Canadians have a lot to think about before the Sept. 20 election. But for Catholics, it’s getting harder to be political and to contribute to public debate, says the author of a brand-new book about faith and politics in Canada.
From reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians to family and life issues, Catholics carry a special burden, John Milloy, former Ontario cabinet minister and advisor to Jean Chretien, told The Catholic Register days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dissolved Parliament.
Milloy’s new book, Politics and Faith in a Polarized World, A Challenge for Catholics, amounts to a 114-page plea with Catholics to take politics seriously. The Novalis book launches Sept. 1.
Milloy laments that too many Catholics have reduced politics to the minimal, perfunctory act of casting a ballot.
“The fact is that we should be, particularly as Catholics, interested in public policy,” Milloy said. “We should be interested in what’s going on at Queen’s Park and on Parliament Hill and at City Hall all the time. That’s part of our calling. It doesn’t mean that you vote and forget about it and sort of be proud of yourself.”
Milloy regrets that Canadian Catholics who want to contribute to national debates aren’t getting a lot of help from their leaders right now. Canada’s bishops seem unable to publicly explain what they’re doing or why they’re doing it when it comes to the legacy of Indian residential schools, among other things, he said.
“There are some wonderful bishops out there and some incredible priests. But as a whole, I think they have to get their act together,” Milloy said. “Obviously in terms of reconciliation, but on a host of other issues.”
He compares what comes out of the contemporary bishops’ conference with the bold statements of Pope Francis.
“You read Fratelli Tutti. You read some of what Pope Francis is saying. Good grief, he knows his stuff. The world needs change. He’s addressing the big picture and we’re not doing that in Canada,” he said.
In Milloy’s view, there’s nothing more Catholic than politics.
“We have a call to build a common life together with those we like, those we don’t like and those we can’t stand. That’s the call of Christianity,” he said. “The whole idea of seeing the image of God in someone else, that’s powerful. That’s unbelievably powerful.”
Even if no party is going to try to put abortion back in the criminal code — “there’s not a single political party that would touch it with a 1,000-foot pole,” Milloy said — there is a lot of scope for Catholics to be pro-life in their politics, said the former Liberal political operative.
“When you start to worry about the environment, when you start to worry about poverty, when you start to worry about women in crisis who are pregnant, when you start to worry about not just being pro-birth but being clearly pro-life, you start to create the type of society that we’re called to build. Then we’re answering that pro-life call,” he said.
The Catholic Register
