“It’s not easy, it’s hard, but I do think it’s possible,” Sister Mary Pellegrino says, leaning in toward those gathered, as if to invite them into a space of openness and vulnerability with her.
Sitting alongside a white female Presbyterian pastor, a male Muslim Imam, and a black male Baptist pastor for a conversation among church leaders on how the tools of cultural competency could be used to heal divisions among the children of God, Sister Mary shared her belief that any real change must first come from within.
“I see it as the examination of self – really interrogating myself about ‘what are my intentions?’ And once I can see an intention, then I have to have a will to actually move toward it,” Sister Mary shares, adding that “It takes time, and will, because some of what I’ve realized is I have to unlearn some things that I have learned.”
The Sisters’ participation in the multiracial, interfaith dialogue organized by Dr. Donald Sheffield, Ed. D., an educator, author, and dear friend of the congregation, continues their commitment to bring love and light into a culture torn by division, cynicism, and despair.
Sister Sarah Crotty, Community Outreach Coordinator, Auxiliary member Karen Petruny, and Sisters Diane Cauley, Rosanne Oberleitner, and Mary Parks, who serves in congregational leadership, also attended as part of the Sisters’ commitment to educate themselves and others about the root causes of racism, hatred and discrimination directed at marginalized people, including neighbors who are LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and women.
Since 2018, the Sisters have been blessed to support and share in Dr. Sheffield’s work in Beaver County to build bridges, open hearts, and expand our collective capacity to not just accept, but to appreciate the differences among us. Drawing on decades of life experience as a black man in a predominantly white county, including painful experiences with segregated public spaces, Dr. Sheffield is equal parts disarming, delightful, and determined to create a world in which all people are valued, loved, and accepted for who they are. He regularly provides in-depth workshops on equity, cultural competency and leadership for organizations in all sectors, including our Sisters and staff.
Defining cultural competency as: “the ability to relate to and serve others who are different from you in a positive way,” or “being able to live, work, play and learn together,” Dr. Sheffield, like the Sisters, believes that everything flows from a genuine desire to know and be in relationship with our neighbors.
“What’s the skill set necessary to get close enough to see what’s inside?” he asks the room full of church leaders, whose differences spanned denominations, race, geography, age, and deeply-held beliefs on social and political issues. “Because if we’re making judgments about something that we physically see, there’s a good chance that we may be incorrect.”
The idea that this work must be rooted in relationship resonates with Sister Mary, who emphasized the value of being exposed to diversity and to differences, because “every life experience is formative,” she says. “And so,” she continues, “if I’m formed in isolation, then I’m going to be an isolationist. If I’m formed in relationship, I’m going to be relational.”
Guided by Dr. Sheffield’s wisdom and the candid reflections of Sister Mary and her counterparts on the interfaith panel, the group grappled – respectfully – with tough questions about how people of faith can learn and deploy the skillset of cultural competency to begin to heal divisions within their churches, between different faiths, and in the broader community. At the conclusion of the conversation came an invitation for it to continue, in different shapes and spaces, with Sister Sarah collecting ideas from attendees about how to build bridges and reach out to others in new ways.
We would love to hear your ideas too, and invite you into this work, in whatever ways you feel called to contribute. Prayer, advocacy, presence – it all matters, and it all moves us closer to God’s dream for us: that all may be one.
For more information or to get involved in the Sisters’ work – through our ministries of Ecology, Spirituality, and Justice and Peace – or through local groups such as the Undivided in Christ – Beaver County network and the Unity Choir, please reach out to Sister Sarah Crotty, Community Outreach Coordinator at:scrotty@stjoseph-baden.org or 724-869-6529.