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Untying Wet Knots
Reflections on Effective Multicultural Ministry
Bill Barman
Aa wet knot on a pair of sneakers is hard to untie—even harder when they’re on your feet. As the pastor of a multigenerational, multicultural, and multilingual parish, I at times feel responsible for untying a lot of wet knots.
Farm workers from Central Mexico founded the parish where I serve, La Purisima Church in Orange, California, in 1923. They gathered under a pepper tree for Mass until they saved enough money for a wooden mission church. The parish built a new church in 1958 and another in 2005. Normally new construction signals a healthy community coming together. However, the Hispanic community came to believe that the parish was discriminating against their community and started picketing on the sidewalk before the new church opened in 2005. Protests continued through 2014. Father Bill Barman, pastor of a multilingual and multiethnic parish in California, chronicles the challenges he faced and success he found when it came to unifying his parish community. He offers hopeful, practical suggestions for anyone with a similar task and mission.
I did not serve at the parish during most of its history and can comment only on the repercussions. I don’t believe enough people considered the effect the new large worship space, driven by donations from mostly white parishioners, could have on others. The Mass schedule offered 10 liturgies in English, one in Vietnamese, and one in Spanish. This created a sense of loss and alienation for the Latino community, who founded the church and yet felt they were not welcome. The new church, they felt, neglected to value them as agents of their own pastoral needs or religious practices. Eventually, their alienation and disempowerment found expression in picketing, which began before construction was completed and lasted for almost a decade.
My first pastoral decision was to un-employ the armed guard hired to “keep the peace.” I also began the typical task of putting names to faces and meeting my staff, who shared in the task of ministering to this diverse community of 4,000 parishioners. My next decision was to declare a pastoral amnesty and a new beginning for everyone in the parish. Anyone seeking the Lord would be welcome. Access to parish facilities and involvement in Masses was open to all.
Three weeks later, just as I thought things were settling down, 30 families picketing in front of the church surprised me. Armed with a thermos of coffee, some paper cups, and a trembling heart, I headed out to the sidewalk. Surprised and startled, they eventually took me up on the coffee, but hesitated on my offer to speak with them in my office regarding their concerns. Eventually my pastoral mantra became, “You can serve at the altar or continue protesting in the street; you are free to choose one or the other.”
I spent the next three years trying to figure out how the Hispanic community could become so alienated and feel completely like outsiders in their own parish. Along the way, I puzzled over how to achieve greater harmony and collaboration between the Spanish-, English-, and Vietnamese-speaking communities. It became obvious early on that each language community and ministry were living comfortably in their own silos. Parallel and tangential community life is easier to manage in some ways.
The first step to integrate a parish and create a fair distribution of resources is to have the desire for unity in less than a superficial manner. I proceeded to make some changes that, while small, ended up having a huge influence on the culture of the parish.
The first morning I arrived I was struck by the number of signs on the plaza: nine in total. Affixed to the church, in two languages, were the words “No Loitering” and “Restrooms are not for public use.” How odd to tell people they can’t congregate in the parish’s plaza. And if people do gather, don’t expect them to use the restrooms. Doesn’t that already limit our options for hospitality? I also noted small metal signs in various planters around the parking lot with an arrow pointing toward the parish office. Besides being too small to be useful, these were only in English. We created a new mantra: If it’s worth announcing, it’s worth announcing in all three of our languages.
Our community is 75 percent working-class Mexican Americans, 5 percent elderly Vietnamese immigrants, and the remainder are white English-speaking Americans of various origins. While I felt the Mass schedule to be one of the most egregious examples of injustice in the parish, I delayed changing it in the hope that I could bring the white English-speaking community into a greater awareness of the inequality and stir in them a desire to redress this wrong. That was not to be.
I took various polls while also offering multiple options until a consensus was reached—four Masses in English, four in Spanish, and two in Vietnamese each week. While many Spanish-speaking parishioners will attend daily liturgy in English, the English-speaking crowd voted with their feet and left for a nearby parish. Even when we projected the scriptures in the opposite language on large screens and offered multilingual prayers of the faithful, many were uncomfortable and unwilling to remain part of the parish family.
