Religion & Religious Practice

In Defence of Catholic Healthcare: A talk by David Quinn

David Quinn, Chief Executive of The Iona Institute, recently delivered the 4th Rosemary Sheehan Memorial Lecture. His theme was ‘In Defence of Catholic Healthcare’. In his talk, he reminded people of the immense contribution Catholics have made to healthcare in Ireland and worldwide both historically and down to the present day. He explained the origins...

Another UN committee pushes a radical agenda on Ireland

Once again, a UN body is pushing a radical agenda on Ireland at the behest of Irish NGOs. This includes allowing 16 and 17 years olds to identify as a different gender to their biological sex, ensuring free access to abortion for adolescent girls, and further undermining the rights of faith-based schools. This time the...

The Christian origins of international aid work

International development NGOs generally originated from the middle of the last century, but public support for faith-based and missionary organisations dates back centuries and they often laid the foundations for the work of secular agencies, something that is often forgotten. The Catholic Church was a pioneer in development infrastructure with 1822 being a significant year....

Poor mental health among young people linked to decline of religion

The well-being of young adults aged 18-25 in America has significantly declined, compared to older age groups, according to new research from the Human Flourishing Programme at Harvard University. This is due to the lockdowns but also to a decline in religious practice. The same phenomenon has occurred in Ireland. The study used data from...

Religion linked to greater sexual happiness says new study

One of the biggest articles of faith of modern, liberal societies is that the sexual freedoms now available to us have made people happier and more fulfilled. An accompanying belief is that we needed to slay the ‘dragon’ of religious sexual repression in order to win our freedoms. But now a major new study has...

Political ideology as a substitute for religion

Politics has become a substitute for religion and ‘social justice warriors’ are today’s Puritans, a new BBC documentary claims. Helen Lewis, who was raised Catholic but is now an atheist, has produced a new documentary for BBC Radio 4 in which she explores the thesis that contemporary social justice movements have the same characteristics that...

Our healthcare system arose from a Christian worldview

During the recent row over the planned relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, the very strong impression was given that Ireland would be far better off if the Catholic Church had no involvement in the country’s hospitals at all. A medical Catholic ethos was treated as something very bad and undesirable. In fact, no organisation...

Against the critics of Catholic healthcare

Catholic healthcare has been roundly attacked in the context of the row over the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital. Are the attacks deserved? The short answer is, no. In fact, secular healthcare with its abandonment of the most basic objective of medicine, ‘first, do no harm’, is what should be under the spotlight. In our new video,...

In Defence of Catholic Healthcare

Recently in Ireland Catholic healthcare has been attacked as ‘dangerous’. The accusation arose in the context of a row over the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital. In this video, David Quinn of The Iona Institute interviews Dr Christopher Kazcor, a professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in California, about Catholic healthcare. They discuss...

David Quinn on the positive side of the nuns’ legacy

David Quinn of The Iona Institute was on the Tonight Show on Tuesday (May 17) to discuss the row over the new National Maternity Hospital. He said that only the negative side of the legacy of the nuns in Ireland has been highlighted to date, and the positive side of their legacy is being badly...