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The Act of Settlement is just fine [as a Catholic, this writer is happy with it]
The Guardian ^ | 25 September 2009 | Stuart Reid

Posted on 09/26/2009 9:59:36 AM PDT by Alex Murphy

The news that the pope is to visit this country next autumn will be followed any minute now by renewed calls for the repeal of the Act of Settlement of 1701. If there is one thing agnostic liberals hate as much as they hate unreconstructed Catholicism, it is the Act of Settlement.

The reason they hate it is that they believe it's just not fair. They may despise Catholicism, but they feel that it is wrong "in this day and age" to discriminate against Catholics. Under the Act, the heir to the throne – or anyone else who is in line and wishes to remain in line – is forbidden from marrying a Catholic (and of course the monarch cannot be a Catholic). The heir can marry a Muslim or a Jew or a Cargo-Cultist, or even a Freemason, but he or she cannot marry an RC. The purpose of the act is to protect the Protestant succession.

The agnostic liberals who govern us want the act repealed. Tony Blair does, too, but he refused to pursue the matter when he was prime minister because he was too busy doing other stuff: going to war, promoting abortion rights, sucking up to the military-industrial complex, encouraging safe sex among teenagers.

Now that he is a Catholic and has put all those things behind him he will no doubt throw his weight behind moves to repeal the act.

Not all Catholics are bothered, however. In fact, some of us are rather in favour of the act, and are impatient with those among our co-religionists who whine about it and play the victim, as tough they were members of an oppressed minority.

The Act of Settlement is good in so far as it reminds us Catholics who we are and what we believe.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Catholic; History; Mainline Protestant; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: guyfawkes
Not all Catholics are bothered, however. In fact, some of us are rather in favour of the act, and are impatient with those among our co-religionists who whine about it and play the victim, as tough they were members of an oppressed minority.

The Act of Settlement is good in so far as it reminds us Catholics who we are and what we believe. It reminds us that we reject the Protestant settlement and the Glorious Revolution – and, for that matter, the American and French revolutions. It reminds us that we are Europeans, not Anglo-Americans, and, if we are old enough and pompous enough, it reminds us also that England was once known as "Mary's Dowry".

Remember, remember the fifth of November...

Related threads:
Jumping off the scaffold [Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot]
Royal succession law change bid fails
FR keyword: guyfawkes

1 posted on 09/26/2009 9:59:36 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
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To: Alex Murphy

If they do this, won’t the Windsors have to hand the throne to the Wittelsbachs? They have a better claim based on descent from King James I. George I became king in 1714 because he was the closest Protestant cousin to Queen Anne, but there were a number of Catholic relatives who were more closely related.


2 posted on 09/26/2009 11:00:46 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

The Stuarts in “exile” in France would likely have an excellent claim. But Possession is 9/10 of the law and you won’t see any change.


3 posted on 09/26/2009 12:16:04 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: Alex Murphy

Or a Catholic can remember Tyburn.


4 posted on 09/26/2009 12:16:36 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: StAthanasiustheGreat
The Stuart Dynasty has been extinct since 1807. The subsequent succession is a merry chase through the Houses of Orleans, Savoy, Hapsburg and Wittelsbach.

http://jacobite.ca/kings/index.htm

5 posted on 09/26/2009 1:04:55 PM PDT by Cheburashka (Stephen Decatur: you want barrels of gunpowder as tribute, you must expect cannonballs with it.)
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To: Alex Murphy
Remember, remember the fifth of November

The Reichstag Fire before the Reichstag Fire.

6 posted on 09/27/2009 5:24:00 PM PDT by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
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To: Cheburashka

Yes, the irony is that the Jacobites, who fought to keep Britain from having a German king, now would have to support the candidacy of a Bavarian prince.


7 posted on 09/27/2009 5:25:22 PM PDT by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
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