Catholic Emancipation had been granted in 1829, and according to Patrick Lalor, Catholics would never be fully free while the burden of a foreign faith was on them in the form of tithes. Supported by his family, Patrick at a public meeting in Portlaoise, said he intended to give up paying tithes to a foreign faith. As a result of this declaration, Arthur Moore Mosse, who was the secretary of the Grand Jury, asked Patrick to call off his campaign offering to give him a receipt for the year's tithe, but this he refused. Mosse then offered him a receipt that would free him from tithes for the rest of his life, and this was also refused.