What would a Catholic vote look like, asks Prof. Ray Kinsella
It’s election time all over Europe. In Ireland, as well as elections to the European Parliament, there are local elections.
So, here’s the question. Is there – should there be – a Catholic Vote?
Should Catholics, in making their decision on how to cast their vote tomorrow or in future, take into account the moral teachings of their Church?
It’s worth thinking about. The political parties who are urging us to vote tell us it’s important – that the outcome of elections set the future direction of the country and the policies that impact on all of us – “if you give us your vote we’ll do all kind of things”. But, who to vote for?
The question wouldn’t arise if we were talking about recent elections in, say, Pakistan or Israel – it would be taken as read that faith values would have a significant impact on voting patterns. And, of course, until very recently Judeo-Christian values would have been common ground across the major political parties in Ireland. But that was then and this is now. So, is there (still) a ‘Catholic Vote’ in Ireland?
Consider this. The mainstream political parties – Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein – enforce their ‘teachings’ or ideology – ruthlessly. Challenge the leadership or challenge the received wisdom and you’re out: purged.
If a TD or Minister were brave enough to do so, they would be out of the Cabinet, and out of the party, quicker than you say “conscience”.
We have actually seen it happen. Mind you, it is much less likely to arise these days –the selection conventions are unlikely to allow a dissonant voice next nor near the Ballot Paper.
Best interests
Well, if that’s the way of it in politics, doesn’t the Catholic Church also have the right to set out its values and teachings which it believes to be in the best interests of individuals, families and the country? And doesn’t it have a right to ask those who assert that they are, in fact, Catholic to vote in accordance with these teachings?
That seems reasonable. After all, why would someone want to proclaim themselves Catholic – and then vote directly against the absolutely core moral teachings of that same Church?
Because, and this is the key point, these teachings are the platform on which every important social policy rests: from access to healthcare, which the religious nursing orders were rather good at back in the day; to the eradication of homelessness, as a blight on our country, also a core value; from reversing the decline of rural communities to rejecting militarisation for war. The teachings of the Church, and the hard slog of putting these teachings into practise on the ground, address these and other challenges facing our country.
When you set aside the glossy political promises and the softly spoken pleas to emotionalism – the brochures and posters that are the finest produce of the PR industry – making the right decision about who to vote for comes down to character, integrity and authentic values.
“Have a look at the price of house, average rents and the number of daily commuters from rural communities and smell the coffee”
So, look at the mainstream parties, and ask whether their values today bear even the slightest resemblance to those of the men and women who founded them, or have a purpose greater than getting political power and all that goes with it.
Some people say – and actually seem to believe – that it’s all very well being Catholic providing you take no account of it in your politics! But that’s pure nonsense. Gospel values are, above all, a guide to living, loving, working and sharing – sharing, above all, with the poor and disadvantaged.
Check out the Ten Commandments, which Christ conflated into two – love God, through love of your neighbour. Is there any greater ideal in mainstream party politics? And if there’s not, why would you not look for evidence of these same values in political parties that come looking for your vote?
Check out the Beatitudes, those incomparable statements of Christian values, like “blessed are the peacemakers”. Isn’t that what it’s all about in today’s world of trade wars and real wars – of violence on streets and the bombing of churches? Perhaps they know something better than the Beatitudes at Party HQs, but if they do, let’s hope it’s in their manifestoes.
Check out the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church and what they say about fair pay and the right of everyone to work and to a decent home in which to rear their family. Then have a look at the price of house, average rents and the number of daily commuters from rural communities and smell the coffee, as you scan the election leaflets coming through your letterbox.
Fact is, the Social Teachings of the Church are a robust and reasoned response to the tyranny of Marxism and the idolatry of Market Capitalism. Compare these teachings to the self-serving political rhetoric and the auction politics that characterise the manifestoes and posters of mainstream political parties.
Colonisation
These are the same parties who proclaimed Christian values, before they were ideologically colonised and who now want to push the ‘Catholic Vote’ and voters into exile. Though they will, of course, still be doing their own bit of ‘colonisation’ aka electioneering and church-gate collections around their local parish church.
Well, clearly there are some voters who welcome Ireland’s new secular culture and will vote accordingly. There are also some who will always vote for ‘The Party’, whichever of the two or three brand names of a now generic ideology they historically supported, even though they have flipped their values 180 degrees.
Ireland now has many voters – largely but not wholly Catholic – who have been exiled from what is supposed to be a representative democracy. There’s no place for them or their values in the mainstream political parties which once courted their votes.
But isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t it good to cut through the false promises – all the old nonsense and pretence? How else can the wasteland of Irish politics be renewed?
The faith values and the Social Teachings of the Church have much to offer to contemporary Ireland and Europe. Post-war Germany and Europe was, after all, built on Christian democracy.
In this week’s elections and going forward, there are Independent candidates and dynamic new smaller parties that affirm Judeo-Christian values and who offer a radically new alternatively for all those voters who believe that faith-values have a legitimate place in the Public Square. They deserve our votes, and the chance to work for us.
Prof. Ray Kinsella is a former lecturer of Banking and Finance in UCD.