CHURCH PEOPLE ON THE WAY TO THE ELECTION

The bulletin for St. Michael the Archangel in Belleville is handed out at the door as the congregation exits the church. I had a chance to skim it in the driveway when I reached home. The bulletin told me that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) had prepared a set of guidelines for the 2011 Federal election. The pastor had not mentioned the guidelines in his sermon and they were not handed out at the door from which I left.

Ah, but we are in the on-line age. I went to the CCCB web-site and down-loaded the text. It is a convenient three pages with items organized under five topics. The text is designed to prepare us to question our local candidates:
1. Respect for life and human dignity: from conception to natural death
2. Building a more just society
3. The person and the family
4. Canada in the world: providing leadership for justice and peace
5. A healthy country in a healthy environment So far so good.

I decided that for this blog I would focus on the fourth topic -- "Canada in the world: providing leadership for justice and peace."

The text reads: "Believing in justice and peace includes:  Striving to reach the Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations;  Choosing policies that promote dialogue leading to peace rather than confrontation among nations;  Working to eliminate nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons, and encouraging strict worldwide controls on the sales of small arms and personal weapons;  Honouring international treaties on human rights;  Protecting the dignity of immigrants and refugees when handling their files;  Protecting the rights of seasonal workers from abroad;  Combating business and industry practices that have little regard for workers’ rights and dignity. What do the political parties say about these issues? What positions are the candidates taking?"

I told Cathy about these Catholic guidelines and she directed my attention to an Election Kit that the United Church had distributed. I am working my way into that text. It is less a summary of issues and more a process and in-depth analysis on specific issues.

Let us take for example the Israel/Palestine issue. The closest the Catholic bishops' text gets to that politically hot-button issue is the matter of "honouring international treaties on human rights." Not a particularly direct approach. The United Church text on the other hand wades right into the fight -- taking a strong position critical of the Canadian government's recent approach to the issue: "• Canada has demonstrated double standards with its uncritical support of the Israeli government’s acts of violence against civilians, while singling out the Palestinian government for censure for acts of violence against civilians. • In voting against resolutions of the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights, Canada has also failed to live up to its obligations to uphold respect for international human rights and humanitarian law (The United Church of Canada 20 L’Église Unie du Canada Federal Election Kit 2011)."

I know that I have to look more deeply into what the Catholic bishops have to say on the Israel/Palestine issue. No doubt, not everything can be addressed in a summary list. And yes the notion of study "kit" is different than a list of "guidelines.'

Clarification can be helped by contrast. I hope to explore the apparent difference between the Catholic bishops' approach on this point and the approach of the United Church General Council.