MP ditched from Catholic internship scheme

The Catholic Church has dropped a Labour MP from its internship scheme after becoming aware of his position on abortion and gay adoption.
 

Jon Cruddas, a Catholic who represents Dagenham and Rainham, had originally been listed along with MPs Conor Burns and Greg Mulholland, Baroness Hollins, CAFOD, Caritas and the Public Affairs Office of the Diocese of Westminster to receive an intern for a 10-month full time work placement in a public policy setting.

But after being contacted by The Universe, the Church appeared to change its mind.

In an interview Mr Cruddas did with Andrew Marr when he stood for the Labour party leadership, he said his view on abortion was that it should be "safe, legal and rare". He has also described his position on abortion as being one of "pro-choice".

When questioned about his view on gay adoption, which resulted in the Church being forced to either open its adoption agencies to gay couples or close down, he replied: "I fully support the gay adoption proposals the Government put into place."

On Tuesday a spokesman for the Church said: "It has now emerged that one of the MPs we intended to work with this year has views on abortion significantly at variance with the Church's position. Accordingly, we will now be placing this intern with another MP.

"We seek to place Catholic parliamentary interns with different MPs and MEPs each year. These MPs and MEPs come from all political parties. They are all practising Christians but not necessarily Catholics.

"They are committed to working with us in delivering an educational programme for the interns. We seek to ensure that their views on fundamental moral questions are consonant with those of the Catholic Church."

Bishop John Arnold, who oversees the scheme at the Bishops' Conference, said the aim of the project was "to help form the consciences of the next generation of Catholic lay leaders; people deeply committed to their faith, who have a vocation to public service and a desire to put their faith into practice by working towards the common good".

The bishop added: "As part of the spiritual element of the scheme, the year opens and closes with an individually guided retreat and the interns are offered spiritual direction.

"They live and worship together as part of the community at Newman House, the Catholic Chaplaincy to the Universities of London. The academic dimension to the scheme involves studying for a part-time MA at Heythrop College. This is supplemented by regular seminars and discussions at the offices of the bishops' conference, and by lectures at public policy think tanks and other institutions."

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