From Our Own Correspondent
The action of the local Coordinating Committee of Catholic Societies in the Schools' Crisis in urging Catholics in Bradford South to vote for the Conservative candidate in last week's by-election had the effect of rousing the Labour Party and produced a storm in Catholic Labour circles,
It was for this reason that the Coordinating Committee called upon the 5,000 Catholic voters to support him.
A statement over the names of eight Labour members of the City Council, describing themselves as leading Bradford Catholics, was issued on the eve of the poll.
It denied the claim of the Co-ordinating Committee to represent Catholics (it is composed of representatives from 19 Catholic Societies) and stated that neither the Labour Party nor the Government had rejected the proposals.
NOT CONSULTED" It complained that the signatories had not been consulted and had a footnote to the effect that they intended to report the Committee to high ecclesiastical authorities. The Committee has an ecclesiastical representative.
A stormy meeting was held at St. Joseph's Parish Hall at which Councillor J. McKee, one of the signatories. urged Catholics to ignore the Committee for the reasons stated in the Labour Party leaflet.
Mr. J. A. Sullivan, a member of both the Labour Party and the Committee, refuted the Party's statement and explained that what the Committee was asking Catholics to do in the by-election was to put our schools first and above their political sympathies in order to impress both parties with their determination. The Co-ordinating Committee issued a full answer to the Labour Party's leaflet but was unable to get it printed in the local press so that Catholics went to the poll without the answer.
Meetings arc now being planned in every parish to eradicate misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Committee's actions.