CNA).-
Bishop Joseph Devine of the Diocese of Motherwell harshly criticized British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for failing to pledge the reform of Britain's anti-Catholic laws, The Times reports.
In a letter to Downing Street, Bishop Devine accused the Prime Minister of compromising his beliefs in justice, virtue, and respect, saying he had "broken faith" with Britain's five million Catholics.
The bishop demanded that "a firm timetable" be set to reform the 1701 Act of Settlement and that the government pledge that Catholics would no longer be victims of state-sponsored sectarianism.
The Act of Settlement was originally introduced to secure Protestant succession to the British throne by enshrining anti-Catholic measures into law. It forbids the heir to the throne from marrying a Roman Catholic.
In Scotland the law is seen as legitimizing anti-Catholic prejudice.
Bishop Devine said that the Labor government's sanction of continued discrimination against Catholics “is an affront to civilized society and serves only to encourage the suspicion that the demons of our past remain at large where we might least expect to find them.”
“I have the depressing feeling that if this legislation had discriminated against other sections of society and religious groups there would be justifiable outrage no doubt with government quite properly in the vanguard of the campaign to overturn such a prejudiced Act,” he continued.
The Act of Settlement's repeal would be a complicated affair because each country in the British Commonwealth would have to repeal the law individually. If some countries did not repeal the bill, the British throne could be split. Were the present heir Prince William to marry a Catholic, he could only become King over countries that had repealed the act.
Bishop Devine claims that all the leaders of the Scottish Parliament's political parties have agreed to the repeal campaign, with the exception of the Labor Party leader Wendy Alexander.
English Catholics as a whole seem to more often Royalists than Republican, the trouble is that our second classness of our citizenship or our subjectness is tied up with the Monarchy, without the Monarchy we could actually be the equal to anyone else, able to be Prime Minister, Heir to the Throne, Head of State even.
I remember being very hurt 10 years ago, when a priest friend of mine Father Michael Sewell died when we were on holiday in together in Turkey. I had to write to a Government Department and used his title when naming him, and was told that the State did not recognise Catholic clerical titles.
I find it very strange that apparently liberal Anglican clergy are so anxious to defend the status quo, as are most members of the English heirarchy, especially those on the Windsor/Sandringham circuit.
Say a prayer for Fr Michael whose 10th anniversary is on the 19th November.
7 comments:
Being second class is a very good thing for Catholics to be. It reminds us of various realities. It makes us foreigners here, which is good. Who would want to be first class? First class is usually vulgar and kitchy. It is not recorded that the stable at Bethehem had an en-suite bathroom and internet access.
In any case, anyone who wants to be Prime Minister or hold any kind of high office is unsuitable for the job.
If the Brits want to have a Protestant monarch, let them have one and take all the consequences. It's their choice. We are in the best place, on the margins of it all.
I remember reading about the death of Fr. Michael Sewell.
I'll say a prayer on 19th.
This isn't something I worry about too much. As long as no one close to the throne is likely to become or marry a Catholic it shouldn't be too high on one's "to do" list.
Having said that, it wouldn't hurt for the other countries of which the Queen is Sovereign to legislate in their own time to put the Protestant succession at the disposal of the UK.
Then wait until Ian Paisley dies and let the Church of England determine its own relationship with Rome on its own time. If they ever decide to do so, then let the UK Parliament legislate accordingly in regard to the Crown.
I always pray for Fr Michael and for you too.
If you go to the Official website of the British Monarchy, and look at the official list of the holders of the Order of Merit, you will see Cardinal Basil Hume described as "His Eminence Cardinal George Basil HUME, OM., OSB. Archbishop of Westminster (1923-1999) 25th May, 1999"
That was in 1999. Perhaps the official you wrote to did not know what he was talking about.
See:
http://www.royalinsight.gov.uk/output/Page1747.asp
I will try and say a prayer for Fr. Michael too.
I hope that you will not accuse me of straying off your theme too far if I mention that our Cardinal Pell spoke out against human cloning and he warned Catholic politicians that their membership of the Church could well be compromised if they supported such legislation in Parliament. That drew down the wrath of some politicians who wanted him brought before Parliament in Contempt because he was telling politicians how they should vote on a particular matter of legislation.
You can read what Cardinal Pell's reply to Parliament was on this month's edition of the Catholic monthly called AD 2000. I am a contributor to that magazine so I receive it by post but they also have a web-site in which anyone can read certain of the articles. His letter of reply is available for anyone to read. He speaks out quite clearly on the matter of his responsibility in informing Catholic politicians of their standing within the Church and his right in a democracy to speak out to everyone on controversial matters especially when what is proposed is in direct conflict with Church teaching.
Read the article yourselves please.
http://www.AD2000.com.au
JARay
Does it really matter? Roman Catholicism was freed when the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed in 1829 and since then we have flourished. Britain is now a post-Christian country and the Catholic Church is the most vigorous part of it. It is immaterial if the monarch, or his/her consort, is Catholic. Catholics occupy significant positions in public life in a country which progressively sees religion as a tiresome anachronism. For that we should be thankful. Whoever is going to take any notice of the Bishop of Motherwell? Acting like a whipped dog will get nowhere. It is better to maintain a string spiritual identity than a formal political one of little practical value. All this rubbish of seeing ourselves as 'second-class citizens' says more about the complainants than the reality. To think in that way is decidedly second rate. Sociologically, however, the majority of Catholics in this country are lower class and only the pretentious would worry about that.
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