Dominicas de la Presentación - Capítulo General 2019

La Turena, Bucaramanga (Colombia), 08/01/2019, Sr. Rosario Garcés del Castillo.- On July 29, we welcomed Sr. Adriana Carla Milmanda who is a member of the Missionary Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit and current Provincial Superior of her province of origin in South Argentina.

Sr. Adriana shared that she belongs to a Congregation where multicultural and international life and mission are an essential part of their founding history and charism. However, her real interest was born from the experience of joy, frustration, pain and learning when she was sent to open a new missionary presence in the Fiji Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. Multiculturalism and interculturality have become a transversal issue that is debated in fields such as education, healthcare, philosophy and the business world, among others.

Inculturation answers the question of how to ensure that faith, shared through a mission that comes from "the outside" or "ad-gentes", is embodied in the local culture in such a way that the faith transmitted can become a part of and be expressed through the symbols and values of the local culture. In consecrated life, called to be at the peripheries of the Church, this reality touches and impacts our communities from within and without, in the mission and our apostolates. Interculturality is a commitment to live outside one’s comfort zone; it highlights the interrelation that exists between groups, through acceptance, patience and sharing in a process of transformation that challenges one to create a new culture as a result of this interrelation. In this process, the community members enriches each other with the values and insights that each culture brings, but it also challenges and confronts each one through the shadows and blind spots that is in each culture. Only those who opt for a personal conversion from ethnocentrism towards intercultural sensitivity will have eyes to see and attend to the suffering of the invisible and excluded in today's world.