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Following the recent intervention of Andy Burnham – the first professed Catholic to become Prime Minister in the UK – in the assisted suicide debate, the Catholic chaplain to the Houses of Parliament says he doesn’t believe that Burnham is opposed to assisted suicide in principle. Last week, Burnham said of the assisted suicide bill that has been reintroduced to Parliament that the debate shouldn’t be happening until after “the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care.” “I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in a context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about that care,” he added. Speaking to Crux Now, Father Christopher Colven, the chaplain to the UK’s parliament, said that he has been told that Burnham’s position on assisted suicide “is to be not opposed to the principle but to be against the current bill on pragmatic grounds.” RELATED: UK bishops need to be ready for battle over assisted suicide The assisted suicide bill is virtually identical to the one that ran out of time last April while it was progressing through the Parliament’s House of Lords. Colven went on to pour cold water on the idea that his faith would have a huge influence on his time in office. “Essentially, I think he is a populist who will do nothing to alienate his base, but he has yet to decide quite what that base might be. My view is that instinctively he will want to vote with his heart – i.e. out of his Catholic formation – but that this might be over-ridden by other considerations,” he said. “I don’t think he has any real matrix, moral or intellectual, which means that there is everything to play for which will be a challenge for the Catholics around him,” he added. The full interview with Crux Now is below. Crux Now: Andy Burnham is the UK’s first openly Catholic Prime Minister. Yet some critics argue have suggested his record on issues such as abortion and assisted suicide undermine, or even bring into question, his Catholic identity. Is that fair? Colven: Burnham’s religion is a much-discussed question of the moment. He is certainly “tribally” a Liverpool Catholic. His children were given a Catholic education and his brother heads a Catholic college in Liverpool. When last in Parliament he used to come to the Mass offered there but he seems to have distanced himself from practice more recently. Do you think his faith will influence his time as Prime Minister? If so, in what way? Burnham claims that Catholic social teaching has formed his politics and that he was much influenced by Archbishop Worlock, the very “liberal” Archbishop of Liverpool as he grew up. I am told that on assisted suicide his position is to be not opposed to the principle but to be against the current bill on pragmatic grounds. Essentially, I think he is a populist who will do nothing to alienate his base, but he has yet to decide quite what that base might be. My view is that instinctively he will want to vote with his heart – i.e. out of his Catholic formation – but that this might be over-ridden by other considerations. I don’t think he has any real matrix, moral or intellectual, which means that there is everything to play for which will be a challenge for the Catholics around him. Today’s Catholic politicians, regardless of what side of the political aisle they sit on, are likely to be in a party that departs in some way from Church teaching on issues such as immigration, abortion, assisted suicide, or the environment. What insight do you have into how they manage that tension? The UK is in that complex situation where Christianity is established by law and yet it is a hugely secularized nation. All political parties have Catholic legislators within their membership but there is still an inherent (even if mostly hidden) mistrust of Roman Catholics which makes Catholics careful in what they say. For example, David Amess, who was murdered, was once described derogatively in the House by a fellow Conservative as “the Member for the Vatican” as he was never shy of speaking from a faith standpoint. MPs in particular are fiercely jealous of their prerogatives and the Catholic Bishops have to tread carefully in offering their advice. Most of the Catholics would be “on side” on the moral issues but they are a mixed bunch with many mavericks stretching across the spectrum from left to right. The awful debates around assisted suicide have, if anything, created a broad coalition of opposition and have emboldened some to stand up to be counted. Should Catholics expect Catholic politicians to adhere to Church teaching or will there always be an element of compromise? Under our system, the fiction is maintained that an individual is elected to represent a constituency – i.e. he or she stands on their own personality first and on party and other affiliations after that. We have MPs who are Catholic, but not Catholic MPs – that, I believe, is an important distinction. The Church looks to its legislators to protect and enhance Catholic teaching but there is no mandate for them to do so and no way in which they see themselves as a cohesive bloc. The whole process needs to be a subtle dialogue – pastoral, catechetical, building on personal relationships of trust, et cetera. The UK bishops had their fingers badly burned over the same-gender marriage proposals a decade or so back when they came in heavily and found that many of those they expected to vote as they wished just did not do so. What advice would you give young Catholics who want to enter politics? Catholics need to engage in the political process. Canon Law forbids clerics to do so, so there must be an educated laity who can articulate Catholic faith in civil society, as John Henry Newman advocated for. The ethical and moral questions (not least around AI) are so complex now, and will intensify, that at all levels of government Catholics are needed who have a real sense of vocation. If we are right – and we are – the corpus of social teaching and the principles on which it is built are the guarantee of genuine humanity and a new generation has to be fired with that understanding and to be evangelical in proclaiming its value. It remains true that MPs in particular can exercise a great power for good in the lives of their own constituents and a genuine concern for neighbor. The first and second great commandments are two sides of a single coin. The Church’s teaching encompasses a huge breadth of areas. What causes some people to emphasize certain aspects over others? The Church’s fundamental responsibility is to proclaim Christ as Lord and that this recognition opens up salvation: It is too easy to maintain a reverence for the social teaching of the Church but disengage that from the call to conversion and sanctification involved in knowing the person of Christ. Saint James in particular is clear that right belief and right action have a shared integrity. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. ——– You are reading this Crux Now article for free. You can register for our free daily newsletter here, and you can become a Crux Now supporter for full access to all our premium content here. To find out more about why becoming a Crux Now supporter is a great idea, go here.

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