Attendance by the English-language community may be down, but participation at the Vietnamese- and Spanish-speaking Masses has increased. One of the great examples of leadership came from Deacon Tony Bube, who, at the age of 94, learned his parts in Spanish and is now a fixture at the 6:30 a.m. Spanish liturgies. I discovered that the group of volunteers who lock and unlock the parish did not include a single Spanish-speaking person. Today, more than half the team speaks Spanish. Closing time for parish meetings is no longer an inflexible 9 p.m. curfew. Each ministry is trusted and receives a key simply by asking for it. If sacraments are spiritual signs that reveal an inner truth and beauty, then our physical appearance should also reveal our community’s spiritual roots. To an immigrant community, many of whom are undocumented, a church fence, a locked playground, or an English-only room-use form is intimidating. They don’t say, “Come to me who are weary and burdened and I will refresh you.” If our sense of order and rules prioritizes legalism before welcome, redemption, and forgiveness, then we fail as a community of Jesus.
I am pained by those who have withdrawn from the parish. But those who have stayed and those who are returning hearten me. I believe we are getting stronger in our unity and shared life and mission. I love the challenge to engage this parish dynamically and justly and in a culturally sensitive manner. Today at La Purisima we are mostly at peace and the poor are always welcomed, as I continue to untie a motley assortment of wet pastoral knots. ■ Fr. Bill Barman has been the pastor of La Purisima Church in Orange, California, since 2013. He has worked in parish ministry since his ordination in 1981. Excerpted with permission from U.S. Catholic, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60606; uscatholic.org. To read the article in its entirety please visit: https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201707/can-pastor-make-everyone-happy-multicultural-parish-31082
We asked you—our readers and our online community—to tell us your favorite thing about your parish. We want to share the good news about what’s going well in parishes and inspire you to bring some of these ideas to your own community. The responses below are representative of common themes and have been edited for length and formatting.
COMMUNICATION
My parish is effective in utilizing multimedia to engage the faith community online—these activities include recording and transcribing homilies on the parish website with real-time video recordings of daily Mass. —Patrick, St. Clement Shrine (Boston, MA)
LITURGY
My parish offers three different types of Sunday liturgies: a more solemn liturgy with more traditional music on Saturday evenings, a contemporary Mass on Sunday mornings, and a praise and worship Mass on Sunday evening. My pastor held a series of town halls, and what people really wanted was a liturgy that felt comfortable to them. With these different options available, everyone from the community feels welcomed and included. —Andrew, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Crofton, MD)
PROGRAMMING
GIFT: Generations in Faith Together. It’s a program for people of all ages to be learning, sharing, and eating together. Teenagers eat with other people’s grandmothers. Young moms get support from older moms. Fathers learn with children, and older men are welcomed and appreciated. The program is run by a lay team. —Faith, Our Lady of Victory (Centerville, MA)
MARRIAGE PREPARATION
My parish has a monthly ministry for newly married couples. Newlyweds meet with older couples in the parish who offer mentorship in all aspects of married life, from finances to communication to supporting one another’s professional and personal goals. Our pastor came up with the idea to strengthen young marriages, because the first five years are the hardest. Many parishes do a great job with pre-Cana. This extends the community’s support long after a couple says “I do.” —Elise, St. Mary of the Assumption (Brookline, MA)
FAITH FORMATION
My parish focuses on faith formation for people at all ages. The younger kids love going to CCD and learning from the older ones. There’s a flourishing teen program that helps kids recognize that church can be fun and instills lessons about faith and a sense of belonging in the church. For parents, there are Bible studies and groups at times that work for them. Even for the oldest people in the community there are programs to help them further their faith. It has created a sense of community in which every person is recognized, known, and celebrated that I haven’t found anywhere else. —Ashley, Holy Mother’s Collaborative (Hanover, MA)
LGBTQ INCLUSION
I was blessed to learn of different Catholic ministries in Chicago that are focused on outreach to the LGBTQ community. It’s sometimes difficult to reconcile these two facets of my life, but finding a community that embraces and strengthens them has made a world of difference. I attend regular Sunday Mass with AGLO, the Chicago Archdiocese’s Gay and Lesbian Outreach ministry, and meet with Affirmed at St. Clement’s parish on a monthly basis to dive deeper into my faith through readings, discussions, acts of service, and Q&As with Church leaders. It is an especially meaningful blessing in my life as I’ve made friends with some wonderful people who dare to open doors, build bridges, and shine a light on Jesus’ welcoming message. —Marty, St. Clement (Chicago, IL)
FAMILY MASS
My favorite thing about St. Ignatius is the joyful Family Mass community. Families host the Mass: there are adults and kids in the music ministry, and the celebrant always makes an effort to have messages for both kids and adults in the homily. You get to know other families and are able to support one another through the challenges of parenting. You can come to Mass as a parent and not be stressed or fearful that your child is going to be loud in a silent church! —Heather, St. Ignatius, (Chestnut Hill, MA)
HOSPITAL MINISTRY
Our pastor established a Hospital Visitation Ministry. Each volunteer covers four weeks per year. During our week, we receive an email with the name and room number of hospitalized patients who are members of the parish. Over the course of the week, the visitation minister can visit as much as his or her schedule allows. We have prayer cards to share with hospitalized patients and from time to time our CCD children create artwork/cards to distribute. Being present to members of our parish family in times of need is a gift to give. —Kathleen, St. Therese (Havertown, PA)
YOUTH MINISTRY
Our pastor has gone out of his way to welcome youth. He has recreated the “CYO” activities that were once offered years ago, including snow tubing, Red Sox games, etc. He welcomes all children to the altar during Mass and speaks to them directly. He has made the initiation of altar servers into a communal event by having them take their “oath” at Mass. He has created a warm sense of community for not only the children but for their families and everyone else who visits the church. —Rosemary, St. Patrick (Watertown, MA)
PARISH LINKING
We have been linked with a parish and Catholic elementary school in El Salvador for the past 15 years.
