We are a “diverse and tolerant” nation, President Obama said in his remarks on the Sept. 11 anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. And as a Florida preacher threatened to burn the sacred text for Muslims, the Quran, the chairmen of three committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops rightly joined in condemnation of any acts of religious intolerance.

How timely and necessary, then, is the annual dialogue between Christian and Muslim women in the Quad Cities, which takes place the evenings of Sept. 20 and 27 in Moline. Attend if you’re able, and for more information call the Benedictine Sisters of St. Mary Monastery at (309) 283-2100.

While tolerance, a reasoned patience, is usually a good thing. why did Archbishop Fulton Sheen once write an essay called “A Plea for Intolerance”?

The sainthood candidate from our diocese argued that tolerance only applies to persons, “never to truth or principles . . . . to the erring, never to the error.” And he said there are things — evils and injustices — about which faithful Catholics must be intolerant.

We know Archbishop Sheen would agree abortion is near the top of that list. Yet we have tolerated the legal killing of unborn children in our nation, and in our very communities, for 37 years.

As our story on page 7 details, October offers many chances to peacefully show our intolerance of this grave evil. We also recommend participation in the “40 Days for Life” campaign of prayer, fasting, and vigils that opens in Peoria and Champaign on Sept. 22.

Sometimes loving other people calls for some healthy intolerance. — Thomas J. Dermody