Dear Editor, Despite support for continued EU membership in London and Liverpool, the recent Brexit vote seems to suggest a huge gap between English Catholics and Church leaders.
Polls show that almost 60% of voters who self-identify as Christians voted to leave the EU, strikingly disproportionate to the 52% of the general population who did so. It appears the North West, the most Catholic English region, was among the parts of England most inclined to vote for a Brexit.
This disconnect seems jarring in light of how Britain’s bishops were outspoken in support of their country remaining within the EU, with the Vatican’s British-born foreign minister saying the Holy See hoped Britain would remain in the EU. Pope Francis himself called for Europeans to revive the solidarity and generosity that first inspired the European project, and to work together patiently for Europe’s common good.
Concerns for solidarity and the common good were almost wholly absent from the referendum debate, with the risks Brexit might pose to Northern Ireland being dismissed or ignored. Unsurprisingly, the North voted to stay in the EU, with Northern Catholics doing so in huge numbers.
It beggars belief that English Catholics, in debating and voting on Brexit, might have done so heedless of how the most Catholic part of the UK could be affected by withdrawal from the EU.
How much thought was given to Northern Ireland’s recent history of conflict, its often nervous politics, its reliance on EU subsidies and trade, and the all-important fact that the border between the Republic and the North stands to become the new EU-UK frontier?
David Cameron’s resignation may have bought valuable time to rethink England’s actions. We can only hope her Catholics will have an opportunity to make a better choice.
Yours etc.,
Gabriel Kelly,
Drogheda, Co. Louth.
