More than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Victorian Parliament to retain the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the commencement of proceedings in the state’s Legislative Council. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
Last month, in response to a push by some parliamentarians to end the recitation of prayer in the Victorian Parliament, Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli joined other faith representatives in calling for the practice to continue.
The faith leaders signed and sent a letter to each member of the Victorian Parliament expressing “the fundamental and ongoing importance of prayer in Parliament” and calling on them to “ensure its practice continues to play an integral part of our democratic tradition”.
Pointing out that the majority of Victorians “believe in a God or a Higher Power other than themselves”, Archbishop Comensoli, along with representatives of the Anglican, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish communities, asked the parliamentarians “to respect these beliefs and the rich, long-held traditions on which our parliamentary system has been built”.
Victorians were also encouraged to sign a petition calling for the Lord’s Prayer to be retained in the Legislative Council, and to write to their local state Member of Parliament, respectfully letting them know their views.
Under the Legislative Council’s Standing Orders, the petition needed 10,000 signatures by June 17 to be taken into consideration by the chamber.
Exceeding this goal, the petition was presented to Parliament on June 19 with 10,912 signatures. A debate on the petition in the Legislative Council is now listed for Wednesday, July 31.
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Petition on prayer in parliament exceeds its goal of 10,000 signatures (Melbourne Catholic)