Each year, we raise scholarship funds that help the local children get an education and meet other urgent needs that arise. Our two parishes pray a Guadalupe Novena for one another on the Feast of the Transfiguration. In alternate years, people from the parish in El Salvador visit us, stay in our homes, meet our parishioners, eat dinners in our homes, and speak to us from the altar at Mass. The next year, people from our parish visit El Salvador, stopping at the sites which pay homage to Cardinal Romero, the Maryknoll Sisters, and Jesuit martyrs. Together, both groups assess what is working best, and make plans for the following year. The Parish Twinning program is what has kept many of us engaged in our parish and given us hope in the Church. —Ellen, Transfiguration Church (Tarrytown, NY)
NEW IDEAS
St. Ignatius truly is an inclusive parish. The pastor, Fr. Greg, gets to know each parishioner by name. Fr. Greg’s passion for serving the Church is visible through his love of Mass and his willingness to come up with new ideas to better serve us. One of his newer ideas is “Home 4 Dinner.” On the third Sunday of each month all of the weekend Masses are combined to a new time with a parish-wide meal served afterwards. Fr. Greg has also created a prayer request system for anyone who wishes to share with an intention.
This high level of caring for the people of the parish makes St. Ignatius a place where parishioners care for one another through the example of Fr. Greg. —Alyse, St. Ignatius (San Francisco, CA)
Parish Ministry in a Time of Pandemic
As this magazine was being edited, the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to unfold. Catholic priests and parishes are adapting in real time to an evolving situation and are finding creative and prophetic ways to be close to their parishioners and to help facilitate an encounter with Jesus.
Download our digital supplement: bc.edu/c21parishes
Fr. Giuseppe Corbari asked his parishioners to send him photos of themselves so that while they could not gather together, he could remember them while he said the Mass.
Fr. Scott Holmer, pastor at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Bowie, Md., offers drive-through confessions (CNS/Catholic Standard/Andrew Biraj)
Tell us how your parish is connecting with its community in a time of social isolation. Email us at church21@bc.edu to share your own stories.
Best Practices for Worship and Liturgy
Karen Baker
Aabout 15 years ago, I noticed an announcement before Mass: “In order to more fully, consciously, and actively participate in the liturgy, please silence all pagers, beepers, and cell phones at this time.”
“Wow,” I thought to myself, “our pastor can really turn a phrase!” It took me five years to discover that the desire for “full and active participation of all the people” comes straight from Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. It took the seeds of liturgical reform and gave them room to blossom. Fifty years after that document was approved, parish liturgy in the United States has taken many twists and turns, from rainbow banners to guitar Masses to a swing back to incense, Latin, and chanting.
What exactly makes for a “good” parish Mass? Answers are likely to differ from inner-city Chicago to the suburbs of Houston, from pre-Vatican II Catholics to millennials. For most churchgoing Catholics, three themes emerge: powerful preaching, excellent music, and actively engaged people in the pews. Most Catholics participate in parish life through the Sunday liturgy. For some, it’s the only encounter with the parish they will have in a given week; for others, it’s the first step toward more robust participation. Either way, it’s arguably the most important thing for a parish to get right. The following article looks at best practices in liturgy and worship.
1. LIVELY AND ACTIVE, SOLEMN AND SERIOUS According to Benedictine Father Anthony Ruff, a liturgist who teaches theology at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, “it’s important that people believe in what is happening, that people want to draw from the texts and truly want to connect with God, with creation, and with people in the community.”
Those who plan worship can help people make that connection, Ruff says. The trick is to make things “lively and active” without sacrificing the solemn and serious nature of the Mass.
