Chapter 45 Spirit of Unity and Diversity

      I think it was St. Pope John XXIII who once said that as a Church we should have "Unity in essentials, diversity in non-essentials, and charity in all." I thought about that as I began to read this chapter. What I found interesting (and what I had never really thought about) was that this applied to the Holy Trinity as well.
     I liked the way McLaren posed that even in the Holy Trinity we find unity and diversity. I also liked the way he reminded us that they were comfortable being unified in the their essential God being while being diversified in their persons. Jesus didn't want to be the person of the Father. The Holy Spirit doesn't believe it is shortchanged because it's not the person of the Son. It was St. John XXIII's illustration right before us.
     To this day I have a hard time understanding the vitriol speech coming from both sides of the political and ecclesiastical aisles. It stupefies me that this happens so easily and with people who I believe really aren't that way at all. We get "caught up" so much in our arguments that we forget we are talking to and dealing with people.
     As I type this we are finishing our archdiocesan clergy conference. It has been a great four days with the brothers. We are not all the same. We don't all think the same way. Some are conservative. Some are liberal. Some like Pope Benedict more than Pope Francis and for others it is just he opposite. Some would like to return to the Latin Mass and others are waiting for Vatican III (if it would move the Church, in their opinion, farther along in their way of thinking). But what we strive to do as a presbyterate (a group of clergy in one diocese under one bishop) is to listen to each other. I believe we are unified in the essentials, diverse in the non-essentials and most of the time we show charity in all.
     My hope and prayer is that we can do that as the larger Church--in our parishes and dioceses. Further, I pray that someday we can do that as a country.