The above photo shows Fr. McManus welcoming the late Congressman John Lewis to the 1988 picket Irish justice at the British Embassy, Washington, DC. To Fr. McManus' immediate left is the late, famed Labor Leader Cesar Chavez.
LET THE EXAMPLE OF THE GREAT JOHN LEWIS INSPIRE YOU. … STAND WITH ME—AND OVER 16,555 SIGNERS— AND SIGN THIS SPLENDID PETITION, WHICH PROCLAIMS YOU REJECT ENGLAND'S PARTITION OF IRELAND, ENACTED THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1920. (Imagine the imperial hubris and colonial arrogance it took to do this: to partition and ancient country like Ireland!)
SHOW THE WORLD YOU STAND FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL PEOPLE—EVERYWHERE. THAT’S THE MEANING OF THIS PETITION. IT IS A REJECTION OF RACISM/SECTARIANISM—TWIN EVILS OF THIS WORLD. IT’S A REJECTION OF VIOLENT, COLONIAL, IMPERIAL, STATE POWER AND COLLUSION.
IT’S AN AFFIRMATION OF UNIVERSAL FREEDOM, RESPECT FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS, DIGNITY, NON-DISCRIMINATION, SOLIDARITY, UNITY, RECONCILIATION, AND PEACE.
Over 16,555 dedicated, caring, and loving people have signed and shared this splendid Petition. Will you help me to get more support by sharing this petition with ten other people? Here’s a link to share—https://www.change.org/IrelandOneNation
God save Ireland.
Fr. Sean McManus
****
The popular and fast-growing Irish Internet Petition is now a video on social media.
The video can be viewed at any of the following three links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlIzvDzNF2Y
https://www.facebook.com/sean.manus.1/
http://www.irishnationalcaucus.org/one-ireland-petition/
Have you proudly put your name on this Petition? How many Signers have you recruited?
Please accept as your personal mission—as I have accepted—to recruit as many signers as possible. Surely, it’s the least we can do for such a splendid and noble cause.
Our Petition—although inspired by, and based on, the famous American Pledge of Allegiance—is universal in its appeal and intention, evoking what is best in the human heart regarding the fundamental issue of justice and peace. This Petition is consistent with the Good Friday Agreement.
(However, the only thing one is supporting by signing this Petition is the actual text of the Petition: “Ireland, too, has the right to be One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” ) Furthermore, national self-determination is a fundamental principle and is the right of every Nation.
The Petition is, also, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s teaching on The Beloved Community and by Saint Pope John Paul II’s teaching that “peace is the fruit of solidarity.”
And the Petition is ecumenical, inclusive, all-embracing—for Protestants, Catholics and Dissenters; for people of all religions and of no religion. That is the meaning of The Beloved Community.
Let’s make this Petition a grand and glorious worldwide mission.
What authentic Irish person — or non-Irish person who is dedicated to justice and peace— could refuse to sign this Petition?
Please stand with me and recruit more and more Signers.
And this Petition is particularly well-timed because December 23 is the100th Anniversary of England’s partition of Ireland. (I say “England” because we can hardly blame Wales or Scotland).
This Petition gives all of us the perfect response to England’s partition of Ireland… Let your area and the whole world know that you reject England’s cruel and undemocratic partition of Ireland. … That you stand for unity, not for outdated imperial division and partition.
“Let justice pour down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24) —as Martin Luther King, Jr. loved to quote. And let’s build up The Beloved Community in Ireland—solidarity, unity, equality, freedom, justice, and peace.
God save Ireland.
Fr. Sean McManus