Disagreement gets a foul rap nowadays. It seems that to sustain any friendship and even to maintain civil, amicable relationships with one another, either we’d like to agree (and be better of friends) or conform to disagree (and avoid future discussions that we expect might breed further disagreements).
At America Media, we’re committed to having these difficult conversations and to sustaining intense and difficult disagreements, so long as these are underpinned with the love, understanding and customary premise that each human person is created, respected and loved by God, has a standpoint to contribute and deserves respect.
Yes, there could also be things which might be just straightforwardly improper, outright lies or misinformation, and these must be called out, without compromise. More often, though, it is just that we should not prepared to hearken to one another and to take a seat with what one other’s disagreement does to us, either because we simply cannot agree or because they move us toward changing our position in something we hold deeply and passionately.
That’s why we’ve created “Think Like a Jesuit,” a recent YouTube series that gives you tools for having those uncomfortable conversations. (Perhaps just in time for those awkward moments across the Thanksgiving table, when someone tries to interrupt through the thick silence of growing familial resentments by saying: Pass the salt, please!)
The hosts of the show, Paddy Gilger, S.J., and Eric Sundrup, S.J., also of Jesuit Autocomplete fame, draw insights from the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola—who was no stranger to disagreement and challenges in his time, even surviving the Spanish inquisitors—to wade into these difficult issues.
Whether it’s over politics, race, liturgy, or who can and can’t receive holy Communion, we wish you to feel which you could have those difficult and uncomfortable conversations, and to agree and disagree—passionately—and still give you the option to look one another within the eyes.
Whether it’s over politics, race, liturgy, or who can and can’t receive holy Communion, we wish you to feel which you could have those difficult and uncomfortable conversations, and to agree and disagree—passionately
After filming the five-part series, the primary episode of which is obtainable today, we spoke with Father Gilger and Father Sundrup to learn more in regards to the inspiration for the series.
What’s the concept behind the brand new series, “Think Like a Jesuit”?
Eric Sundrup, S.J.: Some conversations take more time than others. There are a number of different modes of pondering. I mean, I prefer making jokes (bad ones, for those who ask Paddy), but sometimes you should dive deeper and sit with things a little bit longer. The team at America desired to try that out and see if we could make it work in a video format. I can’t thank the crew at America enough; they took some really hard conversations and long discussions and made this all very accessible.
Patrick Gilger, S.J.: The more complex the world gets, the faster it moves and forces us to maneuver—the harder it’s to know. And infrequently this implies we stop attempting to do the labor of understanding and as an alternative depend on labels to get a grip on a world that’s rushing and sprinting and racing. Eric and I and the producers of “Think Like a Jesuit” felt like we desired to help slow the world down by talking and pondering through a few of these complex and tense ideas that face Catholics today. We’re hoping that listening to those conversations might offer you ways not only to know but really to like a world that puts us in tension.
How did this evolve out of “Jesuit Autocomplete” (or not)?
ES: “Jesuit Autocomplete” was numerous fun, and the teams that worked on that project at all times had a blast. We kept asking the best way to go a little bit deeper. I believe of “Jesuit Autocomplete” as snacks. And trust me, I really like snacks, but you do need a full meal now and again.
PG: “Jesuit Autocomplete” episodes were fun and made us laugh and think and pray. But after we began talking about what else we would need to do, the need that kept coming up in us was to search out a approach to go deeper into among the difficult issues, the places of tension, that we face as American Catholics. Eventually we just thought: Why don’t we attempt to model what a conversation that’s unafraid of the stress looks like? Why don’t we try to indicate what it looks like for Jesuits to speak with each other about these difficult issues? So, though these videos aren’t as light as Jesuit Autocomplete, we hope the guts of the project is similar: friends talking with each other about things of the Lord.
What do you hope viewers will take from watching it?
ES: I hope that people who love snacking with us are willing to take a seat down for a full meal. It’s more of a commitment, nevertheless it’s price it.
PG: What I actually hope is that watching these conversations will make it easier to have similarly discerning conversations about similarly difficult issues. In other words, I hope that they may show that there’s a approach to talk with each other fairly than simply about each other.
Why is this sort of conversation vital for the church at this moment?
ES: Look, let’s be honest, we avoid these conversations because people get upset, people have strong opinions and things can quickly get tense. But avoiding the discussions just leads us to increasing separation. We are able to’t just hand around in our preferred echo chambers. We are able to’t keep doing that; it hurts our communion and our community. We are able to disagree, but let’s discuss why and the way—and agree that even when we strongly disagree, we aren’t going to tear up the community due to it.
PG: In times like ours, two responses develop into all-too-normal. On the one hand, it’s tempting to let our responses to conflict develop into ideological. We are able to think that since we already know what the correct answer is, we will use an idea to resolve the stress. (We have now to confess that each the correct and the left within the Church are tempted in this manner.) But alternatively, conflicts and tensions can tempt us to stop engaging, to withdraw from hard conversations and the communities that trigger them. What I notice in our society at once is that each of those responses are absolutely normal. But that doesn’t mean they’re Christian. I hope this recent series helps us cultivate Christian responses to the complex, tense, difficult, lovable world by which we live.
“Think Like a Jesuit” is produced and edited by Kevin Jackson. Latest episodes will likely be available each week for the following five weeks on America’s YouTube channel.
