by Dennis McInerny
The eminent Thomistic philosopher Jacques Maritain took as his motto the phrase Distinguer pour unir, which I translate freely as, “Distinguish so that you will be able to unite.” Unless we form the habit of making critical distinctions, so that we clearly see how things differ and are separate from one another, we will never be able to discover the underlying unity that binds all things together. We cannot have a clear and complete vision of the “big picture” unless and until we appreciate the distinct things that go together to compose that picture.
So many of the difficulties with which we are beset today, both within the Church and in society as a whole, can be explained by our systematic failure…
