NEWS RELEASE

Building Bridges, Not Walls

LORI STEINDORF

Features Editor

Book author and scholar John Francis Burke is promoting his book, Building Bridges, Not Walls, Nourishing Diverse Cultures in Faith to open the lines of communication and understanding among cultural groups in the ministry.

Building Bridges, Not Walls, which debuted in mid-February from the Liturgical Press, focuses on how to integrate European American and Latino spiritualities constructively in faith-based communities, Burke said.

“The intent of the book – I started it on a sabbatical back in 2007 in Houston. I wanted to try to share experiences I had since way back in 1985 when I started at St. John’s to help others navigate these situations. It is written for Catholic parishes, but anyone in the faith-based community would benefit from it,” he said.

The book, which contains text in both English and Spanish, consists of six chapters that encompass Burke’s extensive insight into the inner workings of multiculturalism within the parish.

“In it I address constructive concrete strategies for congregations to integrate their membership when they find their membership comes from different cultural backgrounds,” Burke said.

Burke is a teacher and scholar of political science and religious studies. He received his bachelor of arts in political science from Moravian College in 1979 and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Notre Dame.

From 1985 to 1987, he taught political science at then-Southwest Texas State University here in San Marcos. He attended St. John The Evangelist Church where he first became intrigued by the different Masses.

“When I came to St. John’s, that’s the first time I encountered Spanish Masses. For the two years I was here then, I became accustomed to working between cultures and between languages at St. John’s so it really piqued my interest in the subject. I met my wife there, and we got married in July 1987 when I took a job at Delta (State) University in Mississippi,” Burke said.

After working in Mississippi, Burke and his family moved to Houston where he worked at the University of Houston downtown campus for several years and subsequently the University of St. Thomas in the Montrose section of Houston. During this time, his interest of multiculturalism coupled with religion was increasing while he was teaching political science.

In 1991 while in Houston, he formed a multicultural relations committee at St. Jerome’s Church in Houston. During this time, he said three distinct groups entered the parish for services. His committee began reaching out to the Latino prayer group to comfort them and build unity in the church.

“We were able to build some bridges,” said Burke, who also authored Mestizo Democracy that focuses on democracy and multicultural issues in the U.S. Southwest.

He later worked as the music director for a parish in North Houston where he worked with both the English- and Spanish-speaking choirs. 

Burke made progress in enhancing interaction among the two groups who would join forces for parish-wide celebrations and sometimes join to sing in each other’s choirs.

“I felt good that I was able to train these Spanish speakers. They were a delight to work with because they were so receptive,” Burke said. “They would come together for multicultural celebrations in the parish.”

Burke said he opted to write his book for a number of reasons, including building fellowship among parishioners. 

Chapter one is titled Inculturation: Multiple Ways of Understanding and Communicating the Gospel with chapter two titled Understanding and Fostering Unity in Diversity.

Chapters three and four are titled The World of Assimilation in the 21st Century and Getting Under the Surface of the Iceberg: The Meeting of Two Waves. 

He points out that these are two very important chapters in the book that explain why it’s a mistake to try to understand the current migrations from Latin America or Asia or Africa or the Middle East in the same terms that European immigrants came over in the 19th century.

“You can’t use a 19th Century model to deal effectively with 21st Century trends. This is not the same dynamic,” Burke said. 

He also elaborates in his book about how European Americans whether Protestant or Catholic went through the reformation.

Chapters five and six focus on Breaking Down Walls: Identifying and Overcoming Obstacles and Building Bridges Between Cultural Groups.

He has published articles on political theory, multicultural relations, social justice, religion and politics in several journals and periodicals.

Burke presently teaches at St. Edward’s University and San Antonio College.

For more information, email Burke at jfburke@gmail.com.

Credit: Lori Steindorf
San Marcos Daily Record