RELIGION: It is possible to move away from extremes and to embrace respect for our differences

Increasing polarisation can make the call to love your neighbour a rather arduous task …

This is especially true in a time of “increasing feelings of loneliness, and growing ideological rifts across the nation”.

Sean Winters wrote this about the non-profit agencies who have come together to campaign to counteract growing divisions in the United States.

The problem of polarisation and widening social gaps isn’t limited to the US.

On St Patrick’s Day Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin urged the people of Ireland to question whether their nation lives up to its reputation as a welcoming sanctuary.

At a time when conflict and war is leading to higher numbers of migrants and refugees, the Archbishop suggests we take inspiration from St Patrick, who in his Confession wrote about his own experience of hostility in Ireland as a foreigner.

Aristotle famously said: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

It is possible to move away from extremes and to embrace respect for our differences.

We cannot improve our society if the issue of increasing polarisation is not addressed. We can encourage collaboration and innovation.

We can learn from the Patron Saint of Ukraine, Saint Josaphat, who emphasised the necessity of dialogue and mutual respect between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

He sought to find a common understanding through shared faith in Christ.

There is something to learn from this during a time of polarisation in the Church. Saint Josaphat’s teaching encourages solidarity in times of great global – and local – division.

It is comforting to know that despite our differences, there remains unity among those with different faiths and different political ideologies.

Finding common ground is simple – we just have to look for it.

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In a survey exploring why Catholics no longer go to Church, 54 per cent said that they “did not feel welcome or as if they belonged” and 47 per cent said that they left the Church over its teaching on homosexuality. The exclusion of women and lack of connection with their parish priest were reasons cited: 80 per cent of baptised Catholics “no longer see their face, hear their voice or recognise their story”, said Fr Liam Hayes, director of the Centre for Ecclesial Ethics at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge.