When I was in community, it took me a long time as a young person to sort out a simple, simple thing.
The culture of an area, or the culture of a community cannot determine the community.
What do I mean? The community I originally belonged to was mostly Latino. This is a culture which can be part of a community, but cannot form the community. Then, I moved into a Scandinavian cultural community. Again, Christianity transcends culture and should.
No persons in a community can insist on cultural lifestyles if the community members are not from the same culture. The transcendent culture would be a Catholic culture.
For example, the Bruderhof is a culture, as well as a community. That there is great good coming out of the Bruderhoff movement does not mean that that culture is superior to other cultures. One does not have to sing like those in the Bruderhoff to get to heaven. One does not have to dress like those in the Bruderhoff to have a community.
Some communities do gravitate to a cultural definition simply because most of the members are from that background. But, this can be dangerous for those coming in to understand, and to agree to, if that culture is not necessary.
The original Catholic communities were urban, not agricultural. We must remember this. The early Church communities were in Antioch, Ephesus, Smyrna, Rome. All the worship was in the large churches, in the basilicas. The communities had to go into the country only after the Fall of the Roman Empire. In fact, High Masses came first, then Low Masses, which may surprise some people.
If someone is not comfortable with the culture of a community, that is, simply, not their community. God does not pick us up and place us in impossible cultural experiences, unless we are missionaries.
To insist on an Easterner from New York understanding and living a Midwest lifestyle can be a sign of the lack of love, and the lack of spiritual foundation of a community.
Some of us fit into certain cultures better than others. This is part of who we are. Again, some religious are Benedictines, some Dominicans, some Franciscans, and these groups all have their own culture.
Part of the call to community is not merely creating a sign of contradiction in the world, nor merely being anti-secular, but being something unified. This is why a philosophy, a rule, a way of life must be truly shared and not imposed.
Having said all of the above, certain "cultural" norms can and even should be part of the community. For example, I would imagine that a community built around a TLM would see women in mantillas or hats, and men dressed up, not in jeans at Mass and so on.
To be continued................
