Saints Peter & Paul Teach us of Unity with Diversity

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. That feast, along with today’s of Saints Peter and Paul, remind us of how differences in our Church are a very good thing.

Paul, originally Saul, comes from Tarsus, a small town near the southern coast of present day Turkey; an educated man, a scholar of Greek philosophers and Judaism and a Pharisee; Peter is a fishermen. Simon, son of John is his original name, coming from Capernaum, a kind of no-nonsense fishing village. He knew his trade, but wasn’t the scholar Paul was.

Both are quite different, but both have an encounter with Jesus that changes everything.

The challenge for us as we honor these heroes of our faith is to learn from them and do the same. They are quite different, but united in a common mission.

Differences – the not so good kind – have plagued our Church for years. Over the years these differences tragically led to communities splitting off from our Church, which continues to be a scandal to the world to those who are not Christian. But even today, in our Church, we can become polarized. We should have passionate beliefs (I sure do!), but sometimes they go too far. Saint Paul says it best in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for your are all one in Christ Jesus.” The challenge for us is to take those words to heart.

For one, we have to move past stubbornness. One of the things that Peter and Paul did have in common was they were pretty set in their ways. Peter was an experienced fisherman and knew everything about the sea; Paul was a learned scholar and knew Jewish law inside out. I’m so struck by that meeting that Peter has with Jesus. He has never met this rabbi before, and every instinct would have him think that Jesus had no idea of what it meant to fish. He could have ignored him, but something inside him caused him to trust Jesus. We need to have that same trust of God in our lives, and we also have to have trust in other people. If Jesus had wanted just one person to take care of the Church, there would not have been a Paul after Peter or the calling of the other apostles. There is more than one way of doing things, and we need to appreciate that.

Secondly, we need to be honest with ourselves how do we mentally react to people with whom we disagree. In our society today, we can be quite polarized. But the same can be true in our Church in many ways. You have people who identify themselves as liberals and conservatives; progressives and traditionalists. People have different ideas for what direction a parish or parish school should take. There’s different ideas for new programs, for construction, all kinds of things in the parish. It’s fine to have passion about an idea, but listening to the other side is important.

Third with that though – do we trust in the Church with the capital “C” meaning the universal Church? Remember Peter and Paul disagreed at first on the issue of circumcision for converts and some purity laws; they prayed, hashed things out at the first ecumenical council, and all was well. It’s so important we trust the Church to guide us along and never go it alone.

Fourth, we need to be open to new people and new ideas. Peter represents the “old guard” so to speak. He was the first to be called. He was with Jesus from the beginning. Then along comes Paul – the new guy. Peter could have doubted Paul’s vision, thinking it to be a hallucination. He could have ignored him. But instead he worked with him. Isn’t it interesting the Church pairs these two very different men who really didn’t have a whole lot of time spent together on the exact same feast day – a feast so important it trumps the Sunday of Ordinary Time? Sometimes we can not only be stubborn, but unwelcoming. At a prior parish, there was an arts and environment group. They did a pretty good job, but I thought more could be done. A younger parishioner, just finishing up her masters in interior design, tried to join the group which had been together for some 20 years, and found her ideas quickly shot down. She left the committee. I wasn’t pastor at that point, but were I, I would have talked to the group or considered disbanding it and forming it with new people. I can only imagine the gossip that would have ensued, but it would have been the right thing to do for the good of the parish. Sometimes we can become unwelcoming. We can label someone a “newbie.” We can give someone a dirty look for a screaming child. Let’s make sure “All are Welcome” isn’t just a song we sing but a way of life!

So many times, people have focused on themselves and their point of view, not realizing that it is only by working together and listening to others that truly remarkable things can happen. God in His wisdom gave us Peter and Paul, and so many other people over the years who, like John the Baptist whom we honored earlier this week, pointed the way to Jesus and held the attitude “He must increase, I must decrease.” Let us strive to work together both in our parish family here in Rosemount, and with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, to radiate the love of God in our world.

Have a blessed week!

Fr. Paul

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June 2025