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Ombudsman wants govt to give view on children’s rights wording
~The Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, has urged the Government to give its opinion on the recently published wording for a proposed children’s rights referendum as soon as possible. She said yesterday: “I feel there is real momentum behind amending the Constitution to strengthen children’s rights at present and it is incumbent on all those in support of the amendment to contribute that amendment.” Read more...
Iona Institute condemns treatment of Catholic doctor by Medical Council
~The Iona Institute has condemned the treatment of a Catholic doctor by the Fitness to Practice Committee of the Irish Medical Council. As reported in the current issue of The Irish Catholic, Dr Phil Boyle appeared before the Fitness to Practice Committee last week on a charge of ‘professional misconduct’. Dr Boyle runs a fertility treatment service in Galway Clinic in accordance with Catholic teaching and his ‘offence’ was not to offer his service to an unmarried couple who contacted his office. Read more...
Tories announce tax cut for married couples
~The Conservatives have published their plans to cut taxes for married couples, which would amount to up to £150 a year, with the possibility that this could increase over the course of the lifetime of a possible Tory Government. The Conservatives say they will offer a partially transferable personal allowance to married couples and same-sex civil partners earning up to £44,000. Read more...
Education system must include religion says Archbishop Neill
~The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, has said the education system must continue to have a place for religion. In an address yesterday at Trinity College Dublin, he said that the human spirit was “impoverished if its spiritual and indeed religious dimension is ignored”. Read more...
Social workers ‘too ready to seize children’ - judges
~Two of Britain's most senior judges have accused social workers trying to take children away from their mothers too quickly of working as if they were in “Stalin’s Russia or Mao’s China”. Lord Justice Wall – who today becomes the new President of the Family Division – said a mother fighting for her two children had been “quite improperly rebuffed” by social services. Read more...
Cameron courts religious vote in UK general election
~Tory leader David Cameron has pledged to give faith schools the freedom to teach sex education “in a way that's consistent with their beliefs. In an interview with the Catholic Herald, he added that parents should be free to decide whether their children attended such classes. Read more...
Labour party ‘elder statesman’ says he is “ashamed” of Government’s anti-Christian “bigotry”
~An ‘elder statesman’ of the British Labour party, Lord Donoghue, who served under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair, predicted that Roman Catholics in particular would turn their backs on the “politically correct zealots” in the party at the general election. Read more...
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UK government withdraws controversial sex plan
~The Government has bowed to pressure and withdrawn its highly controversial home education and sex education plans for England. It is believed the Conservative Party blocked the sex education plans. Both the Tories and the Lib Dems were opposed to the proposal to restrict home education. Read more...
Same-sex couples to receive tax benefits of married couples
~Department of Finance officials are currently looking at the Civil Partnership Bill to ensure that homosexual couples who register as civil partners obtain the same tax benefits as married couples. Most of the changes will be related to income tax, although the disposition of assets as between civil partners may be affect, according to officials. Read more...
INTO representative attacks the Iona Institute
~The Deputy General of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) has attacked the Iona Institute for defending the right of religious schools not to employ individuals they believe will undermine their ethos. Read more...
Idaho recognises conscience rights of health-workers
~The governor of the US state of Idaho has signed a law which will create conscience rights for health care professionals in specific areas of medical practice. The measure, passed by Idaho Governor Butch Otter ensures that pro-life health care workers can refuse to dispense drugs that could be used to cause abortions or euthanasia. Read more...
Cohabitation section of Civil Partnership Bill to be amended
~The Civil Partnership Bill is to be amended to relax the obligations that cohabiting couples would face under the legislation, the Sunday Business Post has reported. Read more...
Only third of teachers want State takeover of schools: poll
~Only a third of teachers want the State to take complete control of primary schools, according to a new poll carried out by the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO). The poll surveyed 348 teachers in every county, and found that 34 per cent favoured the State taking control of all primary schools, while a further 47 per cent said the Catholic Church should relinquish control over some of its schools, a position in line with that of the hierarchy. Read more...
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IFA attacks Civil Partnership Bill
~The government must withdraw the provisions on cohabiting couples from the Civil Partnership Bill, the Irish Farmers’ Association has demanded. IFA President John Bryan said the proposed law “would be a cause of serious concern to the farming community that legal claims for the transfer of a property, a lump sum, maintenance payments or a share in pension entitlements or a claim on an estate could rise following the ending of a relationship between a couple for as little as three years.” Read more...
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Belgium set to ban Muslim veils
~Belgium looks set to ban the wearing of veils over the face after a parliamentary committee voted unanimously in favour of the measure yesterday. Belgium has a rising Muslim population and if the proposal goes ahead it will become the first country in Europe to have such a ban. Read more...
Documentary highlights UK persecution of Christians
~A combination of ideologically-driven local councils and ‘human rights’ laws is resulting in the persecution of Christians in Britain a new BBC document to be aired on Sunday night will claim. The programme will be presented by Nicky Campbell of Radio 5 Live. He will argue that Labour’s anti-discrimination laws have led to clashes between religious conscience and gay rights. Read more...
Anglican bishops defend nurse’s right to wear cross
~A group of senior Church of England bishops, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, have written an open letter in defence of a Christian nurse who has been ordered by the NHS to stop wearing a cross around her neck. They also complain of growing discrimination against Christians and Christian belief in British public life. Read more...
