September 12 | comments icon 0 COMMENTS     print icon print

9-VANGUARD-AT-FASLANE

A central, moral issue in referendum

The future of the nuclear arsenal is a debate for a Scotland that makes its own decisions, says Rennie McOwan

Now that the independence debate is moving towards its conclusion, more and more people are expressing their opinion and some are asking why there is no ‘Catholic vote.’

The bishops of Scotland and other leaders will emphasise to the Church as a whole that Catholics have a clear duty to participate. It’s important to emphasise that here is an opportunity to influence the future of our nation. The bishops, rightly, will not tell Catholics how to vote but will emphasise that Catholics should exercise their individual voting rights. As one who intends to vote yes, a number of key points emerge.

There is no such thing as a British hierarchy. The Scottish Church is independent and this can be clearly seen at international rallies.

Many years ago the Scottish Bishops had a national secretary who used to get irritated by mail from Rome which was sent to the Archbishop of Westminster. He wrote not known at this address and bunged it back to Rome. We are an international Church and long may that continue.

Our duty is clear. Our Church leaders have made it known that they consider nuclear weapons to be immoral. In the post war years the nuclear powers made it plain that they considered the siting of this evil arsenal was a matter of the upmost importance. The Norwegians were expected to be one of the early nuclear sites but the Soviet Union made it plain that they were not enthusiastic about nuclear weapons in Norway with whom they shared a boundary.

The end result was that the nuclear arsenal was sited in Faslane (above) in Scotland where it has remained to this day. Whether nuclear weapons stay in Scotland or are moved to England or some other country can be of very real debate, involving a Scotland which makes its own decisions. (All important.) The fact remains nuclear weapons are evil and immoral and British politicians are very happy about keeping them.

This is a clear moral issue affecting Catholics and it should be a key issue of the independence debate that the new Scottish parliament will be demonstrating its ability to deal with. Individual Church men have from time to time made it plain that nuclear weapons are immoral and an independent Scotland could bring this into fact.

We can all share in ‘blessed are the peacemakers’ and a great challenge awaits us.

 

— Rennie McOwan is a former editor this SCO and a former media director for the Scottish Bishops

 

 

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