My appreciation of the mission ad gentes in my life, and how I share that with confreres in the congregation deepens and evolves through the many experiences I have being the “stranger”, the “foreigner”, the one who is religiously and spiritually “other.” These identifiers capture for me one way of understanding the missionary of the twenty-first century. It positions us in relation to others whom we are sent and underlines the deep and rich pluralism that characterizes our lives and the many cultures, faiths, and spiritualities we find ourselves. Sharing Christ across cultural and religious boundaries means navigating through the gift of pluralism, and in doing so, creating bridges of “encounter and dialogue”. …
