politics

In an election year, civility has a bad name and may be seen as being weak, or an unwillingness to “speak truth to power.”

“Baseball is indeed the fulcrum on which the narrative is balanced — and the game’s storylines are essential to the tale — but this is only because the novel is actually about sacrifice — about a series of sacrifices that various characters make in order to advance the good of others.”

Father R. Aaron Wessman, the author of “The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World,” explores how we might rein in the momentum of hate that is pushing us further and further apart.

When it comes to ethical issues, he said, “we cannot simply repeat little lectures from the past, instead, we must find new words for new questions.”

What if there are not one but two chasms that divide Americans today?

“I wonder if the Church can play a mediating role in the midst of our division. It can provide a meeting ground where Catholics and others who identify with either party can meet the other.”

This book — a collection of 14 essays mostly by academics — doesn’t solve any problems, but it shows that divisions and culture wars are nothing new in a society where religion and politics often combust.

“What should a retired philosophy professor who is a political skeptic, fiercely pro-life and apparently with a bit of time on his hands, do this fall? Run for governor of California, of course!”