More than 130 years ago, in a foundational encyclical of Catholic social teaching, Pope Leo XIII warned against “crafty agitators” within the political class bent on dividing society for pernicious ends.

The one thing all should hold dear is their freedom of conscience. It may be our most effective tool in combatting oppression and ensuring religious freedom. It’s there for everyone to use but to employ it sometimes takes courage. But when put to work it can feel liberating.

Writing last week in the Jesuit publication America, associate editor Jim McDermott posed a 30-word query that should become the reflection-starter of our time.

Sparse and empty shelves are becoming the norm in most grocery stores.

As a young man, I developed a curiosity about the Cistercian way of life. Part of my interest came from reading books by Thomas Merton, the dissolute young man who discovered a unity of life and spirit upon entering the Trappist monastery in Kentucky.

Fairness from Farrow

I would like to express my appreciation for Anna Farrow’s article “I did see a mob; it wasn’t the truckers.” The piece was fair and accurate in its insight given that Farrow was actually in Ottawa and able to judge what she saw. I liked, as well, her inclusion of the religious aspect of the protest, a fact that has not been noted. Canadians joined in the prayer even if they were not Catholics.

Premier François Legault vowed in advance of a truckers’ convoy arriving in Quebec City there would be zero tolerance for antics that interfered with residents enjoying “normal” life.

Perhaps the oldest strategy of war is: “Divide and conquer”— which can take many forms. Physically divide a land mass into north and south. Encourage a portion of a country to secede. Partition. Physical divisions create smaller spaces and populations to overtake, can leave families separated and citizens stranded. But the most insidious division is spiritual, psychological, social. If planned from without and then wormed into a once-harmonious (even if not homogenous) group, division can be made to feel organic and even righteous through… you guessed it: fear-mongering.

I am often asked to speak to groups about my experiences on the streets of the city, and what it means for each of us to be the Church on the Street. Recently at the end of one of these talks I was asked, “What do those on the street need the most?” I could do no better than to quote one of my heroes, Fr. Greg Boyle who works with the gang members in Los Angeles and who said, “Gang members need hope. They live with a lethal absence of hope.”

The Christian faith acknowledges three theological virtues: faith, hope and charity (today usually rendered “love”). The greatest of these may well be love (as St. Paul told the Corinthians) but in real life the most difficult virtue to practise — particularly in this broodingly ominous time — is hope.