St. John, in his gospel, presents the last supper discourses of Jesus – these discourses unfold over many chapters of the gospel and represent the final words of Jesus to his disciples before he goes to the cross. One of the most salient parts of these discourses is Jesus’s high priestly prayer to the Father where he prays – “that they may all be one, as you Father are in me and I in you.” (John 17:21). Jesus knows that division is a consequence of sin and will visit the nascent Christian community and indeed the Catholic Church throughout her history. The gifts of the Spirit and Eucharist are gifts of unity – to make us more united in faith and charity and more united as members of the body of Christ.
Against this important biblical and theological backdrop, Americans, Christians, and Catholics live in a highly polarized age. As one Catholic told me recently, our divisions as Catholics map very closely to the divisions and polarization which afflict American life, politics, and culture. But Jesus says to his followers in Matthew 20:26, “it shall not be so among you” – in other words, Christian disciples must overcome divisions and rancor to arrive at a more capacious and generous way of being – a way of humble service. As modeled by the Lord, Jesus’s followers are called to embrace all people with charity. Under Pope Francis, the Catholic Church has embraced a more inclusive outreach – as Pope Francis said at world youth day in Portugal – “todos, todos, todos…” all are welcome in the Catholic Church.
As I write this I am on a plane returning from a welcome Mass on the east coast for a seminary classmate and friend who was appointed coadjutor bishop in New Jersey. I realized in the last couple of days, how much sorting we do based on what people look like, their backgrounds, their geographical origin, their political affiliation, and whether they consider themselves traditional, progressive, or centrist Catholics.
In the last couple of days, I, and others took note on whether clergy were in their collars – what type of collars, and whether they seemed to be a supporter of Pope Francis. Once we arrived on the plane back to Minneapolis, I realized that my brain was again hard wired to sorting – was the person next to me watching CNN or Fox – were they watching the debate coverage or sports? Those who study polarization from a variety of angles have noted the acute increase in polarization in American life and in religious communities – not only is the Catholic Church not immune from these trends, we seem to be afflicted more and more by the demon of polarization.
