Ahead of next week’s elections to the Assembly, the northern bishops have issued a pastoral reflection. They are asking Catholics to think about key issues like the right to life, refugees, education, climate change and poverty before deciding who to vote for.
Fundamental to our duty as citizens is the exercise of the precious freedom we enjoy to elect those who govern our society. Catholic social teaching affirms the moral duty to vote in free and just elections. It values the democratic system and considers politics a noble vocation, insofar as they both serve objective moral truth and affirm the inviolable dignity of every person, reflected in respect of their inalienable right to life and care from conception to natural death.
We therefore call on Catholics and all citizens to participate in the forthcoming elections in an informed, reflective and respectful way.
Consistent with our prayer that politicians will have an abiding concern for the most vulnerable, we make as our first appeal a call to all parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly to address, as the foremost priority in the next Programme for Government, the disturbing levels of childhood poverty here, and the systemic issues of social need that fracture so many homes and communities.
It is an indictment on the priorities and preoccupations of the last Assembly that Northern Ireland was the only region in the UK where levels of childhood poverty actually increased, with over 101,000 children in Northern Ireland now living below the poverty line.
It is a salutary reminder to all of us, including every politician who bears the name Christian, that how we will be judged by the Lord at the end of time will be determined by how we fed the poor, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, responded to those in captivity and cared for those who are sick (Matthew 25: 34-36).
Fuel poverty
Northern Ireland also has some of the highest levels of fuel poverty, of working poor, of those on disability related benefits and other forms of welfare support on these islands and is expected to be the last to benefit from any wider economic recovery. The last Assembly failed to address the issues of poverty, social need and economic recovery in any systemic or long term way.
We appeal to Catholics and all who believe in a more just and equitable society, to make the systemic and comprehensive eradication of childhood poverty and social need the key priority of the next Assembly. One practical appeal we make in this regard, is for funding to be made available to schools so that no pupil begins the day without a nutritional breakfast.
The poor and most vulnerable have paid the greatest price in Northern Ireland for a political culture that has too often been dominated by constitutional rivalries, a preoccupation with “tribal issues” and party point-scoring. This has contributed in turn to a discernible alienation from politics on the part of many, particularly the young.
As the Assembly elections approach, we make an appeal for a new and more constructive political culture, one based on a shared commitment to the common good and the priorities of citizens rather than on traditional constitutional issues. This will require the Assembly to look beyond its own resources and preoccupations to widen the social and civic base of politics.
The Gospel of love, and from it the ideal of the ‘civilisation of love’ that Catholic social teaching proposes to the world, calls on all of us to a build a pervasive culture of care for others, especially for the most vulnerable. Building such a culture of care demands that we prioritise those policies in health, welfare, employment and economic distribution that improve the life and dignity of every citizen, irrespective of their stage of life or state of life.
One of the great contradictions of our age, is that at the same time as society is developing a more urgent sense of the need to care for our planet and other creatures, many seem determined to treat some of our fellow human beings as something ‘disposable’, to be ‘thrown away’, as part of what Pope Francis calls our pervasive ‘throw-away’ culture. This is particularly true with respect to both ends of the spectrum of human life.
Central to the Good News that the Church proclaims is that the life of every person is sacred and inviolable, irrespective of the stage or state of that life. It is regrettable that some choose to caricature the Church’s promotion of the inviolability of human life, from conception to natural death, as a mere ‘religious doctrine’, and therefore to be dismissed in the name of a free and secular society.
In the often emotionally charged and adversarial debates that take place on these issues, it can be difficult to convey the sensitive and hope-filled vision for humanity at the core of the Church’s belief in our noble capacity as humans to care, and to work for life-affirming solutions to challenging human problems.
Common concern
What is needed is a calm, rational discussion about these sensitive issues marked by a common concern to ensure that all those facing difficult situations in pregnancy, or at the end of life, receive a compassionate response based on the greatest degrees of love, understanding and care as a society we can provide, a response that affirms rather than undermines the universal moral principle that the right to life of every innocent and vulnerable person is inviolable.
In recent years, it is striking how many Catholics and others in Northern Ireland have indicated to us and to many priests that they find it increasingly difficult to find a political party for whom they can vote in good conscience.
While respecting the right of any citizen not to vote, where there is no clear alternative in an election, Catholic social teaching encourages us to maximize the good in the political choices that we make, and to limit any potential harm.
What this means in any given election, requires careful moral discernment and a decision based on a sincere and informed conscience which has the pursuit of the good, and the avoidance of what is morally wrong, as its principal motivation.
The next Assembly term will see further pressures being brought to bear on politicians to introduce abortion to Northern Ireland. The moral issue here is not whether what is proposed is abortion ‘on demand’ or some form of so-called ‘limited’ abortion.
From a moral point of view, there is no such thing as ‘limited’ abortion. Abortion is always the deliberate and intentional taking of an innocent, vulnerable human life, and a direct breach of the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. All forms of direct and intentional abortion contravene this fundamental sacred and human moral principle.
The medical prognosis for the life of a child in the womb, or the extent of that child’s disabilities, is no more morally relevant than it is when considering an adult who faces the diagnosis of a life-limiting condition. This is why the social and moral teaching of the Church is clear, that it is never morally acceptable to support any policy that undermines the sacred inviolability of the right to life, in any circumstances.
