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General Election 2010 – Overview
We presently face the duty of electing political representatives in the General Election. The field of politics is one which principally requires the contribution of the Catholic laity. Without those efforts the teaching of the Church can never penetrate society effectively.
It is apparent that there has seldom been a greater need for Catholics, properly prepared in their understanding of the faith, to engage in the political life of our country. The saving message of Christ has unfortunately, in our time, been obscured such that the message of Christianity has been seen as a threat to freedom or of an imposition on the people of the United Kingdom.
The Church’s true charism is to provide the values that make for peace and which permit authentic human development. Sometimes to the powerful this can be an offence since the law of God does not simply bend to the will of society’s elites or special interest groups. It is thus that in an ever more secularised society the Church should increasingly find that its message is one that faces rejection.
In trying to serve humanity the Church begins by defending the precious value of every human life from its very beginning at fertilisation. Building on the value of each life the Church defends the family as the basic cell of society into which each human life is born. The wellbeing of society depends implicitly on the health of family life. Marriage provides the foundation that permits the full flourishing of family life and it is necessary for politicians not to distort or neglect this truth. It is necessary to recognise that life and the family are under continued attack through laws and examples which flood our entertainment and media with values contrary to those which uphold life and faithfulness in marriage.
The Christian message can inspire us to create a more just and equitable society and to reach out to those who are in need of our assistance across the world. The recent economic crisis has shown how closely linked the nations of the earth are and at the same time has emphasised that our lifestyles in the developed world are not sustainable. There is an urgent need to ensure that the resources of the world are more fairly distributed and that world economic systems are made to serve the people of the world. Everyone has a right to an adequate standard of living which is in keeping with human dignity. It is therefore of added concern that it is seen that so much of the resources of the world’s nations are invested in weaponry capable of the most indescribable destruction.
It is important that in assessing the merits of candidates seeking election that their commitment and willingness to support laws which will create a just society is inspected. In particular the way in which a candidate will respond to current challenges is of utmost importance.
Euthanasia has presently arisen as a new threat to the lives of people in the United Kingdom. Proponents of this truly evil practice are clever and/or misguided in portraying it as a measure of compassion; but it is vital that people are not misled and also that they resist strongly any temptation to give ground to proposals to permit the wilful killing of any human person.
Another issue which is in need of greater attention in our society is that of the importance of human conscience. The dignity of the human person is such that it is never acceptable to force a person to act contrary to his conscience. There are times of course when restraining the actions of a person for the sake of public order is necessary but this must be done for serious reasons only and not for the imposition of particular moral views which may be simply the preferences of those who hold political power. In particular Equality Laws which undermine the ability of people to follow their beliefs represent a distortion of fairness.
It is not possible in a short note to explore the fullness of Catholic Social Teaching; all Catholics need to continue deepening their awareness of the Church’s teaching such that our apostolic efforts can be increasingly effective. At this time it is important to recall that it is never licit to support intrinsically evil measures such as those which attack human life or the family.
