Interculturality is a very broad and complex topic. Above all, it is also a personal and communal path to be travelled from the 3 Cs of Curiosity, Communication and Conversion. To present and develop it in a few virtual sessions is a great challenge. However, the themes chosen by the UISG for the Workshop on Interculturality and Religious Life in Asia managed to capture the interest and enthusiasm of more than 400 Sisters from across the continent who registered to participate.

Meanwhile, the actions to be taken that were planned and shared by the participants at the end of the workshop showed that the objective was largely achieved. The urgency, relevance and potential richness of the interculturality approach in our religious life, the Church and the world was once again discovered. Each congregational group creatively planned how they will share it and further deepen and contextualise it each in their own family and locality. Paula Jordão, Formation Coordinator, and the entire UISG team, who made this great opportunity possible, which I shall briefly recount below. 

Through the Zoom virtual platform, groups of up to 6 Sisters from almost 60 Congregations met daily for reflection and sharing between 17th and 21st April 2025. The workshop itself, with simultaneous translation in four languages (English, Korean, Vietnamese and Indonesian), was a journey of intercultural building through the active participation of the sisters, who interacted through chat, question and answer sessions with the speakers, small group discussions that varied each day, and sharing in the general plenary.

The topics discussed were relevant and captured the interest of the sisters who resonated with what each speaker shared from their own experience and knowledge: 

Sr. Mary John Kudiyiruppil, ssps, as Deputy Executive Secretary of the UISG, began by introducing the objectives of the workshop and highlighted the spiritual experience of acknowledging and recognising everyone as daughters and sons of God as the foundation of our openness to interculturality.

Jareen Aquino, mm, led us with examples and definitions of the concepts of culture, multiculturalism, transculturalism and interculturalism to help us name our own experiences. 

Miriam Dlugosz, ssps, presented the theme of ‘Intercultural Community Life and Reconciliation’. From her own experience of community and missionary life, she shared numerous examples of the challenges and riches that intercultural life opens us to in everyday life. Beyond good intentions, however, misunderstandings are inevitable and therefore we must prepare ourselves to walk a path of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Sister Paula Jordão, fmvd, presented Jesus rooted in his own culture. As a true man, Jesus also assumed a specific and particular culture that also passed on to him its own prejudices. However, he did not remain with them, but he also learned and walked new paths of intercultural dialogue. Jesus' encounter with the Canaanite woman opened up the depths of this intercultural journey and its consequences. 

Professor Shafa Elmirzana introduced us to the interreligious dimension of interculturality through two great mystics: the Sufi Ibn al-`Arabi and the medieval mystic Master Eckhart. In dialogue with their writings, the professor suggested mysticism as a space of the experience of God where we can overcome differences to meet at a level where a deeper unity is possible.

Finally, Sr Pat Murray, ibvm, Executive Secretary of UISG, shared from her rich experience the theme of Leadership, Vows and Interculturality. With passion and broad knowledge of consecrated life around the world, she addressed the challenges of leadership in congregations in the context of today's world. At the same time, she also enlightened us on how our different cultures influence and affect the understanding and living of the vows.

As co-facilitator of the workshop, it was an honour for me to be able to join from Latin America and to witness the interest and deep richness of the sharing and participation. Thanks to each of the Sisters for having embarked on this synodal journey in which each one was enriched and also challenged through mutual listening.

I conclude this brief account by sharing a quote from Alvin Tofle that Sr. Pat used during her presentation and which sums up my experience of the workshop: ‘.... Without clearly recognising it, we are engaged in building a new civilisation from the ground up...’ So be it!

This article was written by Sr. Adriana Milmanda ssps.