The national aid agency of the Catholic Church in the US has joined a campaign against polarisation.
Catholic Charities USA with three other nationwide charitable agencies began the “Team Up Project”, to “counteract rising polarisation, horrifying acts of violence fuelled by hate, increasing feelings of loneliness, and growing ideological rifts across the nation”.
Habitat for Humanity International, Interfaith America, and YMCA of the USA were the three other non-profit agencies joining the initiative to “elevate and support ordinary acts of kindness, service, human connection, and cooperation”.
“The call to love your neighbour is universal, but it can feel like a daunting task in our increasingly isolated and fractured world,” said Kerry Alys Robinson, Catholic Charities USA president and chief executive.
“Bridge building projects, like those organised by our four organisations through the Team Up Project present an ideal antidote to this challenge. When we come together in service to help solve a problem or address a need in our community, we also gain a deeper understanding of and empathy for the neighbours we encounter.”
Among the four agencies, there are 7,500 affiliates and collective sites throughout the nation, engaged in a variety of services to the poor and others in need.
The effort comes after several academic conferences have sought to tackle the problem of societal polarisation. A 2015 gathering at the University of Notre Dame resulted in a book on the subject of overcoming polarisation, and a 2018 gathering at Georgetown University also addressed the topic, but theoretical approaches seemed sterile.
The organisers cited the 2022 the bipartisan United We Stand Summit at the White House as the inspiration of their current effort.
“Of course we will disagree on some things, but that should not prevent us from working together on other things,” said Eboo Patel, the founder and president of Interfaith America.
“Team Up encourages respecting people’s diverse identities, building relationships between different communities, and cooperating on concrete projects with common aims.”
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