"This study investigates the intercultural communication dimension of the life and mission of Arnold Janssen. This qualitative study involves a textual analysis on the relevant data and verbal descriptions about Janssen’s life and mission. The results of the study show that the seed of Janssen’s intercultural communication was primarily rooted in his parents. Being born in a family that was enveloped by a culture of prayer and a culture of peace, Janssen cultivated an intercultural sensitivity. This seed sprouted in his personality and spirituality. It revealed that Janssen was an intercultural-and-receptive person, interested in ethnic groups, cultures, beliefs and nationalities which were different from his own. Such interests were founded by a venturesome spirit which allowed him to welcome the unfamiliarity of the other and to value such differences. Janssen’s intercultural communication dimension, then, characterizes his legacies for the Divine Word Missionaries. With the missionaries, ‘missionary letters’ were Janssen’s primary means of communication. This was a significant medium in his intercultural communication. The researcher finds that Janssen’s intercultural communication was contained in his practice of mission as dialogue. Through the lenses of mission, Janssen’s dialogue competence enabled him to bridge differing views about mission and encourage missionaries to do the same. Hence, the same spirit of dialogue as a way of doing mission has since become the spirit of the SVD and has had several implications on the formation of SVD members." (Abstract)

Thesis of Cardinal Foley Scholarship Fund (CFSF) beneficiary