‘My faith gives me a strong sense of identity and belonging.’ This is a common sentiment among Catholics, while belonging can also be a powerful attraction for people who are entering the Church. What’s wrong with that?

Well, perhaps nothing, in principle. But our sense of Catholic identity shares elements with other human experiences of belonging, both good and bad. After all, it always feels good to be on the inside of something: it makes us feel special. Furthermore, almost all belonging comes at a cost: we have to do things or give up doing things, to fit into a group, and this enhances our sense of difference. Both realities—the sense of specialness and awareness of sacrifice—are certainly true of becoming and remaining Catholic. They were also, clearly, part of Jesus’ disciples experience: they were a select band who lived in close proximity to this (temporarily) popular rabbi, and they had given up everything to follow him.

In our Gospel passage we see a darker side of belonging: how feeling special can also make us prone to an ‘us and them’ mentality, seeing non-believers as ‘outsiders,’ causing us to identify goodness with being on the inside of the group. That seems to be what happened with the disciples: they began to equate goodness with belonging, and failed to see the good in others, even failed to see how the Holy Spirit was active in an outsider who performed miracles in Jesus’ name.

Let’s be truly catholic (universal), by remaining open to the good that the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of those who don’t share our Catholic beliefs. True faith is not threatened by such things—instead it rejoices in the generosity of our all-loving God.

by Chad Hargrave