Good liturgy does not mean a return to pre-Vatican II practices, nor only relying on the post-Vatican II experiments; it means forging a new path. “Here’s the problem,” Ruff says. “We tried so hard after Vatican II for active participation that we veered to gimmicks and silliness.” As a result, some Catholics went in the opposite direction and called for a return to the pre-Vatican II Mass.
“That’s the wrong solution,” says Ruff. “We need to find out how to deepen the liturgy in a way that is more engaging.” We need, he said, to make the Mass beautiful without being stuffy.
How does a parish do that?
“Instead of just pre- and post-Vatican II, the Church has many centuries of particular styles of worship, and we inherit from all of this,” says Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, professor of theology at the Loyola Institute for Ministry in New Orleans. Zsupan-Jerome suggests that when planning liturgy, parishes should not be afraid to create their own blend of old and new.
2. MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC That’s what Father Michael White and his pastoral associate, Tom Corcoran, do at Church of the Nativity in Baltimore, Maryland. In their book Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter, they describe the use of Gregorian chant in their otherwise “contemporary approach to the weekend experience.” Gregorian chant during the acclamations of the Eucharistic prayers, they say, “seems to very effectively summon our congregation into the very heart of the mystery we celebrate.”
The mystery, after all, is what we desire. Good music gets us there. Music binds the congregation together and lifts a common prayer to heaven. Good liturgy demands songs that are singable and a choir that has good leadership, says Ruff. “We need better musicians, music that really draws people in.”
That means taking the time to find talented musicians who can serve as worship leaders. It also doesn’t hurt to repeat music from week to week, as repetition encourages participation, which in turn promotes good liturgy.
3. CONNECT WITH THE PEOPLE When a pastor can preach, the people will come. Tony Oltremari is a parishioner at St. Laurence Parish in Sugarland, Texas. He says his pastor, Father Drew Wood, is a gifted homilist, and that’s what people want. “If the homilies don’t connect, if the music is not engaging,” all is lost, Oltremari says.
Tom Neal, dean of academics and professor of spiritual theology at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, agrees that homilies must connect with the people in the pews. “It has to be relevant to people’s real-time circumstances, even as it may deeply challenge them and mess with the status quo,” he says.
“Use stories taken from personal experience, from the news, [or] from literature to bring alive the scriptural and liturgical texts,” Neal says. “People think in narratives, and if you don’t speak in narratives, they will rarely remember your ideas.” That requires long preparation, prayer, and hard work, and he believes preachers should focus all of their energy on their Sunday homilies. That homily may be, he says, “the one and only Christ-inspired message [people] hear all week.”
Neal urges homilists to have “some honest people who can give you critical feedback on your preaching so you can grow,” perhaps even holding a weekly Bible study on the next Sunday’s readings and “stealing the good insights of your Spirit-filled people.”
4. CONSIDER THE DIFFERENCES Many parishes have a diverse congregation to consider when planning the liturgy, including people who have different preferences—some may want only a choir at Mass, while others would rather hear more contemporary music with guitars and drums. And when it comes to ages, how do we keep youth, in particular, from drifting into dreamland? Should parishes offer specialized liturgies like a Mass for teens or a children’s Mass to best engage those segments of the parish?
Zsupan-Jerome sees a real drawback in this approach, as she believes these types of liturgies detract from our unity as the one body of Christ. “The liturgy is by definition a public event for and by the people,” she says. “Vatican II’s emphasis on full and active participation of all reinforced this important sense of inclusiveness. Having a specialized liturgy that is just for teens or those who like a certain style of music will in some sense hinder this all-inclusiveness. The very style of the liturgy cannot be overemphasized at the expense of its basic reality as the gathering of the body.”
In our ordinary lives, she adds, we choose the people we spend time with, but church is different. “We choose to come together to express something very meaningful and very intimate with people we may not know,” she says. “There is a great gift and challenge in expressing this profound identity together.” The Mass speaks through music, preaching, prayers; it speaks through posture, colors, vestments; it speaks in silence when we come together, warts and all, to encounter the mystery.
Good liturgy depends not only on the pastor or the choir—it depends on you and me. So speak up: What works and what doesn’t in your parish? Does the music move you to sing? Does the homily inspire you to go and glorify the Lord with your life? The liturgy is the “work of the people,” so let’s get to work—fully, consciously, and actively worshipping our God. ■
Karen Baker is a freelance writer for The New Orleans Advocate and the Clarion Herald. She holds a master’s degree in pastoral studies from the Loyola Institute for Ministry in New Orleans and works in parish ministry at Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Excerpted with permission from U.S. Catholic, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60606; uscatholic.org. To read the article in its entirety, please visit: https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201403/best-practices-worship-28548
