THE ORANGE Order's County Grand Master in Fermanagh has said he would be willing to discuss a review of its rules forbidding members to attend Roman Catholic services.
Tom Elliott said last night he would be "quite willing to discuss the issue if it came before Grand Lodge and I would look at a review of all rules, including that one, without any difficulty".
He said "my own position, and I am sure it is the Orange Order's position, is not anti-Roman Catholic.
"Clearly we don't agree with all their teachings and practices but we accept their right to them and would hope, equally, that they would respect our tradition."
He welcomed as "very helpful" comments by the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady on the Orange Order at the Humbert Summer School in Killala, Co Mayo, last Sunday.
Addressing the parades issue in the North, Cardinal Brady said "the Orange Order deserves credit for what I believe are sincere and convincing efforts to promote dialogue and understanding.
The cardinal added: "these should be acknowledged and reciprocated."
He said "attacks on Orange halls, such as those which took place last week around Armagh, deserve to be unequivocally condemned".
They were "symptomatic of a sectarian pathology which is evil" and had to be "continually challenged".
Orange Order grand secretary Drew Nelson said earlier this week it was "deeply rewarding to hear from the cardinal that he accepts our bona fides".
Meanwhile, an article in the Dublin & Wicklow Orange Lodge summer 2008 newsletter has asked regarding the "Qualifications requisite for an Orangeman" agreed on November 20th, 1798, "Is it not time to remove from the 'Qualifications of an Orangeman' those references to our Roman Catholic fellow subjects of both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic?
"References which they find offensive, and many of us find anachronistic."
