CAPITOL HILL. Friday, May 8, 2020— Internet petitions are a good way of demonstrating the “will of the people”—especially at a time when so many have to work remotely in a pandemic.

An Internet petition (online petition or e-petition) is a Petition that is signed online—on a website. Visitors sign the Petition by adding their names and email addresses.

The Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus is sponsoring its IrelandOneNation Petition on Change.org—https://www.change.org/IrelandOneNation

President of the Caucus, Fr. Sean Mc Manus, explained: ”We transformed our founding motto into the Petition: ‘Ireland, too, has the right to be One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’ When I founded the Irish National Caucus on February 6, 1974 — one year, four months and four days after I came to America on October 2, 1972— I felt that from both an Irish and Irish-American point of view nothing more perfectly framed the issue than this motto. And I am still surprised that despite its obvious historic resonance this formulation had never been commonly used  before in the way we have done. 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. Furthermore, national self-determination is a fundamental American 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—“with liberty and justice for all.” That is also the essence of The Beloved Community.