An authentic and pervasive culture of care also involves commitment to a culture of welcome and support for the stranger and those fleeing from persecution, war or natural disaster.
Refugees
Many local communities, schools, parishes, voluntary and charitable organisations across Northern Ireland have been outstanding in their response to those refugees and asylum seekers who arrive daily to our shores.
We ask those elected to the new Assembly to lobby the Westminster Government to increase the overall number of refugees accepted through the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme, and to increase the numbers being resettled in Northern Ireland.
It is also disturbing that Northern Ireland continues to be a destination for persons who have been trafficked and are now subjected to various forms of exploitation on our streets and local workplaces.
In addressing the need for a culture of welcome and care for those fleeing their homeland, as so many from our own land had to do over the centuries, it is important to also acknowledge the disturbing levels of homelessness that exist among us.
The tragic deaths of an unprecedented number of homeless people on our streets in recent months highlights the complexity of responding to the individual circumstances and needs of those who find themselves in this situation. It is vital that the next Assembly undertakes a rigorous review of the nature, extent and causes of homelessness in Northern Ireland as a matter of priority and provides the maximum possible support to those agencies and groups that are responding to those in need of housing on a daily basis.
International surveys show that Christians are now the most persecuted group across the world. The lack of public outcry and political response to such persecution is in stark contrast to the media attention given to many other issues. The former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks told the House of Lords recently that the suffering of Middle East Christians is “one of the crimes against humanity of our time” and said he was “appalled at the lack of protest it has evoked”.
Persecution
Research also shows that in addition to violent persecution, Christians have become subject to subtle forms of exclusion and discrimination in various western democracies. This is sometimes experienced as a cultural ‘chill factor’, where expressions of Christian belief and conscience are no longer tolerated in the public square, while secular or other philosophical-ethical views, are incorrectly considered ‘neutral’ and given a certain primacy in decisions about public policy and law.
Many local Christians now speak of a growing ‘chill factor’ in public policy and law here in Northern Ireland.
This includes examples of exclusion of Church and faith groups from access to public funding for services because of their religious ethos and values, or of being caricatured in public debate as ‘archaic’ for promoting perennial human values such as the importance to society of traditional marriage and the family, or the preciousness of human life in the womb.
The right to religious freedom is a fundamental right universally recognised as foundational to a genuinely pluralist and tolerant society. It is not limited to the right to worship.
The question of how freedom of religious conscience can be most appropriately accommodated and expressed in law is matter we believe the next Assembly should address.
The failure of the Northern Ireland Assembly to protect the rights of a Catholic Church-sponsored adoption agency to provide services in a manner consistent with its religious ethos was a siren call to all who uphold respect for religious freedom as an essential hallmark of an authentically free and pluralist society.
Closely related to respect for religious freedom is respect for the right of parents to have their children educated in conformity with their religious convictions.
Faith-based schools
This is consistent with a society that believes in genuine pluralism and tolerance. Yet the impression is often given in political and public debate about education in Northern Ireland, as well as in certain policy decisions, that the very existence of faith-based schools, and Catholic schools in particular, is something to be regretted and discouraged, rather than celebrated and encouraged as part of a genuinely tolerant society that respects diversity and parental choice.
Suggestions that only one model of integration of schools can contribute positively to reconciliation, understanding and tolerance is not only offensive to the positive contribution that all other school sectors in Northern Ireland make to peace and reconciliation but is monistic rather than pluralist, is inimical to parental rights and sometimes cloaks a deep-seated hostility to the Catholic faith itself.
This is reflected in the suggestion sometimes made that those parents who want a faith-based education for their children should have to pay for it. This is to ignore the fact that all parents have the same rights in this regard and that all parents are tax-payers. Those who are not tax-payers have the same rights as those who are not to a faith-based education for their children.
In his most recent encyclical letter, Laudato Sí: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis reminds us that the planet we share, our common home, faces an urgent and fundamental challenge that affects us all. This is the challenge of environmental degradation and the increasingly dramatic consequences of climate change.
Whatever the causes of climate change, to care for our common home in a responsible and sustainable way is a good in its own right and something we owe to future generations. We encourage the next Assembly to invest in research and training to ensure the Northern Ireland economy is well placed to take full advantage of the developing market for new renewable technologies.
We also call on the next Executive to support the rapid implementation of the recently approved Environmental Better Regulation Bill and to supplement this bill with well-funded measures to secure the environmental integrity of our precious natural waterways, landscapes, seas, fisheries and other resources, as well as supporting all citizens in living in a more environmentally sustainable way, for the sake of future generations.Marriage
In respect of the ethics of marriage and the family, religious and non-religious people alike have long acknowledged and know from their experience that the family, based on the natural institution of marriage between a woman and a man, is the best and ideal place for children.
When legislation is proposed that equates other forms of relationship to the marriage between a man and a woman it effectively says to parents, children and society that the state should not, and will not, promote any normative or ideal family environment for raising children.
Such legislation implies that the biological bond and natural ties between a child and its mother and father have no intrinsic value for the child or for society.
We call on members of the next Assembly to recognise in law and policy that freedom of religion means more than freedom to worship. It also involves the freedom to live and engage in society in a manner that is consistent with one’s own religious identity and deeply held beliefs.
The is an abridged version of the northern bishops’ pastoral ahead of the Assembly elections. The full reflection can be read at www.catholicbishops.ie