Culture clashes

How to live with different cultures

A Mexican religious was told when he entered his congregation that he would face cultural problems and clashes, but “the only problem we had was with the food!” he says. “We realized later, however, that we all ate rice, just in different styles.”

Cultural issues, however, go beyond the food and include other external aspects such as decorations and music, where clashes can occur due to different styles.

It becomes more complicated when the clashes are internal. For the more literate cultures, religious expressions are much more individual, more personal and are not expressed so openly since it is considered too intimate. In the more verbal cultures, popular religiosity and devotion are expressed as a community. Things are further complicated, if that is possible, when one group is more dominant and consciously or not, imposes its style.

When you review life’s daily aspects and life as a group, the points where disagreements are the greatest immediately appear. Trying to live together in peace does not mean denying differences or trying to impose a common style; rather, you need to accept reality and then progressively try to establish communication and reach agreements regarding the practices that will allow all the diverse cultures to be represented.

Coming to terms with the differences in cultures for a group that has to live in community is a slow task and requires a lot of patience. It also requires a conversion of values that might also be called cultural but probably do not respond to the values of the gospel. It requires listening to personal and collective stories to reach an understanding. And it requires representatives from different cultures who, while still maintaining their own history and tradition, are willing to give in occasionally so another culture can also express itself.

It is quite a job.