HOUSTON, TX 

Fr. Tony Gittins, CSSp., visited St. Ignatius Parish in Houston on March 16, 2016 to deliver a talk on “living interculturally”. Cities and neighborhoods today are highly multicultural: people of many diverse cultures live in close proximity. This is also true of parishes. But such multiculturalism does not necessarily produce mutual concern among different peoples. Fr. Gittins explained and illustrated a possible and highly desirable move from multicultural coexistence to authentic intercultural living, where differences are acknowledged and valued, and where an “us”/”them” opposition might yield to building more inclusive communities of “we.” This is the vision of Jesus, and there is an urgent need to embrace it, lest communities continue to polarize and fragment.

Professor Dr. Anthony Gittins, CSSp., taught Theology and Anthropology at The Missionary Institute, London, UK, from 1980 to 1984, and at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago from 1984 until 2011, where he held the Bishop Ford Chair of Mission Theology between 1999 and 2008, and is now Emeritus Professor of Theology and Culture.
Born in Manchester (England), and ordained in 1967, after completing his theological studies he subsequently earned M.A.s (Summa cum Laude) in Theoretical Linguistics and in Social Anthropology, and later a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. After ministry in Africa, he pursued post-doctoral research at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, England.

Fr. Gittins focused on the interface between the social sciences and theological disciplines, and he team-taught courses with Professors of Bible, Liturgy and Pastoral Care. He continues to do Consultancy work and offer workshops, seminars, short courses and retreats in more than thirty-five countries from Africa to the Pacific.

He is the author of twelve books, all of which are available from Amazon. Information on his latest book can be found here.