... comes news of Ruth Kelly's resignation from the Cabinet. In her speech to the Labour party conference, Miss Kelly said she was proud to have been part of a Labour Government which had "made life better for people" in Britain.
No, it hasn't made life better. In a number of hugely significant areas, life is immeasurably worse than it was before Labour took power in 1997. So far this year some 30 young people have been stabbed to death in London alone. Violent crime is now such a standard part of life that people have standard advice to cope with normal journeys down ordinary streets at night ("Hide your mobile phone!" "Don't look as though you are carrying money!" "Just hand your wallet over if you're asked!"). Violence against teachers is now not considered abnormal in schools. The destruction of family life has gathered pace with extraordinary speed - helped by Miss Kelly who didn't resign over acceptance of "same sex" unions by her Govt and steered forward legislation to ensure the removal of the rights of people to speak out freely against the wrongfulness of homosexual activity. Aborting babies is now considered so normal that it doesn't even get the debate it merits, and is routinely assumed to be a standard "right" that must not only be funded by taxpayers but taught as a central doctrine of the British health care system. Gross forms of sex education are imposed on schools. An unjust divorce system robs fathers of regular contact with their children. Academic standards in schools have plummeted: annually, more and more teenagers leave school unable to read and robbed of opportunities for learning and enjoying great things.
Poor Ruth Kelly. She could with honour have resigned over all sorts of issues of issue of morality and human dignity in recent years. She is a Catholic: we all longed for her to put her beliefs into action. She didn't. She' has now resigned because she wants to spend more time with her family. She's still praising the Government which has dumped cruel anti-family policies on Britain. There were so many opportunities, large and small, where she could have done good or, at the very least, mitigated great evil, by publicly renouncing her position with the Government and Party. Hers has been a political career of opportunities missed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Not much different here, across the pond.
Here, we have our prominent political Catholics, Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House) and Sen Biden (Democtatic Party VP candidate) giving their take on abortion in Catholicism last . . .only to be corrected, within hours, by many US Catholic bishops.
Not to mention Ted Kennedy.
that is an unfair comparison....Ruth Kelly is a good Catholic...I know she helped pass the Sexual Equalities regulations but in some sense they are good..it is wrong to discriminate against homosexual people just because they are homosexual..and no good Catholic should support the criminalisation of people for purely their innate sexual orientation...she also never voted for abortion and experiments on embryos thus earning the greatdispleasure of other Labour wimmin !
RUth Kelly is in a difficult position. She could adopt a hardline Catholic stance on every issue, which is probably what she privately agrees with, but that would mean the end of her government post, maybe deselction as Labour party candidate.
We don't necessarily want a position where there are no Catholics in the Labour party.
Whilst I don't think she's covered herself with glory, I think she's done the best she can by her own lights.
Not very balnced, Auntie. Minimum wage? Peace in Ireland? Are they not worthy of a teeny weeny mention?
I came to the blog by accident so pardon me if you've heard this before....Archbishop Chaput, Denver, Colorado, USA..new book, "Render unto Caesar: Serving Our Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life."
In the Introduction he writes: " People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith. They will often disagree about doctrine or policy, but they won’t be quiet. They can’t be. They’ll act on what they believe, sometimes at the cost of their reputations and careers. Obviously the common good demands a respect for other people with different beliefs and a willingness to compromise whenever possible. But for Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issues of human dignity. Christian faith is always personal but never private. This is why any notion of tolerance that tries to reduce faith to private idiosyncrasy, or a set of opinions that we can indulge at home but need to be quiet about in public, will always fail.”
This is directed, not just at politicians, but every Catholic..every believer, really. A movement like 40 Days for Life (www.40daysforlife.com) is an excellent example of taking the Archbishop's advice to heart.
God bless you all, from a Catholic grandfather in America.
Well said Auntie!
God Bless - Alan and Angeline
I see, and indeed, agree with the thrust of your argument.
However, from a political organizational perspective, we cannot afford the luxury of allowing Catholics and more generally Christians to be coralled into only one major party. I fully undestand Auntie that this is not your argument. However the exodus of "loyal" Catholics from the Democratic party to the Republicans, (and in Florida even into the Greens!) has not served the cause well in the USA. I believe we should encourage young ambitious Catholics to be active in the Labour party, recognizing the difficulities this may cause them and that we should support them as far as we may.
Oisin
Post a Comment