Thermostats of the Spirit: How Catholics Are Reclaiming Their Role as Peacemakers

In an era where division has become a default posture, a new initiative rooted in the Paulist Fathers’ tradition is calling Catholics back to their foundational identity as agents of reconciliation. The Communion Project, inspired by Pope Leo XIII’s vision of unity, is not merely a program but a spiritual intervention for a fractured ecclesial body.

Jonathan Lewis, mission strategy officer for the Paulist Fathers, offers a profound metaphor for the current crisis: “Unfortunately, too often Catholics and Catholic leaders are acting more like thermometers instead of thermostats. We’re reading the temperature of the room or the culture, instead of setting the temperature according to our values and the truths of the Church.” This distinction is not political but deeply spiritual—it asks whether believers are passive reflectors of societal angst or active conduits of divine grace.

The project, born from the 2022 Paulist general assembly, heeds the Second Vatican Council’s call to “read the signs of the times.” By lowering the temperature of distrust, it seeks to restore the Church’s witness as a “real spiritual family” in a polarized nation. As Lewis notes, the goal is to foster “thoughtful conversations” that discern Catholic values, transforming local communities into laboratories of unity.