People throughout the world are actively promoting a one-world image. How can we rise above all the divisions with the human scene? How can we promote cultural and religious diversity as an ideal? How can we become involved in this movement toward a new consciousness? Can we become part of a worldwide dialogue process as a first step toward peace and inclusivity among our brothers and sisters, the stranger, the marginated, the "other"?

My work with Hands Across the World gives me the opportunity to move beyond the academic discussions of these questions* to the reality in the streets of St. Cloud, Minn., where I currently live. My many years of teaching in Tanzania are a perfect background for this.

Hands Across the World is a nonprofit organization, founded by Brianda Cediel and me five years ago. It is a literacy program teaching immigrants and refugees the English language and introducing them to the skills and cultural aspects of living in the United States. We also provide education programs for children of the parents who attend classes. Most importantly, we accompany our students through the difficult emotional aspects of transition, giving them opportunities to share their own values and traditions and concerns with each other and ourselves. Our staff of volunteers purposefully encourages the interchange necessary for growth and development of a peace-filled community right here in St. Cloud.

Just as our own ancestors brought rich gifts of mind and culture to this region and to America as a whole and, over time, were recognized for this so, too, it is our hope that these new immigrants are being sought out as treasures in our midst today. It is OUR challenge to be the newly enlightened generation, having gained from the many efforts toward establishing a new level of consciousness that global oneness is possible.

Religious dialogue, in particular, has been promoted widely these past years within our Church, with Pope John Paul's gatherings at Assisi and now Pope Benedict's efforts to bring Muslim and Christian scholars together for interchange. This is all part of the movement toward religious and cultural respect, reaching out to the "other." It is our privilege to live at a time when all of us in our own way can become part of the movement. It begins with relating, person to person, with the immigrants and refugees moving into our own local communities, many who carry within themselves a wealth of new insights into life that we can't afford to miss.

*KOSMOS Magazine, Fall/Winter, 2008
Delio, Ilia. Christ in Evolution.
Maryknoll, New York; Orbis Books, 2008.
Cousins, Ewert H. Christ of the 21st Century.
Continuum International Publishing Group Inc: New York, 1994.
Johnson, Elizabeth A. Quest for the Living God.
Continuum International Publishing Group Inc: New York, 2007.

At a glance

Ministry: Immigrant and Refugee Ministry
Location: St. Cloud, MN