Unity within the church

by Editor · Published July 10, 2013 · Updated July 11, 2013

The internal division in the Catholic Church, and the acrimony that often accompanies it, are a scandal, in both senses of the word: they are a public disgrace and they can tempt people to sin.�The polarisation of the various Catholic tribes is driven by the paranoid suspicions of �the enemy is within�, as the narrative often puts it. Instead of acknowledging the good faith of others and working together for the common good, many Catholics are strangers to one another. They fight for precedence in the Church, and fail to hear Christ�s rebuke (Mk 9:35).

“Disagreement and debate go back to apostolic times, and the Church has been arguing within itself ever since. Throughout history Christians have failed to express their differences with mutual charity, placing pride and power before being in true service to the Lord.”

In June Pope Francis made this point forcefully: �Unity is a grace we must ask from the Lord so that he would free us from the temptation of division, fights among us, selfishness and complaining about each other�how much damage, how much evil that chatter creates.�

We must not do damage to the Church by our division � within the Catholic Church and between Christian communities � but �try to bring unity�, the pope urged.

�How can we have Christian unity if we are unable to find unity among us Catholics? To have unity in our families? How many families are fighting? Seek unity.�

Unity in this sense does not mean conformity of thought � as if such a thing could exist � nor a forced consensus. While Catholics are required to subscribe to a set of doctrines, many of these doctrines are licitly understood and applied in diverse ways.

Disagreement and debate go back to apostolic times, and the Church has been arguing within itself ever since. Throughout history Christians have failed to express their differences with mutual charity, placing pride and power before being in true service to the Lord. The inevitable result has been division and schism. Sometimes much blood was shed for this.

The days when Christians would resort to arms over matters of theology or doctrine are gone, but the warfare tends to continue, with polemic as the weaponry.

The truth is that the Catholic Church cannot truly exist without its pluralism of perspectives. There must be room for both, those who open the windows of the Church to the world and those who seek to foster a strong Catholic identity.

Both functions can be reconciled, as we see in Pope Francis and in movements such as Focolare and Catholic Voices, which are thoroughly orthodox yet consciously respectful of diverse viewpoints.

Factionalism in the Church impede the common purpose of service and mission. We cannot fruitfully evangelise when our faces are distorted by anger, hatred and triumphalistic arrogance�the very antithesis of the face of Christ.

Catholics of goodwill should therefore regard it as intolerable when internal conflict and the resulting disunity find accommodation in the Church. The incessant poison which some Catholics target at fellow Catholics is impairing the Body of Christ.

It is indefensible when the self-appointed guardians of orthodoxy, some of them answerable only to themselves, go as far as to pass judgment over whether practising and loyal members of the Church may be regarded as Catholic.

This becomes especially toxic when these chattering classes question the Catholic credentials of shepherds of the Church whose ministries are deeply rooted in Christ�s preferential option for the poor, an apostolate that is an obvious priority to Pope Francis.

It is perfectly licit, of course, to interrogate and debate public positions taken by members of the hierarchy or, indeed, members of the laity. Such debate may be robust, but it must also be respectful, granting all perspectives a fair hearing. Above all, such debate may never subjugate the love to which Christ commands us.

The Church is not served in any way when Catholics cast aspersions on others, question their loyalty to the Church, violate the conscience of those who interpret the teachings of the Church differently, or otherwise impugn the good character of others.

As Pope Francis makes clear, such �chatter� creates evil because it is an obstacle to the unity of Christians to which Our Lord commands us (Jn 17:21).