The Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols has urged Catholics to “vote thoughtfully” and “step well away from hatred".
As voters in the UK prepare to head for the polls, the cardinal tweeted: "At this moment of decision, seek the good, always. Evangelisation Westminster tweeted: "Knowing where we come from and where our true home is might just help us to make good use of the gift being able to vote #Elections2019."
Despite the precedence of Brexit in mainstream coverage, within the Catholic Church in England, Wales and latterly Scotland also, the run-up to election day was dominated by a debate around abortion. The Bishop of Shrewsbury this week echoed the Bishops’ Conference’s election guidance by saying that Catholics should consider life issues when they vote, but went further, warning that Catholic voters should specifically consider the proposed decriminalisation of abortion by the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties as “a radical assault upon the sanctity of human life”.
Speaking to The Tablet this week the former Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Flello, who was deselected early in the campaign because his pro-life views “diverged” from the party’s, said that he had been discriminated against because of his faith.
“The Lib Dems seem increasingly desperate to justify their decision to deselect me because of my Catholic views,” he said, responding to a letter to The Tablet last week from the Chair of the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum that said Flello was deselected because he tweeted his opposition to the creation of no-protest zones outside abortion clinics.
“I have never supported breaking the law or harassing anyone and I’m still waiting to be told exactly which tweets were deemed to be ‘very aggressive’. I wonder who they will push forward to justify the Lib Dem Party’s discrimination against Catholics next?” He said.
The Scottish Bishops’ conference also urged Catholics to consider life issues. In a letter issued by the parliamentary office a week before election day they said political candidates should “recognise human life from the moment of conception until natural death and legislate for its protection at every stage, including protecting the unborn child, ensuring that both mother and child are accepted and loved.”
The bishops of Northern Ireland made Brexit their primary focus. In a message this week they spoke of the significant impact Brexit would have on the region’s political and social stability and said “competent voices” were needed “to annunciate our concerns and we encourage voters to choose candidates who value positive relationships within and beyond these islands”.
Meanwhile Cafod advised Catholics to look beyond Brexit and consider party policies on climate change and global poverty. Daniel Hale, head of campaigns at Cafod, said: “Brexit is bound to dominate this election, but we need to make sure that the candidates asking for our votes are reminded that politics has to also focus on the other critical issues we face in our common home.
“It’s vital that those standing for election know that we expect them to urgently put us on track to end our contribution to climate change, to make sure our trade with the world benefits rather than exploits poor communities and that we help people who’ve been forced from their homes by poverty and persecution.”
The demand for affordable housing was high on the agenda for community action charity, Citizens UK. The Ealing section group held an Advent candlelit procession ahead of the general election. Father Justin Dodd, an Ealing parish priest who joined the procession, said: “People are moving away because they can’t afford the price of local properties. For communities to flourish, people need to be able to put down roots and have real homes.”
As The Tablet reported, Fr Jim McCartney, the chief executive of addiction rehabilitation charity, THOMAS, said that a bigger budget for social care and prison rehabilitation needed prioritising. He hoped that parties would follow through on pledges to increase the social care budget and said that would result in “reduced spending on the prison system and cut public spending as a whole in future”.
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