The Catholic bishops of Northern Ireland have exhorted politicians and the general public to proceed to search out reasons for hope ahead of the overall election on 4 July.
In a pastoral reflection titled Give Reasons to Hope, the Irish Catholic Bishop’s Conference encouraged believers to vote, and laid out an inventory of areas in today’s society where hope is desperately needed, offering solutions rooted within the teachings of Jesus and reflecting Catholic social teaching.
Their statement began by emphasising the importance of voting, even when believers had differences of principle with the governments of the land, saying that exercising their franchise was the one technique to work for change and convey a few higher future for Britain.
“We are appealing to everyone who has the power to accomplish that, to take part in the democratic process by exercising their hard-won right to vote,” the statement read.
“Even where there isn’t a candidate who reflects the total range of a voter’s values or aspirations, it remains to be a fundamental Christian duty to maximise the nice we will do by participating within the democratic process.”
However, the bishops also reminded politicians that ‘with out a vision, the people perish!’ and said that political leaders needed to offer people concrete reasons for hope or risk a fracturing of society as confidence in politics erodes.
“People are continually saying to us things like ‘society is fractured’, ‘politics is broken’, ‘life has never been so stressful’, and ‘daily is a struggle, like never before’,” the bishops said
“It is not any coincidence that on this environment, our society can also be reporting an unprecedented crisis in mental health, not least amongst younger people and youngsters.”
Calling on politicians to supply a vision for society built on the essential needs, dignity, and inherent price of all, the bishops offered an inventory of key areas where voters must be calling on the federal government to implement policies that will restore hope, holding them to account on the ballot box.
“As Christian leaders, we proceed to be inspired, and driven in our steadfast hope for society, by the vision of Jesus, that we may need life, and have it to the total (Jn. 10:10),” the statement continued.
Expressing their concern that there had been a progressive decline in respect for the elemental right to life, the bishops warned of the hazards of a worldview that determined a human being’s value based on their position in society slightly than on their inherent dignity as God’s creation.
The statement also reinforced society’s duty to guard probably the most vulnerable, whether at first or end of their life, and stated that the best crisis society faced was not an ecological or economic one, but a growing breakdown in social cohesion.
The bishops described a Biblical vision of society based on a foundation of hope, one where everyone seems to be treated with dignity, can discover a place to live where they’re welcome and secure, where the religion, community, and voluntary sectors are valued, and, above all, where there may be justice and reconciliation for all.
“In this short reflection, with deep gratitude and respect for all those that put themselves forward, with courage, and commitment to public service, for elected office, we express our sincere hope that, if elected, they’ll shape a greater future for us all,” they concluded.
“We also express our conviction, rooted within the promise of Jesus to be with us to the top of time, that even yet, there are numerous reasons to hope!”
