Angelus News | March 22, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 6

INTERSECTIONS
GREG ERLANDSON
Poles apart
Palestinians inspect a mosque
destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan
Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip,
Oct. 8, 2023, a day after an attack
on Israel by more than 1,300 Hamas
terrorists that left more than 1,200
Israelis and other nationals dead.
More than 30,000 Gaza Palestinians
have been killed since the beginning
of the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s
Health Ministry said. | OSV/IBRA-
HEEN ABU MUSTAFA, REUTERS
While the increasing polarization
in our country is nothing
new, we seem to be heading
into a category 5 hurricane of hostility
this year. Not only is it an election year,
but it’s a reprise of 2020. In addition, we
are divided over the Israel-Hamas war
and the Ukraine-Russia war. We have
dueling apocalyptic visions, whether it’s
the death of democracy or the unwashed
hordes invading our southern
border.
Our Church has its own share of divisions
as well, where even the pope has
become a catalyst of polarization.
And while our communities, our parishes,
our states are becoming increasingly
ideologically homogeneous, the
breadth and depth of our polarization
is touching us even if we seek solace
among people who resemble us in our
beliefs and biases.
The personal risks and costs of our
divide has come home to me recently.
A close friend of mine is Jewish. We
bonded over my interest in Judaism, his
interest in Catholicism, and our resulting
comfort with each other’s “tribe.”
That is until Oct. 7 and its aftermath.
The horror we both felt over the
Hamas massacre and hostage taking
was shared, if not equal. After all, for
him it was much more personal, one
of a chain of massacres extending back
through history and up to and including
the Nazis’ “Final Solution.”
It was not the reaction to the massacre
that was troubling us, but the reaction
to Israel’s reaction. Over the weeks
and months, the images and reports of
Gaza’s destruction troubled me more.
Our conversations became perhaps a
bit more guarded. At one point, he said
he hoped that our disagreement would
not hurt our friendship, and I assured
him it would not.
And it will not.
But not a lot of people share my
certitude when it comes to such disagreement,
which is why we are seeing
a cottage industry of books aimed
at addressing ways to diagnose and
overcome polarization. Titles like “I
think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening),”
“Why We’re Polarized,” “Uncivil
Agreement,” “Steps to Positive Political
Dialogue,” and more.
One that seeks to challenge us as
Catholics is Father Aaron Wessman’s
“The Church’s Mission in a Polarized
World” (New City Press, $14.99).
Wessman looks at the data around
polarization, and what he finds is
alarming. By nearly every metric, things
have gone from bad to worse in recent
years. Not only do we not like the people
we disagree with, we increasingly
view them as a mortal threat. Indeed,
Wessman explores how our language
of war and violence is used to describe
our opponents. We don’t need to just
defeat them at the ballot box. We need
26 • ANGELUS • March 22, 2024