USCCB - (MRS) - New England Action Plan Summaries

MRS > Migration Policy and Public Affair Office > New England Action Plan Summaries

Boston

The archdiocese has decided to establish a department (and appoint a director) for multicultural ministries. They are seeking to increase collaboration in its multicultural ministry efforts and enhance services to culturally diverse communities by structuring the Offices for Ethnic Apostolates, Office for Hispanic Ministry, Office for Black Catholics, and Office for Deaf Apostolate within the new multicultural ministries department.
Archdiocesan office directors, auxiliary bishops, Seminary Formation and Catholic Education Directors, and Campus Ministry personnel will be offered a special training program that incorporates a “case-study” learning approach to Welcoming the Stranger Among Us. These directors will be asked to develop specific plans for implementing the message of the Pastoral Statement within the ministry of their respective offices.
The archdiocese hopes to build on responses from diocesan leaders to create a planning committee to implement appropriate responses to the particular regional challenges of different areas of the diocese.

Fall River

The diocese has hired a Multicultural Coordinator to oversee efforts to meet the distinct needs of the variety of newcomers in the community. The primary work of the new Multicultural Coordinator will be to identify the location of new immigrant groups, identify their needs, develop the capacity of the local parishes to work with these groups and to raise consciousness overall within the dioceses as to the plight of newly arrived and culturally diverse communities. The Coordinator will work with the diocesan directors of the various ethnic apostolates to complete this education and outreach work with the parishes.
Parishes will continue to receive encouragement in efforts to build Social Justice Committees, Hospitality ministries, and “a Stewardship way of life” that “include cultural and ethnic sensitivity to the diverse composition of the parish and the city or town where it is located.”
The Director of the Continuing Formation of the Clergy and the Diocesan Director of the Permanent Diaconate are working together to develop a day workshop on “Welcoming the Stranger,” which will support the comprehensive diocesan plan to “sensitize clergy, seminarians, and lay pastoral agents in the welcoming dimension of Church life.”
Non-settled migrants and other people on the move will receive appropriate pastoral responses, beginning with an effort to identify a port chaplain “to serve the needs of fishing families” in New Bedford.

Manchester

The Diocese has developed a multi-year approach to the implementation of the pastoral to be spearheaded by the Diocesan Director of Immigration and Refugee Services (a division of Catholic Charities). To begin, parish outreach coordinators in each deanery will gather information in order to identify needs of underserved ethnic and cultural groups. A diocesan wide multi-cultural committee will analyze the results of this survey along with census information and make a comprehensive report for the parishes.
From there, the Diocese will offer “Cultural Competency Sessions” for all Diocesan Offices, followed by training sessions for parishes, religious education and school staff. The diocese will work to develop a speakers’ panel of representatives from different cultural groups. These speakers will be invited share their concerns, culture, and traditions at the on-going diocesan and parish cultural competency sessions as a way of educating diocesan and parish leadership.
Additionally, the Diocese will also provide lay leadership training for individuals in each culture with leadership potential.
The ultimate goal of the plan will be to begin the process of developing sites for multicultural centers throughout the diocese which will provide social and pastoral services.
The Office of Priestly Life and Ministry will dedicate the Spring Institute to understanding “Communion” as put forth in the Unity in Diversity pastoral and will collaborate with the Office for Worship to develop materials and strategies for “becoming a more welcoming parish.”
The Office for Worship will review the “Guidelines for Multicultural Celebrations” and develop “Diocesan Processes for Parishes wishing to Celebrate in a Multicultural Way.”
The Vocations Director (for Seminarians and Deacons) will “provide experiences for seminarians and deacons that are multi-cultural in nature.”

