Facing Our Dragons Together: Courage, Culture, and the Path of Renewal

By Clarissa Ann Martinez | Assistant Director | Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, USCCB

When I first visited the Holy Land, I encountered an image that stayed with me: a mounted figure who I assumed was St. Michael—until I noticed the dragon beneath his horse. It was St. George, beloved by local Christians as a protector of households in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, much like St. Benedict or St. Joseph are venerated in other locations. What intrigued me was how this Western image of a dragon slayer meets a very different Asian understanding of dragons as symbols of wisdom, strength, and blessing. These are even celebrated in the dragon dance tradition, where sweeping movements are believed to drive away harm and usher in protection and good fortune. That contrast came alive again through my 7-year -old  son, who treasures a plush toy of “the knight saint and dragon slayer,” seeing in St. George a hero of courage and goodness. His childlike faith reminds me that every culture teaches us how to face the dragons of life with hope. 

That same spirit of renewal has been present in the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs (SCAPA) regional consultations that began in February 2026 and continue through June 2026 and beyond. These gatherings function as a kind of synodal summit experience, where bishops, clergy, diocesan leaders, and national Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Catholic leaders come together in the embodied hope of journeying with one another—reflecting, listening, and discerning a path forward as a synodal community. Grounded in the SCAPA Framework for Integration and aligned with Encountering Christ in Harmony: A Pastoral Response To Our Asian and Pacific Island Brothers and Sisters, the consultations are part of SCAPA’s ongoing effort to accompany API communities with greater attentiveness, shared responsibility, and a deeper commitment to walking together. 

Across these gatherings, a clear message emerged: API Catholics bring profound gifts to the Church deep faith, growing in unity, courage, patience, and a resilience shaped by migration and sacrifice. Formed within religiously diverse environments, they also carry a natural capacity for engaging others in respectful dialogue without losing their identity. Their witness offers the Church a hopeful model for walking together in a pluralistic society with clarity and charity. 

As this shared journey has deepened, consultation participants have reflected on the familiar process of rice threshing: how the grain must be gently separated from the husk before it can nourish a community. This careful work is done with patience and sacred respect for the harvest. In that same spirit, participants named places where we may be invited to let go of what no longer serves our mission: fear of speaking up, hesitation to trust the Spirit’s movement, judgment, pride, mistrust of youth, generational divides, lingering power structures, and the belief that there is “no space at the table.” The biblical story of the feeding of the 5,000 surfaced as a reminder that Jesus begins not with what we lack but with what we are willing to offer. 

Within this broader movement, two directions resonated with SCAPA’s mission directives:

  • Walking Together Through Culture, Family, and Intergenerational Healing: This direction highlights the value of culturally rooted listening circles, mental health–aware pastoral care, and family centered practices.
  • Collaborative Leadership and Intercultural Partnership: This directive emphasizes strengthening regional networks, cultivating leadership formation, and creating mentorship pathways that uplift API voices. Throughout these conversations, leaders reflected on how the Church might more fully support API Catholics through the six SCAPA integration dimensions: spiritual, cultural, apostolic, pastoral, advocacy, and stewardship.

As these consultations continue, I find myself returning to the image of St. George—and to the Asian reverence for dragons as symbols of strength and blessing. Together, they remind us that courage often begins in quiet and true-love ways: the willingness to listen deeply, to attune ourselves to one another’s stories, and to release what we cling to when it no longer serves life or dignity. Watching my son hold fast to his knight saint with such trust invites me to believe that renewal begins with that same simplicity of heart. May we move forward with a love that nurtures, a hope that steadies, and a commitment to walk, fostering one another toward the newness God is preparing.