APPENDIX
Terminology
As stated within the body of The Art of Accompaniment: Theological, Pas-
toral, and Practical Elements of Building a More Relational Church, the apos-
tolate of accompaniment involves a variety of terms and names. The authors
and collaborators of this resource considered many different terms, espe-
cially related to the roles of the one who accompanies and the one accom-
panied. The one who accompanies is given a precedent for the name mentor
in recent Church documents and conversation; however, a strong consensus
was not reached in naming the role of the one accompanied. This proved all
the more reason to invite readers to a deeper reflection upon the terminolo-
gy used in this resource. Though the main body of the book employs mentor
and the one accompanied to describe the two roles of those involved in the
relationship of accompaniment, different institutions, regions, cultures, or
countries may choose terms that are more helpful in addressing the needs
proper to their communities.
Just as “the Word of God became man, a concrete man, in space and
time and rooted in a specific culture,” the apostolate of accompaniment is
a practical endeavor that unfolds in a specific context through the collabo-
ration of the Holy Spirit and a particular community (General Directory for
Catechesis, #109). Choosing these terms is a work of inculturation, a task
that “ is not simply an external adaptation designed to make the Chris-
tian message more attractive or superficially decorative. On the contrary, it
means the penetration of the deepest strata of persons and peoples by the
Gospel which touches them deeply, ‘going to the very center and roots’ of
their cultures” (General Directory for Catechesis, #109). This work of incul-
turation invites communities to “borrow from the customs and traditions
of their people, from their wisdom and their learning, from their arts and
disciplines, all those things which can contribute to the glory of their Cre-
ator, or enhance the grace of their Savior, or dispose Christian life the way
it should be” (Ad Gentes, 22).
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