When I was growing up in the 1960s, a missionary was someone who went off to a distant, primitive, disadvantaged place to teach about Jesus. We parochial school children heard about brave priests and sisters who needed our help and support with fervent prayers and the sales of Holy Childhood Christmas seals.

But in my mature years, I’ve come to a very different understanding and experience of missionaries. They are not just men and women who go off to serve the Church in distant places, but are clergy, religious and laity who come to serve the Church in my own country. The Church in the United States doesn’t just send missionaries, but also receives them.

Priests coming from different nations to serve in the United States, either for a brief or extended time, are indeed missionaries. They leave the familiarity of their own place and culture to take up ministry in an alien land. They must adapt to different food and customs. Sometimes they must learn a completely new language; many times they must learn strange nuances of pronunciation and idiom for a language they have spoken all their lives.

Many dioceses throughout the United States have come to rely on these modern missionaries, also known as international or extern priests, for the livelihood of parishes — to celebrate the sacraments, to preach and to teach, to serve in persona Christi. However, I believe it is crucial to remember that the international priest isn’t simply a functionary hired for a job. He is a priest coming to engage in people’s lives (including the lives of his brother priests) in very privileged ways. Education and formation have prepared him for ministry. He has his own life history and experience. He is coming to serve as an alter Christus, so we should receive him as Christ from the start.

A Guide to Get Started

In my work with international priests, I have learned that there is a lot of inconsistency in how these men are received into dioceses, communities and presbyterates. Some dioceses have well-developed programs for welcoming, orienting and incorporating international priests into the local Church. Other places, for varied reasons, do little more than pick them up at the airport and drop them off in a parish with a “Let me know if you need anything.”

Having been formed by the teaching and wisdom of St. Benedict, I believe that basic hospitality is extremely important. Attention to attitudes and practical details by an international priest’s first contacts facilitates a good emotional and physical transition. First impressions are important and can significantly affect a priest’s ability to get settled and be effective in ministry.

Several years ago, St. Meinrad’s Institute for Priests and Presbyterates produced Making Welcome: Preparing to Receive an International Priest. This is a very practical guide for diocese and parish. It considers particulars and details that are easily overlooked — things like making sure that there are lightbulbs in all the lamps of his room and office, that he has access to liturgical books for preparation and study, and that he knows where he might find groceries for “comfort food” from home. It also suggests timelines for introducing the priest to people and practices around the residence, the office, the parish and the diocese.

Here’s something else to consider: Just because a parish community has had an international priest before does not mean it was a good experience for everyone involved. In preparing to receive another international priest (who may or may not have been in this country for very long), there are opportunities to learn from what has been good, and to identify areas of conflict or confusion — all for the sake of creating a positive experience for the priest and for the parish.

The USCCB Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests notes that every priest is responsible for his own ongoing formation, and those personal efforts are then supported and encouraged by others — namely the bishop and the presbyterate. So it is for the international priest. The international priest should be encouraged to take some personal responsibility and initiative, identifying what he believes he needs to support his ongoing assimilation into the culture and effective ministry. Others (from chancery officials to parish volunteers) can then help him identify and access resources.

Areas to Focus On

Here are some areas that I believe require more immediate attention for both the international priest and those working with him.

Verbal skills: As I noted above, sometimes international priests are learning English for the very first time, and that requires specific attention. Many others, however, have been speaking English all their lives, just not American English. Most often, knowledge of the language isn’t the problem — intelligibility is. Making conversation, presiding at liturgy and preaching in particular can be occasions for frustration on the part of parishioners as well as the priest himself. Pastors, vicars and bishops can be at a loss for how to respond to “I can’t understand him.”

Coaching on American English skills is included in workshops for international priests at places like St. Meinrad’s Institute for Priests and Presbyterates and St. Mary’s Seminary’s Center for Continuing Formation. Many colleges and universities have English as a second language programs. I’ve been advised that online videos aren’t the best way to go for initial work but may serve a purpose down the line. The vicar or pastor may want to consult with those who have more frequent contact with the priest to identify specific areas that need attention.

We all do well to recognize that accent issues go both ways: American can have trouble understanding others just as others can have trouble understanding Americans!

Liturgy: The celebration of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, is greatly influenced by language, culture and norms established by each country’s bishops conference. It is not fair to thrust a priest newly arrived in the United States into full liturgical ministry, no matter how many years he has been ordained, without some instruction about national norms and local customs. The Church’s teaching on funerals for death by suicide and the permissibility of cremation are topics that frequently need to be addressed explicitly and carefully. Diocesan guidelines for the celebrations of baptism and marriage can be rather specific.

Collaborative ministry: Many international priests come to us from patriarchal and clerical cultures. Learning and appropriating the values and practical ins-and-outs of the men and women, clergy, religious and laity working together in and for the Church takes time. Our co-workers — especially religious and lay women — can have much more education and experience in particular areas than we priests do. The subtleties of the parish priest’s authority and his responsibility in relation to staff and parishioners in general need to be carefully explored and discussed.

This is where good mentoring can be very effective. Workshops and presentations on collaborative ministry provide a foundation, while mentoring reinforces and builds on all that through the ongoing lived experience. It’s also worth considering this distinction between mentoring and supervision: Mentoring can be proactive, focusing on growth, while supervision can be reactive, focusing on correction. As with so many things, it’s not a matter of either/or, but both/and.

Safe environment: Educating international priests about safe environment practices needs to be about more than simply handing them policy and procedure documents. The appropriation of our codes of conduct may be especially challenging for priests coming from very emotive and tactile cultures. The distinction between intention and perception with regard to simple gestures cannot be stressed enough. Online videos may be very helpful in exploring the implications and consequences of potentially problematic nonverbal communication.

Shaped by Community

It strikes me that some of what I have said about welcoming and supporting international priests could be applicable to supporting newly ordained “native” priests as well. Specifics may differ, but principles and dynamics can be very similar. It’s something for us all to consider.

The unfolding of the mystery of any vocation never happens in isolation. It is intensely personal, yes, but it affects and is affected by others. That’s especially true for us who share the sacramental bond of the priesthood and live it out in particular presbyterates or communities. We never know when or where we might cross paths with a brother priest from a distant land or experience. And when we do, it doesn’t take long to discover that we have more in common than the world can understand.

Welcoming international priests into our parishes, presbyterates and communities is a privileged opportunity to live and learn and grow together. And through it all, God’s grace provides. 

FATHER JULIAN PETERS, OSB, monk and priest of St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, currently serves as director of the Institute for Priests and Presbyterates at St. Meinrad Seminary.