Christianity “has been an overwhelming force for good in the world”, according to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Speaking at the launch of World Youth Day in Sydney, Mr Rudd said that while many criticised the Church it was important to speak about the great good it does as well. The launch and opening Mass was attended by 150,000 people.

The UK father of a teenage boy who was shot dead as he went for a haircut has urged parents to "get closer" to their children to better understand their lives. Rashid Chaiboub said parents should be aware when their children stop sharing their thoughts and feelings with them, as his 17-year-old son Tarek had.

Fathers are being increasingly marginalised in children's lives, according to the UK's equality watchdog. According to the chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Nicola Brewer, said that maternity leave laws had led to an increased disparity between the time mothers and fathers spend with children.

The mental health and emotional wellbeing of young teenage girls is being placed under pressure from numerous directions, according to new research. A report by Girlguiding UK and the Mental Health Foundation discovered that girls feel pressure as a result of sexual advances from boys and also to wear clothes that make them look older.

Children and adults who are the result of IVF, the technique developed by Professor Bob Edwards and Dr Patrick Steptoe in the 1970s, gathered in Cambridgeshire yesterday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the creation of In Vitro Fertilisation.

A State-employed Christian registrar who refused to carry out same sex civil unions because they went against her faith has won a landmark discrimination battle and hailed her triumph as a victory for religious liberty.

A culture of “moral neutrality” is preventing politicians and other leaders from saying what needs to be said about the problems facing British society, according to the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron.

In a hard hitting speech in a deprived area of Glasgow, Mr Cameron, who enjoys a big lead in the opinion polls against the Labour Party, said that there needed to be a “cultural change”, and a new emphasis on personal responsibility. He said he believed this change needed to begin with the family.

Mr Cameron said: “We as a society have been far too sensitive. In order to avoid injury to people's feelings, in order to avoid appearing judgemental, we have failed to say what needs to be said. We have seen a decades-long erosion of responsibility, of social virtue, of self-discipline, respect for others, deferring gratification instead of instant gratification.

"Instead we prefer moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgments about what is good and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour. Bad. Good. Right. Wrong. These are words that our political system and our public sector scarcely dare use any more."

He said it was time for people start to make judgments about what is "bad, good, right and wrong." Mr Cameron added that "causes of our broken society" lie not just in policy but "in our national culture". Government policy, he continued, ought to be about encouraging personal and social responsibility.

He went on to point out that family life was the key to achieving this cultural shift. Referring to his own party's tax policy for married families, he said that Government policy ought to say to parents “your responsibility and your commitment matters, so we will give a tax break for marriage and end the couple penalty". "I believe that this cultural change needs to start at home. The values we need to repair our broken society and to build a strong society are values that should be taught in the home, in the family."

The Conservative leader acknowledged that he risked attracting attention to his own party's behaviour but he said society had become "too sensitive" about hurting people's feelings.

Mr Cameron made the statement while campaigning for the Tories in Glasgow East where his party will struggle to keep their deposit in a by-election there in two weeks time.

Mr Cameron dismissed the notion that his comments could give rise to a backlash similar to the one that affected the John Major government in the 1990s, when his Back to Basics campaign backfired. He said: "Of course as soon as a politician says this there is a clamour 'but what about all of you?' And let me say now, yes, we are human, flawed and frequently screw up.

"Our relationships crack up, our marriages break down, we fail as parents and as citizens just like everyone else. But if the result of this is a stultifying silence about things that really matter, we re-double the failure. Refusing to use these words - right and wrong - means a denial of personal responsibility and the concept of a moral choice.

"We talk about people being 'at risk of obesity' instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise. We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it's as if these things - obesity, alcohol abuse, drug addiction - are purely external events like a plague or bad weather.

"Of course, circumstances - where you are born, your neighbourhood, your school, and the choices your parents make - have a huge impact. But social problems are often the consequence of the choices that people make."

He added: "There is a danger of becoming quite literally a de-moralised society, where nobody will tell the truth anymore about what is good and bad, right and wrong. That is why children are growing up without boundaries, thinking they can do as they please, and why no adult will intervene to stop them - including, often, their parents. If we are going to get any where near solving some of these problems, that has to stop."

Catholic education authorities have proposed a radical plan to stop the ‘flight’ of parents from urban schools all over the country. The plan involves requiring parents to send their children to the school closest to them.

A Swedish school has accused an eight-year-old boy of violating the rights of fellow school children for not inviting two of his classmates to his birthday party.

Addressing the need for legislation to protect vulnerable people in dependant relationships does not require the redefinition of marriage, Senator Jim Walsh said in the Seanad yesterday. Responding to reports about his Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party motion last week, he said that the current understanding of marriage as intrinsically heterosexual was “for the propagation of society and the welfare of children”.

A proposed EU anti-discrimination directive, aimed at outlawing any discrimination based on sex, religion or sexual orientation outside the workplace could have implications for Church property.

Gang life is replacing the family for a generation of young people, according to a leading UK police chief. Barbara Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales, says that a culture of gangs, drugs and crime has become a way of life in poorer areas in large English cities, and family breakdown is a major part of the problem

A clear majority of parents would prefer State-run schools to religious run schools, a poll published on Monday suggests. According to a RedC poll carried out on behalf of the Irish Primary Principals Network, over 70 per cent of parents indicated they would prefer a State run school system.

The UK Labour Government is engaged in a “witch hunt” against faith schools, according to a new document published by think tank the Centre for Policy Studies. And this policy could end up alienating the UK's growing Islamic population, as Islamic faith schools help to integrate young Muslims into British society, the document says.

A group of Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators are supporting a motion in the parliamentary party to secure the special status of marriage under the Constitution. The motion comes just days after the Government published the heads of a Bill which proposes giving same sex couples many of the rights currently enjoyed by married couples.

Same sex couples are to be granted marriage like rights under new Government proposals published on Tuesday. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern launched the proposals, saying that the Civil Partnership Bill did not equate to “gay marriage”.

A Canadian court has stated that a father of a 12-year-old girl cannot ground her for disobeying him, his lawyer said last Wednesday.

Limerick has the highest percentage of births outside marriage, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The data shows that 56.4 per cent of children born in Limerick city in 2005 were outside wedlock.

A new report has shown that women do the bulk of caring in the home for children and elderly or ill family members. The report by the ESRI, Gender Inequalities in Time Use is published by the Equality Authority. According to the study, women spend twice as much time as men each day doing unpaid work, including caring and housework.

Ireland could be given opt-outs from the Lisbon Treaty if it would help the Government win a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, according to reports, including an opt-out from family policy.