Nun teaches how to get along with multicultural neighbors

Published: 2005-12-28

SAN ANTONIO (CNS) -- As U.S. church membership becomes more ethnically mixed, Catholics must learn to function in multicultural parishes, said Humility of Mary Sister Tobi Lardi, who travels the country teaching people how to get along with their new neighbors. This involves overcoming stereotypes and the unconscious racism that can often accompany contact with people of different ethnic origins and cultures, she said. "Each of us grows up ethnocentric. We think everything is as our world is," said Sister Lardi. "We assume others think and do as we do." Sister Lardi teaches seminars in multicultural ministry and in combating racism at the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio. She is also the off-campus program director. The cultural center was founded in 1972 primarily to train people in Hispanic ministry. It began offering courses in multicultural ministry in 1997, the year after Sister Lardi joined the staff.

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