§ MR. PARNELLasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he has any objection to lay upon the Table of the House the Correspondence between the Reverend Hugh Behan, administrator of the parish of Navan, and Sir John Dillon, the officer commanding the Royal Meath Militia, on the subject of allowing the attendance of the men at mass on the 6th and 27th of May, being holidays on which they were bound to attend Divine Service by the rules of the Catholic Church; and, whether he has any objection to say if any of the instructions laid down in the Queen's Regulations prohibit commanding officers of Militia regiments from allowing their men to attend mass?
MR. GATHORNE HARDYSir, the only Correspondence on the subject is a private letter from the Rev. Hugh Behan to Sir John Dillon, in which the latter is requested
To have the men under his command sent to mass on the 6th and 27th of May, the same as on Sundays, these days being holidays of obligation in the Roman Catholic Church.This request Sir John Dillon did not comply with. There are no instructions in the Queen's Regulations prohibiting commanding officers of Militia from allowing their men to attend mass. A commanding officer is only bound to order his regiment to attend such Church parades as are customary in the service, though he would upon other occasions give every facility to his men to attend Divine Service when such attendance did not interfere with the proper discharge of their military duties.