Building bridges in faith: St Brigid’s journey toward an intercultural community

St Brigid’s Catholic Parish, in North Fitzroy, is a vibrant expression of Melbourne’s multicultural spirit. English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Filipino and Swahili-speaking communities all call this parish home, enriching its spiritual life with their diverse traditions. Yet, despite the breadth of cultures, parish priest Fr Fransiskus Xaverius Yangminta CS believes that something more profound is needed.

‘We haven’t yet truly come to know one another deeply, even though we all belong to the same parish,’ Fr Fransiskus explains. He emphasises the importance of moving from merely being a multicultural community—where different cultures coexist side by side—towards becoming an intercultural community. ‘It’s not enough for us to simply coexist,’ he says. ‘We must also, and more importantly, learn to engage with and embrace one another’s gifts of culture and tradition.’

This transformation requires courage, vulnerability and an openness to both learn from and welcome one another. As Fr Fransiskus says, ‘This is what God is calling us to be as missionary disciples.’ This vision is echoed in the parish’s mission statement, which calls on the community to ‘bear witness to missionary discipleship by remembering our history, honouring diversity, creating a safe and hospitable place, and celebrating communion.’

We’re all created by God, we’re all equal, and diversity is a beautiful thing.

To embody this vision, St Brigid’s hosted an interculturality workshop, led by Sr Cathy Solano RSM, who has completed postgraduate studies in the field and has worked in several cross-cultural settings overseas. The workshop, held in July at St Brigid’s Hall, drew 30 participants from the parish’s various ethnic communities. Over the course of the day, participants had the opportunity to engage, learn and share ideas, all in the spirit of fostering deeper relationships across cultural boundaries.

Sr Cathy, who has been conducting interculturality workshops both in person and on Zoom since 2021, says the workshops aim to address the natural fears people feel when confronted with differences, whether they are cultural, religious or any form of diversity. She emphasises that fear is a common initial reaction to such differences, stemming from ‘basic survival instincts’. ‘Part of the workshop is about acknowledging that fear is a factor in the way that I respond to people who are different from me,’ she says. ‘And then, once we face that fear, it’s about coming to a point of realising we’re all in the same boat.

What’s the relationships between the cultures? How do we encounter and relate to each other?

‘We’re all created by God, we’re all equal, and diversity is a beautiful thing.’

Sr Cathy emphasises that in ‘today’s world’, it’s not enough to be multicultural. Rather, God calls us to be ‘intercultural’. ‘Multi means many cultures, but the word inter is between cultures. So, what’s the relationships between the cultures? How do we encounter and relate to each other?’

Drawing from Scripture and the teachings of Jesus and Pope Francis, particularly the encyclical Fratelli tutti, Sr Cathy advocates for a deeper engagement with different cultures to create the kingdom of God on earth. She highlights that interculturality is essential in today’s globalised world, where living in harmony requires not just tolerance but intentional encounter, active collaboration and appreciation of each other’s cultures and gifts.

Having participated in Sr Cathy’s workshop with his parishioners, Fr Fransiskus said feedback was ‘overwhelmingly positive’, with attendees gaining valuable insights and key takeaways. They included:

• learning others’ cultural values. Understanding and appreciating the cultural values of others helps to dispel misunderstandings, biases and prejudices. Importantly, engaging with other cultures doesn’t mean losing one’s own identity
• interculturality as an intentional process. Interculturality is a process of an intentional encounter and mutuality. In the process of dialogue and encounter among cultures, a new culture is created. Author and priest, Fr Anthony Gittins CSSp calls this an ‘E’ space or kin-dom of God where everyone is a brother and sister to each other, feels at home, and is welcomed. It is a space where the language spoken is the language of the heart
• the daring task of living interculturally. Living interculturally demands that we work together to foster genuine encounters within the parish—our shared home
• Christ’s example. Jesus Christ himself models the practice of intentional encounter, especially in his interactions with those outside his own culture, such as his meeting with the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7, Matthew 15). These encounters reveal the richness that can arise from embracing those who are different.
• the courage to be vulnerable. Genuine encounters require both courage and vulnerability. In showing our true selves—our strengths and our weaknesses—we open the door to deeper, more compassionate relationships with others.

As the parish embarks on this journey of interculturality, Fr Fransiskus hopes that the lessons from the workshop will lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of each other’s cultural gifts and values, and a stronger sense of unity.

‘Our hope is that our common intercultural celebrations, especially the Eucharist, nourish and strengthen our communion with the Lord and with one another and urge us to work together for peace and harmony.’