2022 Intercultural Living
Missionaries “live” in multi-cultures. Their challenge – and one of the many promises of mission – is that they can live interculturally. Missionaries, empowered by the Holy Spirit, in communion with Jesus, in service to the Kingdom of God, believe they can embrace and thrive in any culture and live with people from every culture.
Tony Gittins, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Culture at Chicago Theological Union, helped us explore what intercultural living is and why it is so important. Then he showed us how to live our faith interculturally in a mission setting.
Intercultural Living - The What and the Why
Download the handout and prayer guide for the first session, which invited us to explore our understanding of language and why we need to to live our faith in a mutually enriching manner with multiple cultures in one community.
Intercultural Living - The How and the Who
Fr. Tony Gittins, CSSp provided his insights on intercultural living. In this, his second webinar, he focuses characteristics and principles that describes how to live interculturally and what is asked of the people involved.
About Our Presenter
Tony, a member of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (Spiritans), authored Living Mission Interculturally – Faith, Culture, and the Renewal of Praxis, published by Liturgical Press in 2015. Born in Manchester (England), Tony lived among the Mende people of Sierra Leone, West Africa (1972-1980) as a missionary pastor, linguist, and ethnographer. From 1980 to 1984 he was Formation Director in London and lectured at the Missionary Institute. He did missionary anthropological work in several countries beyond Africa, including Pakistan, Kiribati, and the Trobriand Islands. During a visit home, he died surrounded by his siblings on May 15, 2023.
Tony was the author of eighteen books on theological and anthropological topics, and on mission and spirituality. They include Ministry At The Margins: Strategy and Spirituality for Mission (Orbis, 2002); Where There’s Hope, There’s Life. Women’s Stories and Practical Theology (Liguori, 2006); Called to be Sent: Co-Missioned as Disciples Today (Liguori, 2008); Living Mission Interculturally (Liturgical Press, 2015); The Way of Jesus: Women, Men, and Today’s Call to Mission (Liturgical Press, 2016); and Courage and Conviction: Unpretentious Christianity (Liturgical Press, 2018).
He taught at Catholic Theological Union from 1984-2012 and held the Bishop Ford Chair of Mission Theology from 1999-2008.
During "retirement," Tony offered retreats, parish missions, workshops, and short courses, keynotes and conferences, on a full-time basis, nationally or internationally. He was especially interested in working with groups of religious (both women and men), clergy (including bishops), and adult laity in parishes. His topics included “Discipleship,” “Mission and Culture,” “Living as a Eucharistic People,” “Mission Spirituality,” and “Intercultural Living.”
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