As part of the 2025-26 Notre Dame Forum on “Cultivating Hope,” Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., joined University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., on October 17, for a conversation titled “Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life.”
A member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, Cardinal McElroy explored the roots of America’s societal divides and offered strategies to move forward together toward a more unified future.
The Church, he said, has an integral role to play in speaking to the morality of issues and in bridging divides through compassion— in what he said is a “tough time, but not an irredeemable time” for the United States.
“When people come at questions with a starting point of compassion, when they can see the suffering involved in various sides of the different issues, they can bridge together,” Cardinal McElroy said. “It brings them over the lines.”
Following the conversation, Cardinal McElroy took questions from the audience, including a student question on what can be done to reverse polarization.
“I would say, try to promote dialogue as far as you can. Don’t eliminate discussion of topics because you’re afraid of friction over them,” Cardinal McElroy said. “If Notre Dame becomes a community known for its dialogue across barriers, that would be a wonderful thing.”
Watch the full event: