Navigating between cultures: Cross-cultural challenges of Nigerian Catholic priests working in the United States

Abstract

The issue of cross-cultural movements of professionals within organizations in the 21st century’s networked-style of the global organization has created the question of how to prepare professionals to meet the demands of satisfactory service in a culture different from their home culture. The absence of the cross-cultural preparation of professionals is causing cross-cultural maladjustments among many professionals, and the Nigerian Catholic priests who move from Nigeria to the United States face this reality. Given the priest shortage in the United States, the US Roman Catholic Church recruits many priests from overseas and a significant number of these priests are being recruited from Nigeria, whose culture is very different from US culture. The work of these priests helps to solve the shortage problem but is creating new challenges in some Catholic parishes because of cultural differences. The priests continually face cross-cultural challenges to succeed in their pastoral work. There is little research on the cross-cultural problems and other experiences of these priests in adjustment and in carrying out their duties. This qualitative study investigated the cross-cultural experiences of Nigerian priests serving in the United States. Interviews with 12 Nigerian priests serving in four different regions of the United States yielded 11 themes. Participants described five common challenges and identified six strategies to facilitate adjustment. The themes influenced the use of Kolb’s learning theory to design pre-departure cross-cultural training for Nigerian priests.