A group of Catholics from the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the charity sector came together in Parliament to commemorate 190 years of Catholic emancipation.
The group, led by Catholic Legislators’ Network convenor, Mike Kane MP (Labour, Wythenshawe & Sale East), met to pray by the plaque in the Great Hall of Westminster that records the trial and sentencing to death of Saint Thomas More, the Patron Saint of Politicians.
This week was chosen for the prayers because the Catholic Emancipation Act, which allowed Catholics to sit in the House of Commons again, received its Royal Assent on 13th April 1829 and so passed into law.
Chris Whitehouse, secretary to the Catholic Legislators’ Network, who organised the event, today said: “It might seem a tad subversive, but these informal 'pop-up' prayers held occasionally within the Palace of Westminster, do highlight the importance of Catholic parliamentary history and of the contribution Catholics make more widely to public life”.
Others attending the event included Patrick Grady MP, Lord McAvoy, Derek Twigg MP, John Grogan MP, Steve Pound MP, and Eddie Hughes MP; along with representatives of Aid to the Church in Need and the Catholic Union of Great Britain.
The 1829 Act was pushed through the House of Commons by the then Home Secretary, Robert Peel, who had previously been known as “Orange Peel” because of his hostility to Catholicism, and through the House of Lords by the Duke of Wellington, the then Prime Minister, who also had anti-Catholic tendencies. They both worked to persuade the then King, George IV, to assent to the Act to avoid civil war in Ireland.
Loading ...
