Will Heaven

It has been a crucial week for the Conservative Party. Their conference – which I attended in Manchester – confirmed that they will be governing Britain by this time next year.

Four years ago, that prediction would have seemed ludicrous. And it seems fair to say the Tories owe their change of fortunes to David Cameron. He has shown decisive leadership within his party and is beginning to establish himself as something of a radical, promising to devolve power from Westminster to the people. He has all the makings of a great Prime Minister. But there is something missing. In 2010 I will vote for the first time in a General Election (my 18th birthday came a few short months after the last one). So I want to know that when I put my X on the ballot paper, I am making the right decision. I want to be sure that I understand, and agree with, the party for which I am voting.
A key issue in all of this will be my religion. I am – like four or five million other Britons – a Roman Catholic. This means that besides the debt crisis and Afghanistan, education, jobs, and the environment, I also want to know how each party will approach those matters which engage my religious beliefs.

This idea terrifies politicians. They “don’t do God”, in the defining words of Alastair Campbell, because in their eyes religion just complicates things. It recognises that there is another, moral sphere – one which is removed from the pragmatism and parliamentary games. On a simpler level, it’s also an awkward subject for British people. Tony Blair said recently that if you talk about God here you’re seen as “a nutter”. He was right.

Yet the fact remains, the “nutters” occasionally want to know what these politicians think of us. How they are going win us over. And why they think we should vote for them. So I recently wrote to David Cameron and asked for an interview, saying that Britain’s Catholics would love to hear from him. (On my life, I mentioned the Tablet’s sympathetic interview with Gordon Brown only once.) The response, sadly, was in the negative. It’s hardly surprising: Cameron has no desire to alienate nonCatholic voters by talking specifically to a Catholic paper.
He’d also rather keep those Catholics in the dark who don’t know, for example, that he is OK with gay marriage. It suits him better to steer clear of these issues and hope to win us over on the issues which don’t directly engage our Catholic beliefs. It’s disappointing for us, but then he is trying to win an election.

This position must change with the announcement of Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain next year. If the General Election takes place in the summer, the visit could well be the first event of international importance which David Cameron will face as Prime Minister. A pope has not visited Britain for a quarter of a century, and next year this country – along with its government – will be reminded that millions of devout Catholics remain here and participate politically.

So it is time for the Conservative Party to reach out to British Catholics. We know that not every Tory policy will appeal to us, but leading up to the Pope’s visit in 2010, it is of the utmost importance that Britain prepares to welcome him properly. In the long term, we also need to know that a Conservative government will work with the Church, here and across the Catholic world. Mr Cameron, are you there?

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