9. A Boundary Unites: Practical ideas for difficult conversations

Written By Jon Marc & Teresa Grodi

How well do YOU think Americans communicate and share ideas? Do you ever come out of a heated conversation with regrets? A society is only good as its ability to communicate effectively. In this episode, JonMarc and Teresa discuss practical ideas for having difficult conversations.

VIDEO VERSION

Audio Version

BOOKS

Notes

Check out our other video on the Art of Conversation: https://www.awakencatholic.org/elevate-ordinary/further-up-further-in

Practicals:

  • Will the good of the other as other.

  • Ask the question “What am I afraid of?”

  • Ask questions of the other person so that their beliefs become more and more clear to you. Help them clarify their own thinking. Make sure you are on the same page with the definition of terms.

  • Go into the conversation desiring to clarify both their arguments and your arguments. “Steel Man” their argument. Bishop Robert Barron gives great advice on this issue:

  • TRUST that God is pursuing the soul of that person, and that you may never see their conversion.

  • Don’t lie or exaggerate.

  • Be realistic about what you can actually know.

  • Read a book with the other person (even read “their side’s” book to discuss).

    Quotes:

    “The one argument that used to be urged for our creedless vagueness was that at least it saved us from fanaticism. But it does not even do that. On the contrary, it creates and renews fanaticism with a force quite peculiar to itself. This is at once so strange and so true that I will ask the reader's attention to it with a little more precision. It is not merely true that a creed unites men. Nay, a difference of creed unites men—so long as it is a clear difference. A boundary unites. Many a magnanimous Moslem and chivalrous Crusader must have been nearer to each other, because they were both dogmatists, than any two homeless agnostics in a pew of Mr. Campbell’s chapel. ;I say God is One,’ and ‘I say God is One but also Three,’ that is the beginning of a good quarrelsome, manly friendship. Doctrine, therefore, does not cause dissensions; rather a doctrine alone can cure our dissensions.” (What’s Wrong with the World? by GK Chesterton)

    “The arguments of religious men are so often insincere, and their insincerity is proportionate to their anger. Why do we get angry about what we believe? Because we do not really believe it. Or else what we pretend to be defending as the “truth” is really our own self-esteem. A man of sincerity is less interested in defending the truth than in stating it clearly, for he thinks that if the truth be clearly seen it can very well take care of itself.” (No Man Is an Island by Thomas Merton)

Jon Marc & Teresa Grodi

Teresa is a member of the Body of Christ, a wife, and a mother of five. She was born, raised, and resides in the Diocese of Toledo, OH. Teresa received her B.A. and M.A. in History at Bowling Green State University, where she met her husband JonMarc. She has been involved in ministry in many capacities and currently organizes pilgrimages for Catholic Faith Journeys. Teresa and JonMarc love to take walks and to discuss faith, philosophy, culture, food, the Domestic Church, the Feminine Genius, and the C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy, among other things.

JonMarc is the Chief Operating Officer of the Coming Home Network International and has been interviewed on EWTN programs such as Life on the Rock and The Journey Home, as well as various radio programs. A graduate student of philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville, JonMarc resides in Perrysburg, OH, with his wife and five young children.  Some of his favorite topics for discussion & writing are the nature of religious faith, aesthetics, Catholic Social Teaching, the writings of G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien, and various intersections of philosophy and theology in family life. You can connect with JonMarc via the Coming Home Network, on social media, or where he occasionally writes at www.RestatementOfTheObvious.com.

http://ElevateOrdinary.com
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