Father Peter Harris, parish priest of the Catholic parish of Bishop’s Stortford, writes on the forthcoming General Election in the context of the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations...
The UK is no longer the only place in Europe where there are preparations for a General Election – France has announced they will be having one too!
Elections are strange things. Many people get very excited about them, others make a point of yawning and saying they aren’t interested.
Others say they feel there is no point since there is no person or political party they want to vote for – “they’re all as bad as each other”, the saying goes.
However, there are countries in other parts of the world where the right to vote freely just doesn’t exist, and in such places we find brave people going to prison or being killed just for trying to bring about what we would see as a part of our everyday life.
For us, it seems difficult to imagine: we get our notice to vote, we’re told where to go, we present ourselves and each of us marks the ballot paper by the name of our chosen candidate – it all seems so simple and straightforward.
We have just marked 80 years since the D-Day landings in Normandy. That, too, was about democracy and tyranny. People once again were prepared to give their lives to stop those who were trying to bring about a totalitarian state, where people were to be ruled by ideology and hate.
When you look at it that way, it does put a different complexion on living in a country where we are free to vote as we wish; where we question ourselves and those offering themselves for election as our representatives.
It really does depend on people’s votes – a common responsibility that we all share. Surely it would be a shame to waste that vote?
Father Peter Harris’s parish comprises the churches of St Joseph and the English Martyrs in Bishop’s Stortford, Most Holy Redeemer in Sawbridgeworth and Holy Cross in Much Hadham. He is also Catholic dean of the Lea Valley, the cardinal’s adviser for ecumenism in Hertfordshire and chairman of the Westminster Diocesan Historic Churches Committee.