The Office of Faith and Culture seeks to welcome and foster the specific cultural identity of each of the many widely differing ethnic groups in our Archdiocesan family, while building a deep Catholic unity in the faith and a common commitment to live and proclaim the Gospel.
Goals of the Office of Faith and Culture:
Intercultural Relations
- Advance greater competence in intercultural relations in ministry, collaborating with our bishops in carrying out their priorities in faith formation, social justice, the promotion of marriage and the fostering of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
Pastoral Support
- Evaluate and, where needed, improve the availability of sacraments and pastoral support in the languages of ethnic communities for those members who cannot sufficiently make use of the existing pastoral services of local parishes.
Unity in Diversity
- Make diversity and its implications more recognized and understood among our church leaders and all the faithful, by promoting knowledge, attitudes and skills that effectively foster unity in diversity.
Evangelization of Youth
- Encourage best practices of evangelization and programs of inclusion at the diocesan and parish levels, with special attention to immigrant youth and the children of immigrants so that they will zealously assume their role in fulfilling Christ’s mission.
Resources
Paul VI, apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 1975.
Benedict XVI, apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini, 2010.
Francis, apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, 2013.
USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, Embracing the Multicultural Face of God, 2010.
USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, Newsletter: One Church, Many Cultures. The Good News of Cultural Diversity, published twice yearly, available at www.usccb.org.
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), Cultural Diversity in the Catholic Church in the United States, 2016.
Contact Information
Arturo Iriarte
Archdiocesan Pastoral Center
Office of Faith and Culture
467 Bloomfield Ave.
Bloomfield, CT 06002
860-242-5573 ext 3128