What Do Calls for Dialogue and Common Ground Really Mean?

Many years ago I gave a talk on abortion at an ostensibly Catholic institution.  The talk was well-received, but after it was over, one of the administrators of the institution suggested to me that perhaps the pro-life side would be better served if it engaged in more of a dialogue with so-called pro-choice advocates.  When I asked what he meant by this, he responded that the pro-choice side might have some good reasons for advocating abortions from time-to-time, so simply condemning their position makes it impossible to reach any common ground that could be helpful.

Common ground?  Helpful to whom?

I then asked the fellow how many innocent babies he would be willing to sacrifice in having such a dialogue that must give credence to the possibility that aborting these children in one or more circumstances is an acceptable action, and he quickly retorted that my response demonstrated an unwarranted “hostility” to his “reasonable suggestion” to try to find some alleged common ground between opposing sides in the abortion debate.  It never occurred to this misguided fellow that whatever hostility he incorrectly perceived in my response, it paled in comparison to the immoral destructive hostility imposed on all of the innocent children in the womb he opined would be acceptable so that some common ground could be reached between the pro-life and pro-choice sides.

Speaking of pro-choice, always keep in mind that pro-choice is both an immoral declaration and immoral position to take.  It is claimed by proponents of abortion to try to persuade people that they have a more reasonable “moderate” position that is not really in favor of abortion, but they do support a woman’s so-called right to choose an abortion.  Moreover, “freedom of choice” (a pro-choice supplemental declaration) in this regard is touted as an essential aspect of freedom in general and must be honored.  When engaging anyone who declares him or herself to be pro-choice, make it crystal clear that defending any choice of abortion is not an honorable “moderate” position, but it is in fact a pro-abortion position that accepts the murder of the innocent child in the womb if a mother makes the choice to carry out the murder of her child.

Other Calls for Dialogue in the Church

For many years now, calls for a dialogue on this or that issue affecting the Church continue to be presented as “reasonable requests” made by various groups who simply do not want to follow Church tradition, yet they want to maintain their affiliation with the Church and re-create it in their own image.

Moreover, these calls for dialogue never seek to learn from such a dialogue additional ways to lead a more faithful and Christ-like life in faithful harmony with perennial Church teaching, nor do they seek greater wisdom to help the Church carry out its traditional mission.  No indeed.  These calls for dialogue are extremely Closed-minded and One-sided, because these dialogue calls are always efforts to get the Church to abandon or diminish its traditional teachings or practices in one form or another.  Moreover, objective truth in general is proudly sacrificed on the altar of subjective Narratives.

Sadly, the current pontificate of Pope Francis, his group of top lieutenants, and the Synod on Synodality itself are prime examples of that mentality which continually calls for more and more dialogues with the aim of changing more and more of the Church’s traditional teaching.

And so it goes.  If you ever run into such dialogue and common ground seekers, first ask them if the truth is open to dialogue and common ground with any kind of error.  When these practitioners of relativism in a different garb reveal their opinion that truth cannot be determined, ask them if it is true that truth cannot be determined.  Depending on the response and the demeanor of the person you have so engaged, you can decide if additional dialogue might be fruitful, or if it might be better to simply wish the person well and engage in another form of “ex-communication.” :-)