The Philippines is so blessed to have hosted the 51st International Eucharistic Congress which was held in Cebu City in January this year. This four-yearly event was attended by more than 15,000 delegates internationally. I was privileged to make it to the historical gathering of the faithful together with 11 delegates from my parish. Cebu was brimming with people and pride when it hosted the week-long event.
The Congress was primarily programmed for the teaching of the faith while focusing on the life-giving sacrament of the Eucharist and other related popular devotions connected to it. Catechist-speakers were the respected cardinals and bishops themselves from around the globe. But undoubtedly the most applauded catechesis was, of course, from our own Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle or Chito Tagle to most of us. He gave one of the most interesting, inspiring, informative catecheses on The Eucharist and the Dialogue with Cultures.
The good cardinal emphasized that since the Eucharist is the meeting point of all cultures, it is therefore at the heart of this dialogue. We, the Eucharistic people, must be able to engage in mutual understanding and acceptance of the diverse cultures in our society. This engagement, understanding and acceptance are what the Cardinal called Cultural Intelligence. In our interpersonal relationships, it is not enough to have Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ), we need Cultural Intelligence (CQ) as well, the Cardinal said.
Cardinal Tagle went on to identify three components of Cultural Intelligence, namely:
- I know my culture and how it forms and affects my attitudes, priorities, work ethics and relationships;
- I study and learn from within the cultures of other people so that I can begin to understand why they behave as they do; and
- I determine a path for my culture and their culture to learn from each other, challenge each other and purify each other.
In essence, CQ is important if we immersed ourselves in this ongoing cultural dialogue. Modesty aside, this push for constant dialogue ties up very well with what I focused on in the preceding issue of The PinoyStrayan. Integration, Compassion and Collaboration is just another way of putting it.
Editor’s Note: Fr Nelson Po is the parish priest of Notre Dame Catholic Church in Cloverdale WA. He was an industrial engineer by profession before being called to the priestly ministry. Fr Nelson is a straightforward preacher, pragmatic in his approach to changes needed around the sheepfold. Spiritual and scientific at the same time, Fr Nelson sees things as a marriage of progress and tradition. Fr Nelson is in a unique position to communicate with Filipinos on matters of community significance, other than church-related. He is one of the prime movers and convenors of The First Perth Filipino Community Symposium, which seeks to elevate the status of the Filipino in the wider multicultural society of WA. Send a comment or response to Fr Nelson Po at nelson_po2002@yahoo.com
