We'll sit in Lords, say bishops

BY LUKE COPPEN
OVER THREE-QUARTERS of the bishops who took part in a Catholic Herald survey this week said that the Catholic bishops should be allowed to sit in the House of Lords.
Half of those polled said that Canon Law presents no obstacle to bishops sitting in the Lords. A further quarter said that bishops should be allowed to sit if their appointment is non-political.
Bishop Cormac Murphy O'Connor commented: 'There are good reasons why, if the C of E have representatives, for saying that Catholic bishops should also have a right to sit and there should be no discrimination." He added that the matter would require careful consideration.
Another bishop said that Canon Law, which states that "clerics are forbidden to assume public office whenever it means sharing in the exercise of civil power", would not be affected if Catholic bishops were nonpolitical appointees.
A Royal Commission on reform of the Lords will be announced in the New Year. The Government is currently looking at ways of opening the Upper House to members of other Christian denomina
tions and faiths. It is widely believed that if Catholic bishops were made Lords Spiritual, joining the Anglican bishops. then their appointment would not contravene Canon Law. In one possible scenario the four Archbishops of England could sit as Lords Spiritual. giving up their posts upon retirement.
Cardinal Hume is rumoured to have rejected a peerage at least four times for personal reasons. But it is understood that the Vatican would be sympathetic to the appointment of bishops to the Lords, because of the chamber's unique nature and the historical precedent of pre-Reformation bishops sitting in the Lords. Even in recent times Catholic clergy have sat in the Lords as hereditary peers.
Nine English bishops almost a quarter of the bishops of England and Wales—responded to our survey asking their views on the reform of the House of Lords. The poll showed strong support for reform of the House of Lords. However, the majority of bishops rejected the outright abolition of hereditary peerage and called instead for their numbers to be reduced.
Two thirds of' the bishops polled said that they were concerned that the removal of the voting rights of hereditary peers would weaken the Catholic voice in the Upper House. There are currently around 80 Catholic peers in the House of Lords — 50 hereditary peers and 30 life peers. If New Labour fulfil their manifesto commitment to end the hereditary principle, then the number of Catholic members of the Lords will be more than halved.
Baroness Goudie, who was made a Labour life peer in July, said: "I don't think the Catholic Church has anything to fear from a reformed House of Lords." She said that there were no insurmountable obstacles to Catholic bishops in the Lords. "In the long run things could be changed. Where there's a will there's a way."
She said that in light of the Royal Commission it was important for the Church to put forward its position on Catholic representation in a reformed House of Lords.
Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, a Catholic hereditary peer, said Catholics must be represented in a reformed house, but that many bishops would probably be too busy within their dioceses to sit. David Twiston Davies — plO Editorial Comment — p11