Come together

One of the great advantages of the Internet and the blogosphere is that like-minded people, who may be geographically isolated from each other, can enjoy their fellowship together and converse more deeply together on topics that are important to them without constantly having to re-explain their worldview or prove over and over again their good will and good hearts.

A problem that often arises from this, however, is that people risk withdrawing into ideological ghettos and sub-ghettos.

The Internet itself is not the culprit here: it is simply one technological development that has helped to exacerbate a perennial human trait.

This can be (and has been) a dangerous situation for the world. It can be (and has been) a dangerous situation for the Church.

The truth remains the truth and we need to stand strong in it, even as we work diligently to increase and deepen our understanding of it, but this truth includes much more than just the intellectual and political propositions upon which we usually focus.

All of us, therefore, conservatives and progressives and moderates, should together take to heart what Saint Paul says to us in today’s first reading (Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13):

I, then, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live
in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility
and gentleness,
with patience,
bearing with one another
through love,
striving
to preserve the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace:
one Body
and one Spirit,
as you were also called
to the one hope of your call;
one Lord,
one faith,
one baptism;
one God
and Father of all,
who is over all
and through all
and in all.