“What does it mean to live as the Body of Christ? In One Church, Charles Camosy courageously names the full range of the maladies of division that plague our communities: generational, cultural, ethnic, political, social and historical. He opens out in a gentle and practical way how the healing balm of this depth of love might enter into the nooks and crannies of daily interactions within Church life. With conversational ease and light-touch humor, Camosy thoughtfully guides his reader into a deeper appreciation and empathy for the complexity at the root of these challenging tensions. With real life examples, he straddles the divisions to highlight the opportunities to learn, grow, build trust, and witness to the mutual love to which we are called as disciples of Christ.”
Amy J. Uelmen
Director for Mission and Ministry
Georgetown Law School

“Camosy has a remarkable capacity to speak uncomfortable truths and make you laugh at the same time. While this book may be ‘thin’ and ‘flat,’ the content is anything but. Readers will leave with the ability to ‘thicken’ and ‘add dimension’ to common Catholic caricatures, opening the possibility for relationship even in the midst of disagreement.”
Ann M. Garrido
Author of Let’s Talk about Truth

“Anyone who knows Camosy will know that his book is not a manual for compromising Catholic teaching in conversation and dialogue, but rather is about how to engage in conversation and debate in a way that is less likely to reproduce already polarized hostilities, which bear no fruit. This book suggests more likely ways of mitigating polarization that could ultimately generate a growing empathy and understanding for Catholic teaching, bearing fruit as Catholic teaching becomes a subject around which people feel more and more unified rather than polarized. But this takes strategic effort, and Camosy's book is here to help facilitate such effort. Highly recommended.”
John C. Cavadini
McGrath-Cavadini Director
McGrath Institute for Church Life
University of Notre Dame

“I gobble up anything Camosy writes, but his latest is especially tantalizing. Pope Benedict remarked that we Catholics are usually more ‘both–and’ rather than ‘either–or.’ Camosy’s book helps us achieve that. How timely this is during this synodality Pope Francis encourages with emphasis on trust, dialogue, and walking together.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan
Archbishop of New York

“Building bridges across political, ideological, religious, racial, and ethnic lines is a neglected and urgent imperative to advance the common good. Camosy offers challenging and wise strategies to begin with our own behaviors and attitudes rather than the shortcomings of others. Pope Francis calls us to listen and learn, to encounter and dialogue, and this timely book can help us follow these paths. A little humility and humor, leading with what we are for, finding common ground around the Gospel, and principles of Catholic social teaching, offer ways forward in a wounded Church and polarized nation.”
John Carr
Codirector of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life
Georgetown University

“Charles Camosy’s new work, One Church, is a very timely and critical work in this sound bite/internet age. Even in my graduate study days I observed that at the tables in the refectory of the graduate house of the North American College in Rome the seats were at times occupied by like-minded (eg, liberal/conservative) students with little variation daily. It was only when I became close friends with priests beyond that divide that I began to truly grow as priest and student in the Eternal City. I would try to sit at different tables each day and spend time with the priest students and others with whom I lived and studied with daily. If I had not made that effort my life would be very much different now. Some of those friends from those days ‘across the divide’ have stayed in my life to this day, along with becoming associated with the Focolare movement mentioned by Camosy specifically. Those sorts of divides sadly have become much more pronounced in this time of ‘internet culture,’ with the tendency to label everyone, as Camosy notes in his book. To begin anew and set ourselves on a firmer, stronger and more joyful path of faith and life in the Body of Christ, he shows us the way, especially with his five-step strategy to engage those whom the Lord in his providence sends our way.”
Bishop Kevin Vann
Diocese of Orange