Norwich

Under the leadership of Hispanic Ministry and an Inter-departmental delegation of diocesan directors, Norwich is developing educational materials, and offering training sessions for priests, deacons, parish staff, lay ministers and diocesan personnel (beginning with 5 pilot parishes with significant multilingual/ multicultural populations) on multicultural awareness.
The training program will consist of a 3-day seminar on race/culture for leaders in the five parishes, which will help them examine their own cultural prejudices and develop personal and institutional action plans. The training will be followed by monthly sharing groups that are multicultural and Gospel-based and by “life immersion experiences” that expose the participants to cultural communities.
Technical assistance on multicultural issues will be offered to the parishes participating in the pilot program. At the end of the year, a second seminar will be offered for the purpose of closing and evaluation. A closing celebration will accompany the seminar.
The diocese will implement preferences for bilingual and multicultural approaches to conducting its daily work and major liturgical celebrations. It will also collaborate with neighboring dioceses and the Connecticut Catholic Conference to provide immigration and resettlement services and to provide advocacy regarding related issues.
Seminarians ordained in 2005 and beyond will be required to demonstrate proficiency in Spanish, Creole or other language appropriate to immigrant groups (i.e. Portuguese, Vietnamese, Chinese) before ordination. The diocese is also making efforts to provide cultural/language experience in a developing country for seminarians or junior clergy.

Providence

The diocese has hired a Multi-Ethnic Ministry Coordinator to oversee the various activities of the diocese aimed at welcoming the stranger, including meeting the target goal of working with at least 12 parishes annually, beginning with those who are experiencing the most significant demographic changes. The coordinator will also facilitate meetings with various parish planning committees and track progress through quarterly review of parish plans and implementation.
The diocese is considering hosting a “Convocation” to bring together various departments and agencies to collaborate more fruitfully addressing “Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism.”
The diocese, particularly through the new Multi-Ethnic Office, will provide services and support to assist parishes in identifying the changes taking place within their parish boundaries. All parishes will receive reports with diocesan and U.S. census information about demographic trends and their relationship to sacramental and pastoral ministry. Historical records will be provided to include number of families, Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, deaths, and financial trends.
Through special training programs and technical assistance to parishes, the Multi-Ethnic Ministry Coordinator will present parishes “with different models of evangelization, in order to encourage them to be open to a conversion of mind and heart in welcoming a diversity of parishioners” and “to dispel the myth that being Catholic means we all express the celebration of our faith in exactly the same manner.”
Printed resources will supplement training, including copies of the “Figuring Foreigners Out” workbook by Craig Storti or the book Inclusion.

Springfield

The diocese will continue to provide services through the Latino Ministry, Southeast Asian Apostolate, National Portuguese Church, and Catholic Charities while trying to assess how it can improve its services in the face of a population that is 12% foreign-born and continuing to grow. Towards this end, the diocese has convened a “welcoming the newcomers” committee which will conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to determine where ethnic populations are within the diocese and what pastoral and social services they are lacking. As part of the needs assessment, the diocese will pay particular attention to the location and needs of the Mexican, Jamaican and Haitian seasonal migrant workers (as the diocese brings in a large number of those workers during peak agricultural seasons).
The diocese will make the results of the needs assessment available to the parishes combined with technical assistance to help the parishes expand their efforts in welcoming the stranger and serving ethnically diverse populations.

Worcester

The Office for Ethnic Ministries will continue “to create and heighten pastoral awareness to achieve the development of true Christian consciousness towards persons outside the ordinary pastoral care of the parish due to language, culture, or mobility.”
The diocese will provide special formation opportunities for personnel to serve Brazilians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Africans, and Polish populations while enhancing the provision of general services for immigration and legalization, pastoral care, education, and regional coordination.
The Office of Ethnic Ministries will offer special opportunities for dialogue among the various ethnic ministry personnel. The Office will also reach out to U.S. born personnel and clergy to help them increase their understanding and capacity for ministry with diverse ethnic populations.
The Ethnic Ministries Office will work directly with the parishes to encouraged and enable them to recruit and accept lay leaders from the diverse ethnic and traveling groups that they serve, including use of the Encuentro process for multicultural leadership collaboration and development.