Conflict & Community: Twin Tensions in Becoming a Multiethnic Congregation

Abstract

This in-depth case study investigates the religious, ethnic, and social conflicts that exist between two groups co-located in the same congregation. A diocesan cost-based merger brought together two religio-ethnic communities that were formerly housed in separate parishes. One group already had their congregation in the existing building and is mostly composed of aging Polish immigrants. The second group had been in a building across town that was closed and moved, and its congregants are mostly younger, Spanish-speaking, Latino immigrants, predominantly from México. The merger appears to have been unsuccessful, and the two groups remain divided, functioning as two congregations within the same building. Analyses focus on first demonstrating the intense group-to-group conflict and then explaining it through their respective interpretations. The two groups evidence distinct demographic, social class, values, norms, and traditions that inform their group-to-group conflict in shared community. The case illuminates larger issues of religio-ethnic conflict and provides rich data on the perceptions and stereotypes each group has of the other. Findings indicate twin tensions of community, with in-group solidarity experienced more intensely as each group expresses their out-group divisions, conflict, and hostilities. As the Impossible Triangle sculpture visualizes (Bess et al. 2002), this case highlights the ways in which community encloses those within its boundaries while leaving those outside its boundaries confused about socially acceptable norms. Theoretically, the case contributes to understandings of community and conflict generally, as well as the ways cultural and religious historical memories influence present-day interpretations.