"We are Native Catholics": Inculturation and the Tekakwitha Conference
This article explores what has been termed a recent "shift in perspective" in the Catholic Church which rethinks the relationship between theology and its concrete socio-cultural context. I begin with a brief history of the term inculturation and its related concepts, particulary syncretism. An examination of the key metaphors which have been used to describe inculturation filters out the changing assumptions about Christianity and culture and the relationship between them. Some of the interrelated issues which arise in the concept of inculturation are the emergence of local Christian identity predicated on a (re)definition of tradition; discernment and evaluation of both culture and the gospel; the enactment of power structures through the workings of inculturation; and a dual process of essentializing. I illustrate these issues with a case study of the Tekakwitha Conference, a Native Catholic organization which claims to be the voice, presence and identity of Native American Catholics, and whose explicit mandate is inculturation.