RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20242, 30 April 1929, Page 12

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. CENTENARY OF BRITISH BILL. The centenary of the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill by the British Parliament was recalled by Mr. P. J. O'Regan in an address in the Manchester Unity Hall last evening. Bishop Cleary presided over a large attendance Mr. O'Regan said the history of the emancipation movement fell broadly into two periods —the first being that in which the Catholic faith was proscribed by law and the second that in which the penal laws fell into disuse, and Catholics were restored to the rights of citizenship. It was impossible to separate the movement from the name of Daniel O'Connell, and it was to his lasting credit that, in the face of much opposition he insisted upon unconditional emancipation, although at one stage it was sought to make emancipation conditional on the British Government obtaining a veto on the appointment of bishops. In spite of strong opposition from influential English Catholics who favoured the veto, public opinion in Ireland would have none of the so-called securities, and O'Connell voiced and personified the opinion of Ireland. Doubtless his 1 inds were strengthened by the sympathy and support of enlightened and generous men in England, but the credit for conducting a great- constitutional movement to a peaceful and orderly conclusion was primarily due to his consummate leadership. O'Connell's memory deserved well of posterity on other grounds He was the friend of universal religious liberty. He advocated the same freedom for the Jews as for his own co-religionists; ho had opposed negro slavery, and had lent his co-operation in every good cause. Accordingly it was fitting that, at the centenary of the Emancipation Act of 1829. the recollection of his achievements should be revived.