Tobin and Cupich: Battling the bullies; creating a culture of encounter

Speaking to his brother bishops, he said that if Catholics attend Mass each week and hear the gospel and leave church still imitating divisive rhetoric, then something is seriously wrong.

Following that intervention on the floor of the conference, he told Crux, “The real issue and challenge that we have today is that people are…living in our own camps. We have such a tribal approach to politics.”

Cupich recalled a recent meeting of Catholic Extension, a fundraising body that provides support to mission dioceses across the United States, where many of the bishops told stories about hurricanes and floods that had hit their dioceses hard.

“People put aside their ideologies and their political persuasions and everyone pitched in-black and white, men and women, Republicans and Democrats,” Cupich recounted. “Anything that we can do to bring people together and just encounter each other as the Holy Father is asking us to do.”