Pope Francis devoted his August 27 general audience to two of the marks of the Church: her holiness and unity. The Church, he said, is "one because she has her origin in the Triune …
I agree with the Pope. I am glad that he spoke up about this.
Whenever I hear something bad about someone I try to
say a silent prayer for that person. I feel when we speak Ill of
other people we are silently stabbing Jesus’ heart. Because everyone
has a heart made for worshipping God whether or not they know it.
IMHO, Gossip is contagious and we should not get our attention from others in that way.
The article reads:
After recalling Jesus’ prayer for unity after the Last Supper (John 17) and the unity of early Christians (Acts 4:12)
I have a friend who got a “vanity license plate” from the State and it reads Acts 412, the verse reads:
Acts 4:12New American Standard Bible (NASB)
12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
I will be looking to read the whole speech.
Some of the divisions (and subsequent) conflict in parishes are due to administrative policies put in place by the pastor.
I like the fact that Pope Francis declared that people should not “look at the defects of others, rather than their skills”.
The pastor may not always be the one to blame. There have been many parish mergers and bishops installing Spanish Masses, for example. But a lot of that comes from the top too. There is no way around it; there will be hostility and tension.