Religious Life and Cultural Challenges

The problem between Church and culture and, consequently, the problem between culture and religious life is not something new. We are mindful of the observation of Pope Paul VI concerning this question when he referred to this problem in Evangelii Nuntiandi, stating that: the split between the gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times.3 Perhaps more than a confrontation between the Church or religious life and culture, the problem is rooted in the fact that both of these realities have been historically connected with Western culture. The consequences of this bond become apparent in every place and on every continent where the actions of the Church and religious life are proposed from a Western perspective resulting in a very distinct way of life. This was noted by the bishops present in the Latin American Episcopal Assembly in Santo Domingo: Although Latin America and the Caribbean are multicultural, they are deeply marked by Western culture, whose memory, consciousness and aspirations are even present in our prevailing common way of life.4 Cultures are truly open to the gospel. Culture means cultivating and expressing the full range of the human person in a loving relationship with nature and the community dimension of peoples. When, through the Incarnation, Jesus assumes and expresses everything human except sin, the Word of God enters into culture... Jesus Christ took flesh in his people’s culture and therefore brings to each historical culture the gift of purification and fullness. All the central values and expressions that can be oriented to Christ foster what is genuinely human.5 The action of God, throu