Why Do We Need Community?

NFCM

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12).

Man is wired to be part of society to be part of a community. Aristotle made this observation:

Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. (Aristotle, Politics)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says in section 1879 that individuals need to live in community, that it is part of our nature to live in association with others. In other words, God made us to be communal people. We see this in the formation of the early Church as its members "devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life" (Act 2:42).

The Second Vatican Council made a similar observation in Gaudium et spes (#23):

One of the salient features of the modern world is the growing interdependence of men one on the other, a development promoted chiefly by modern technical advances. Nevertheless brotherly dialogue among men does not reach its perfection on the level of technical progress, but on the deeper level of interpersonal relationships.

We are not wired to live in isolation or to live our faith alone, but share it with others. Christ told His followers (that's means us too), "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house" (Matt 5:15).

The Catechism (1890) goes on to teach that "there is a certain resemblance between the unity of the divine persons and the fraternity that men ought to establish among themselves." I believe this is precisely the role that small men's faith groups, like Joe Catholic, serve. This goes to the heart of iron sharpening iron. We need to be able to lean on others in difficult times as well as share our victories so as to inspire each other to keep walking the walk.

One step in that direction, might be registering for a men's conference like the one being co-sponsored by Joe Catholic at St. Catherine of Siena on September 22nd. Registration information is available HERE.