Turbulent priests should get out of politics and back to their churches

By Terry sanderson

The tendency of the Catholic Church to interfere in the politics of sovereign nations was on show again this week – on both sides of the world.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, said that he had been disappointed that the previous Labour Government had not given the Catholic Church what it wanted in legislative terms, and that he had much greater hopes of progress with the new coalition government. Read the interview.

The National Secular Society was asked to comment on Nichol’s statement and issued a stern warning about priestly politicians (see NSS speaks out, below). Like so many other religious leaders, Mr Nichols has interpreted the government’s “Big Society” idea as an opportunity for religion to re-establish itself in a society that has largely rejected it. Hopefully he means that the Churches might help with the deficit reduction programme, not come to dictate public policy.

Although it is right and proper that all sections of society be permitted to debate and lobby on legislation, it is unhealthy for religious interests to be given more credence in the debate than anyone else.

The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has already thrown out a lifeline of hope to religious bodies, telling them that they are to have a much greater input into policy making from now on.

Having said that, Mr Pickles’ predecessors in that post — every single one of them — have made the same promise. Indeed, the Labour Party poured large amounts of money into religious initiatives that were supposed to create ‘community cohesion’. And still we are here, with the religious groups claiming that they aren’t given enough power to force themselves into the lives of the ungrateful populace.

Archbishop Nichols must learn that religion gets only the respect it deserves, not the respect it thinks it is due. His particular church has behaved abominably over child abuse. The pope continues to issue diktats that repel and enrage even his own titular followers. And yet he still seems to think that the Government is not trying hard enough in helping him enforce those diktats.

Archbishop Nichols has now expressed a party political preference. He has become a cleric that is politically partisan, which is never a good idea.

Tempting though it may be for the Tory Party to imagine that an endorsement from the Catholic leader would be a good thing, they should think very carefully about what they are endorsing, and whether the bulk of those who elected them approve.

In Australia, another Catholic leader cannot resist the opportunity to try to swing the upcoming election to his own advantage. Perth’s Archbishop Barry Hickey recently drew attention to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's atheism and its potential to harm the interests of the Church. He said that her atheism might cause Christian voters not to vote Labour at this month’s federal election.

Some took his statement to mean that a vote for Gillard is a vote for atheism, and that therefore Christians should choose non-Labour candidates with Christian beliefs.

Although the Archbishop later tried to pull back from his remarks, it is clear that he fears what he regards as a “doctrinal secularism” operating in Europe. He is convinced it disadvantages the Church and hopes to forestall its arrival in Australia.

But these clerics are not elected by anyone. Surveys show that they don’t represent the people they purport to represent, and therefore they have no right beyond that of any lobby group to try to influence the result of a democratic election.

Catholic clerics are forbidden by canon law from seeking political office. All too often they seem to interpret this as a challenge to exercise political power on a scale denied to most elected representatives They should stop trying to run the world and get back to their churches where their real work of ministering to those who want to be ministered to is supposed to be done.

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