England’s top Catholic and Anglican clergy have gone head-to-head in a
public war-of-words over the U.K. government’s policies on welfare,
education and health.
In the June 8 edition of the English
left-wing political journal New Statesman, the Anglican Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams accused the Conservative/Liberal Democrat
coalition government of causing “anxiety and anger” in implementing
health, welfare and education reforms for which “no one voted.”
The
Archbishop also accused ministers of encouraging a “quiet resurgence of
the seductive language of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor” in
pursuing “punitive” action against “alleged abuses” in the welfare
system.
And he reserved particular scorn for the London
government’s plans to give power away from the state to lower level
institutions - a policy the UK Prime Minister David Cameron calls his
“Big Society” - labeling it nothing more than a “painfully stale
slogan.”
The Anglican leader’s public comments contrasted sharply,
though, with those of Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols of
Westminster.
He used a speech to Catholic charities in London June 9 –
only a day after William’s attack - to suggest that the Big Society
could actually lead to “greater solidarity” and release “energy for
local initiative and enterprise.”
He referred to a poll recently taken
at a recent conference organized by the Catholic Church to discuss the
issue.
When conference attendees were asked whether or not they
thought the “Big Society” was “a cover for cuts,” Archbishop Nichols
reported, “The overwhelming majority said no. They felt there was a
genuine moral agenda here.”
He warned, however, that “the growth
of subsidiarity cannot be achieved simply by the withdrawal of the
state” but “requires intelligent capacity building to reduce dependency,
and the creation of conditions for the sustained flourishing of local
initiative.”
Archbishop Nichols also praised David Cameron for his recent comments in praise of marriage and the family.
“The
overwhelming evidence of the correlation between family instability and
the outcomes for children in education, health and employment speaks
for itself,” the archbishop said.
“It was good to see in his
latest remarks a specific reference to marriage as a social institution
which deserves and needs support.”
Meanwhile the Catholic
politician behind the U.K. government’s plans for welfare reform, Iain
Duncan MP, also joined in the attack upon Archbishop Rowan Williams.
He
dubbed Williams’ remarks “unbalanced and unfair.”
“If a churchman
can't endorse the idea of community and the voluntary sector, doing what
is necessary to help people out of their difficulties, then I wonder
who will?”