I was a very religious person for most of my life. I practiced Catholicism devoutly and attended daily mass.

I have been following my own heart and not any particular religious teaching for many years now, but I have never forgotten the lesson I learned one day when I was on my way to mass.

It was freezing and snowing one winter’s day and I was driving to the expressway so I could attend noon mass at a monastery in a neighboring town. As I drove under the viaduct before the entrance ramp I saw a woman walking on the snow along the wall. Her head was down and she was trying to stay upright as the snow and wind blew her coat open, and I noticed she was wearing a nightgown underneath. It was obvious she was in some kind of trouble and I had only a few seconds to decide what to do.

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You don’t have to be a political scientist to know that there is a huge divide between party lines in this country.

We have always had a two party system. While there were some obvious differences in politics, it didn’t keep people from respecting each other’s views and having intelligent discussions, let alone dinner together.

But nowadays there seems to be an impenetrable wall that’s gone up, with neither side ceding. What has changed that has caused us to become so divisive?

There are many factors that contribute to this schism, without a sure fire culprit.

But there is something I think is glaringly obvious; we have confused our beliefs with our rights.

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