Teachers shouldn’t be obliged to teach religion
~The Green Party has backed a motion at its annual convention that there should be no obligation on primary school teachers to teach religion. The motion says that “teaching religion should be an optional subject for primary school teacher training and should be multi-faith and multi-denominational, expect where parents want denominational schools.” Read more...
Religious practice ad campaign launched by Iona Institute
~A new advertising campaign, the first ever of its kind, has been launched by The Iona Institute with the message, ‘Here’s a little science. The practice of religion is good for you’. The campaign will initially centre on Dublin city. It will consist of 110 bus shelter ads throughout the city and will run for a fortnight beginning this Monday. Read more...
Religious bodies leave equality forum after row
~A UK Government body designed to give religious voices an input into equality legislation has collapsed in acrimony after most of the major churches and faiths left the forum blaming the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society for the situation. Read more...
Huge majority oppose giving contraceptivies to teens without parental consent
~Over three quarters of Irish voters are opposed to proposals to allow doctors to prescribe contraception to 14 and 15 year olds without the knowledge or consent of their parents, a new poll conducted by RedC on behalf of The Iona Institute shows. Read more...
EU plan to standardise divorce laws
~Plans have been announced to make divorce laws more standard across the EU in order to stop disputes over which country's courts should handle divorce proceedings. The proposals, announced on Wednesday, will see domestic courts issued with standards to determine which national law should apply in cases involving couples with links to more than one EU member state. Read more...
Cork city has highest out of wedlock birth rate
~The Quarterly Vital Statistics report, released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that nearly half, 47 percent, of all births in Cork city in the third quarter of last year were outside marriage. In Limerick, which now has the second highest rate, 46 per cent of all births were to unmarried people. Read more...
Civil Partnership Bill debated at Committee stage
~Opposition suggestions that civil partnerships be made even more like marriage have been dismissed by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who said they could give rise to a Constitutional challenge. Read more...
White takes over responsibility for Civil Partnership Bill
~Mary White TD is to take over responsibility for the passage of the Civil Partnership Bill from Justice Minister Dermot Ahern after yesterday's Cabinet reshuffle. Ms White takes over the Bill because of her promotion to a junior ministry post and because responsibility for equality is being moved from the Department of Justice to her revamped department. Read more...
More Irish teens having sex earlier: claim
~More Irish teenagers are having sex from as young as 14, and are at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to a new report. The majority of teens become sexually active at 17 -- but the past five years has seen a growing number of 14 to 15-year-olds becoming sexually active, the report claims. Read more...
Cohabitation provision "windfall for lawyers but no-one else"
~A prominent UK legal expert has urged the Government to scrap its plans to introduce legal rights for cohabiting couples who separate, on the grounds that it will be a "windfall" for family lawyers but for no-one else. Read more...
Loreto nuns apply for new secondary school
~The Loreto order of nuns has applied to the Department of Education to be considered as a patron body for new schools, the Irish Independent has reported. The application is being seen as a marker that the Catholic Church wants to continue to open schools at second-level, including in growing communities that have a broad cultural mix. Read more...
Religious believers will ‘inherit the earth’, new book says
~Growing birth-rates among religious believers, and falling birthrates among secular couples are set to dramatically shift the political and demographic make-up of the West, a leading academic claims. Read more...
Six social workers sacked over child protection failures
~Six social workers at Birmingham City Council have been sacked over catastrophic failures to protect children. Its director Colin Tucker said the social workers had not been not doing their jobs properly and had shown "no sign whatsoever" of adhering to expected standards. Read more...
Pilgrimage for fathers to take place in Knock this Sunday
~Ireland’s only pilgrimage expressly designed for fathers will take place on Sunday, March 21 in Knock. The event, which was launched in 2003, has attracted many thousands of families since it began, and involves fathers and mothers praying for each other, for children and for families. Read more...
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Religious freedom being restricted, nearly a third say in poll
~Nearly a third of people in the UK believe that religious freedoms have been restricted over the past decade, a new survey shows. The poll, carried out by ComRes on behalf of the public theology think tank Theos, showed that 32 per cent of people believed that religious freedom had been weakened in the past 10 years. The poll accompanies a new Theos report on religious freedom. Read more...
Referendum on blasphemy to be held
~A Constitutional amendment to delete the current prohibition on blasphemy is to be proposed by Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, when the children’s rights amendment is held, the Irish Times has reported. Mr Ahern proposed an amendment to the Defamation Bill last April, with the aim of defining the offence of blasphemy, which is referred to in the Constitution, and was also referred to in the 1961 Defamation Act. Read more...
Catholic adoption agency wins religious freedom case
~A legal loophole intended to protect gay rights charities has enabled a Catholic adoption agency in the UK to continue to refuse to place children with homosexual couples. Catholic Care's unexpected legal victory should allow similar adoption agencies forced to close or dissociate from the church to reopen as Catholic organisations. Read more...
UK law ‘abandons concept of marriage’
~A leading UK family lawyer has said the law in England and Wales no longer has a clear concept of marriage. Baroness Deech, the chairman of the Bar Standards Board, in a public lecture yesterday, said that some differences between civil partnerships and marriage should be preserved, and criticises recent Labour laws that allow lesbian couples to be named on birth certificates with no mention of a father. Read more...
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