‘Cherishing life’ ” “

‘Cherishing Life’ is a teaching document running to 100 pages, addressed by the bishops of England and Wales to the country’s 5 million Catholics in the run up to the local and European elections. Presented in recent days at a press conference in Vaughan House, behind Westminster Cathedral, the mother church of English Catholicism, “Cherishing Life” addresses a wide range of issues linked to people’s daily life, beginning with the exercise of the right to vote. We present a brief résumé of the document. ORDERING OUR DESIRES. ‘Cherishing life’ means, according to the English bishops, “cultivating our desires and emotions in such a way that they respond in an appropriate way to agreeable and attractive things. If our desires are well ordered, we are not imprisoned, but liberated, both because we flourish as individuals and because we are able to contribute with greater fullness to our communities”. THE COMMON GOOD. As with their previous teaching document ‘The Common Good’ in 1996, the English bishops ask Britain’s Catholics – who re-acquired their right to participate in civil life only in the second half of the 19th century – to use their vote as an important means of expressing the will of the people. In the chapter entitled ‘Citizens’ responsibility’, the bishops recall that, when faced by a general election, each elector has the responsibility to act for the common good, and in choosing which party to vote for, British Catholics ought to “consider the widest possible range of indications”. Moreover, “in considering the opinions of a particular candidate, they should take into account his/her attitude to the more vulnerable and “capacity to defend the sacredness of human life”. Catholics are also invited not only to vote, but also to participate actively in public life, through discussions in the local media or on the Internet. THE VALUE OF THE ‘SINGLE’. An important new feature of the document is the emphasis placed on the status of ‘single’. In the chapter entitled ‘Being single’, the bishops recognise that “the acceptance to live as a ‘single’ person is a positive characteristic of our society, because people tend less to marry out of a wish to conform”. Being single is a condition of life also induced by the pace and demands of life in contemporary British society, where the better part of a person’s day is spent at work: “The demands of a particular job or responsibility may prevent a person from cultivating relationships that could lead to marriage; what makes this life sustainable is the network of good relationships with others and especially the existence of some strong friendships”. Friends are, according to the bishops, an extremely important resource for everyone, even for those who are married. TIME FOR CHILDREN. Conscious of the importance that work has in British society and of the fact that 1 family in 3 in Great Britain is now headed by a single parent, the bishops stress how important it is for employers to grant greater flexibility in working hours and periods of leave from work to permit fathers and mothers to look after their children; it would also be a good thing if they were not to ask parents with young children to assume new and more onerous responsibilities at work. DIFFERENT EMPHASES. “There’s nothing really new in the document ‘Cherishing Life’ – explained Bishop CHRISTOPHER BUDD of Plymouth, head of the Department for Christian responsibility and citizenship, in discussing it with SIR – but what is different is the way in which the fundamental issues of Catholic doctrine are represented. We have used stronger language than in the past to defend life, condemn abortion, and point out some negative features in the field of genetic experimentation. Perhaps the most important innovation is the emphasis placed on friendship and its recognition as an important value that is equal to love and that can in some cases substitute sexuality”. “Often the Catholic Church has sidelined the single – said Bishop Budd –; it has made them feel second class. In this document we have wished to give them the same importance and dignity as married persons”. “Also on divorce and homosexuality – Budd continued – we have used different emphases than in the past; we have repeated the traditional teaching of the Church, but have emphasized that homosexuals must feel accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity, and we have written that the Church accepts the legitimacy of a legal separation in sufficiently difficult circumstances. What we have tried to do – concluded Bishop Budd – is to stress the importance of the dignity of the human person; we believe that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, together with human reason, that represents the compass to accompany the Catholic in the world”.