Of course, not everyone has such a community of shared belief. Nearly as important to cohesion, though, is living out friendships in service. We form a real community, not just an identity-tribe, by living near one another, by asking for and offering help with groceries and home improvement and child care, by sharing life and death together, not just talking points and buzzwords.Even "service" requires a shared definition and a set of rules and shared expectations surrounding it. "Service" by itself is not enough; a common culture is required to sustain civic or "political" friendships. Weaker forms of identity, when tested, may not even sustain a useful alliance. But stronger forms of identity are built upon a common culture and other natural bonds which serve to unite people, and these bonds are not reducible to service, even if service can build the bonds. Not having read his book on reforming Latin churches, I wonder how useful his recommendations can be if he doesn't understand what community really requires. It may be no better than the Benedict Option, even if his recomendations have a different focus (for example, reform in liturgical praxis). His friends who have different political views nonetheless have something in common with him: "As Catholics, we can be secure in the knowledge that even if we differ about politics and plagues, we remain united by a supernatural bond — something that’s worth preserving even if we sometimes get on each other’s nerves." So I would not say the friendships are not real, but they are untested by difficult circumstances, which does not include dying during a time of relative peace. When survival is at stake, will a divergence in political views matter? Perhaps not -- maybe differences in opinion about political candidates or political parties are the only differences, and they all agree on Roman Catholic Social Teaching. But for these Catholics who probably uphold feminism in some form, that is a substantial difference that should lead them to being excluded or put on "probation" for any tribe that is serious about upholding patriarchy.
“The collapse of affability, especially among those who would consider themselves fit to rule, is no small matter. It demonstrates an inability even to desire sharing a community — or a nation — with those who differ from the tribe’s orthodoxies.” https://t.co/dDcUVIpdTx
— Brandon McGinley (@brandonmcg) September 5, 2020
