April Edition: Holyrood Election 2026 Special
Beyond the sound bites - can we think a little deeper about our politics?
In this months Coracle we look ahead to the Holyrood elections that are happening on May 7th. That they are happening in the back drop of war in the Middle East and shifting alliances spurred on by bellicose world leaders will not dispel the local and national needs of the people of Scotland. But beyond the manifestos, sound bites and leaflets with colourful bar charts, we should also take a step back and look at the overall picture. How should we as Catholics vote? How do we square the fact that as Christians we are in the world but not of it? We are sojourners (1Pet1:17-18) that live and act, work and pay taxes, yet, our focus is not on Edinburgh (or any other Capital for that matter) - but the heavenly city (Heb12:22). Our saviour is not a politician - but the Saviour, Christ. Regardless of local priorities and political creed, the question is of how the Lordship of Christ, His death and resurrection plays out in our politics.
As ever in St Moluag’s Coracle we want to go deeper, looking at the framework in which we can potentially assess our political parties claims and ideologies. To do that read on below.
James Bundy writes about a politics that is truthful - to see clearly and choose accordingly issues and solutions that are parties often find difficult to bring up with us, the electorate.
Elizabeth Drummond Young writes on the topic of dignity - a common word in political discourse, but, as she demonstrates, humans can easily denude one another of it when it is not combined with Love and Friendship.
Andrew Kuiper gives us an overview of the thought of French philosopher Jacques Maritain whose Christian humanism called for a modern Catholic politics that went beyond market forces, wars and extraction. Refuting the inhumanity and cynicism so prevalent in a society that has divorced economics and politics from human flourishing - regardless of the rhetoric of dignity and human rights.
Finally Stephen Watt playfully reimagines a Radical Right that thinks of the permanent things of society. Going after the Good, True and Beautiful but unlike the fear-driven politics of certain Right-wing groupings, this is a radical solidarity that is rooted in Catholic moral teaching that recognises the Other in all of us.
April Saints
The Saints in our calendar seem rather apt for the theme of this months edition. On the 1st April we had the brillant builder, administrator and dragon slayer - St Gilbert. We have good king Conval and another Saint of noble heritage - St Magnus. The life and death of St Magnus, a man who sought peace and paid for it in blood is surely a man Scots can invoke in our prayers for peace in our world. We also have the important early Irish evangelist - St Maelrubha whose base was on Applecross in the west.
Finally…
Happy Easter from all at the Coracle - I know this is supposed to come out on Fridays but frankly the wonders and the truth contained within the Holy Tridium was far more important and worthy of our attentions.
God Bless
Eric and the Team.