Multicultural Awareness among the Consecrated Religious Women within Regina Caeli Parish Karen, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Consecrated religious women are missionaries by nature and are meant to live in communities made up of religious women from different nationalities, ethnicities and backgrounds. This living together as a family at times may be marked by challenges and difficulties caused by their cultural diversities. The main objective of this study is to assess multicultural awareness among the consecrated religious women. The study was guided by Social Integration Theory and Salad Bowl Theory. The study adopted a convergent parallel mixed methods research approach design. The target population was 86 participants that was sampled using census method. The study employed purposive sampling, to select 5 participants for qualitative data and 81 participants for quantitative data and only 71 questionnaires validly returned. The research instruments that were used were questionnaires given to 81 participants to collect quantitative data and 5 participants purposely chosen for interview to collect qualitative data. The study revealed that awareness of multiculturalism enabled many women religious to live harmoniously with each other from diverse cultures. The study established that religious women’s exposure to diverse cultures has immensely impacted their lives mostly in a positive way. The study also revealed that most of the respondent feel obliged to respect other cultures while acknowledging the existence of many similarities between one’s culture and other cultures. The study recommends that the General and Local superiors to consider organizing workshops and seminars to enlighten the consecrated religious women more about the challenges that arise as a result of multicultural differences.