnic riches.