According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Council of Jerusalem ended its deliberations by sending a letter which stressed that preserving the unity of the Church required only that everyone observe “the essentials.” When St. Paul gives his own report about the Council in his epistle to the Galatians he also stresses unity as the outcome of the deliberations but would have a different take on what “the essentials” are. These issues are perennial in the Church. What do we need to do to preserve unity? What are, in fact, the essentials? In today’s climate of divergent opinions, we must respect that everyone loves the faith as much as we do even when we disagree.
