I first met Robert P. George, a distinguished scholar who teaches at Princeton University, many years ago at a talk in New Jersey, where we were (as I recall) speaking about the saints. My memory is foggy, but I believe it was a conversation about my book My Life with the Saints, published in 2006. In any event, what I recall chiefly is how gracious Professor George was to me and how much I enjoyed our conversation.

Of course, I knew that Professor George was not only a distinguished legal scholar and political philosopher but one of the most influential intellectual mentors for many politically conservative Catholics. So, I would imagine that we might differ on certain topics (even though, as Catholics, we agree on the essentials).

What I didn’t know then was how he would, along with his somewhat more progressive friend Cornel West, the American philosopher and theologian, eventually stake out a place for himself as a man committed to dialogue. He has demonstrated that commitment numerous times, most notably with Professor West, both in public and in print. Their conversations and friendship offer us a way forward in polarizing times.

I find that desire for dialogue increasingly important in the church, which is one of the many reasons I was happy that Professor George joined us this week on “The Spiritual Life.”

Perhaps it is seeing how toxic discourse between people who disagree has become in the church (and occasionally how personal attacks have become). Perhaps it is seeing how much Pope Leo XIV works for unity in the church. (His papal motto is: “In the One, we are one.”) Perhaps it has been helping Tim Busch, the director of the Napa Institute, in arranging his “Salon dinners,” which invite Catholics from a wide variety of perspectives to pray, celebrate Mass and break bread together. (The last dinner that I attended included both Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the former archbishop of New York, and Phyllis Zagano, perhaps the world’s leading expert on, and an advocate for, women deacons, to highlight but two names around the table.) Or perhaps it’s just remembering Jesus’ prayer to the Father and implicit plea to the disciples that “they may all be one.”

I know that many people disagree with me on the value of this kind of dialogue. But what is the alternative—demonizing and ignoring people with whom you disagree? During the Synod on Synodality, at which I was honored to be a delegate, we heard Cardinal (then-Father) Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., quote a line from St. John Paul II several times: “Affective collegiality precedes effective collegiality.” If you’re going to speak about any kind of difficult issue, it helps if you’ve established at least a modicum of friendship. Again, what is the alternative? And aren’t we all “friends in the Lord,” to quote St. Ignatius Loyola?

In any event, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Professor George, and I hope it encourages you to seek out more dialogue and more friendship so that we all may be one.

The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, editor at large at America and founder of Outreach.