Multicultural Liturgies

The Church gathers as one community to praise and worship God, one community of faith with many faces, languages, heritages, and experiences.

Multicultural liturgies are opportunities to promote unity and collaboration among local ethnic groups and to build rapport with them.

For a multicultural liturgy to be a success, we must:

• Build relationships and rapport with the ethnic groups. Because this is essential to cooperation, the person officially appointed to coordinate the multicultural celebration should be skilled in this area.
• Involve each ethnic group in the conceptualization, development, and implementation of the celebration. No ethnic group should dominate the process, and each group should feel important and valued.
• Remind ethnic groups that a multicultural celebration is an invitation to share their stories, gifts, and cultures with each other, so that together they can discover God's action in each story, gift, and culture. A multicultural celebration is not a competition.
• Walk patiently in friendship, collaboration, and kindness with the ethnic groups. The coordinator must be available to give the necessary support and encouragement to each group.

—From How Do We Welcome the "Stranger" in Our Parishes?  A Resource for Building Unity in Diversity.